RealGM

How would you rank these guys in their prime as far as defense is concerned?

Alonzo Mourning, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Dikembe Mutombo, David Robinson

I will make a case for TD being the best

The Spurs points per 100 poss

The Spurs during the Duncan era

97-98 -- 99.4 (2nd)
98-99 -- 95.0 (1st)
99-00 -- 98.6 (2nd)
00-01 -- 98.0 (1st)
01-02 -- 99.7 (2nd)
02-03 -- 99.7 (3rd)
03-04 -- 94.1 (1st)
04-05 -- 98.8 (1st)
05-06 -- 99.6 (1st)
06-07 -- 99.9 (2nd)
07-08 -- 101.8 (3rd)

How Duncan has never gotten a DPOY is beyond me...

Honestly you can rank anyone of them first or last...

1. Dikembe
2. KG
3. David Robinson
4. Duncan
5. Morning

I go Duncan or D-Rob first, then Mutombo, then Mourning, then Garnett.

Robinson in his prime was a better shot-blocker than Duncan and a similar man defender and rotational guy, so I guess he goes up top. Despite Mutombo's gaudy shot-blocking totals, I'd take Duncan next because he was a more intuitive rotational defender, though Deke certainly has an outstanding resume and was indeed a great defender. Then then Mourning and KG last.

tsherkin wrote:I go Duncan or D-Rob first, then Mutombo, then Mourning, then Garnett.

Robinson in his prime was a better shot-blocker than Duncan and a similar man defender and rotational guy, so I guess he goes up top. Despite Mutombo's gaudy shot-blocking totals, I'd take Duncan next because he was a more intuitive rotational defender, though Deke certainly has an outstanding resume and was indeed a great defender. Then then Mourning and KG last.

I like this list, though i might be able to be swayed to put KG above Deke and Mourning, due to versatility.

I'll take Hakeem.

Sephiroth wrote:I'll take Hakeem.

Hakeem wasn't offered, but I think the OP didn't add him because he'd prolly beat out everyone on that list. I'm going to have to go with Duncan, Deke, Drob, KG and Zo. But there is just a slight difference between them all because you really can't take anything away from them, they were all great defenders overall.

First, I need to say that I would take Deke and ZO, even for limited minutes and at their advanced ages, as the best defensive big men in the league, except for duncan, kg, and maybe dwight howard. So just imagine zo and deke in their primes.

Garnett has versatility going for him. He's dream/d-rob like in that he can defend the fastbreak well, chase guards and recover back, and defend smalls 1 on 1 sometimes. KG has shown that you can put a whole defense around him like you can duncan and have similar, or even better, results. (To be fair to duncan though, I think KG has better defenders around him than duncan. I mean bowen is great, and they have solid interior defenders, but i'd take perkins over any interior sidekick duncan has had besides old d-rob. Posey and pierce and rondo are better than parker, manu, and whatever other swingman besides bowen the spurs have had throughout their dynasty years. The point is, put competent guys around kg and td, and you have an outstanding defense.)

I think D-rob just edges out everyone. He was better defending the fastbreak than anybody. And I'm not big into judging players based on stats, but 4 blks. and 2 stls. is really hard to ignore.

So this is my order:

1. D-rob
2. Deke, KG, Duncan
3. Zo (only because his peak rebounding years weren't as good. But then again, he did anchor some insane defensive teams for miami. And his strength allows him to push guys out of their comfort zones in the post. Ok, you know what? I got him with kg, duncan, and deke then at 2nd. lol)

I have to say, I'm glad that people are finally giving KG his due, it only took 13 years