If you could pick 1 player in history to guard peak LeBron, who do you go with?

[ardee]

Do you want a smaller but quicker guy who can stay in front of him, or prefer someone bigger and stronger?

[MyUniBroDavis]

Peak lebron probs lol

[LukaTheGOAT]

Andre Kirilenko

[jasonxxx102]

Andre Kirilenko

This was my pick so I’ll go with Draymond

[Ginoboleee]

No idea. But surely there is somebody, right?

Since it is a Team Sport after all...
Send out a lineup of Dream, Rodman, Pippen, Kawhi, and Payton.

Rodman will take care of business, trust and believe.

On the bench, the 2nd unit (Admiral, KG, Artest, Tony Allen, and Kidd) is trying to stay loose and warm. KG and Artest are so fired up, going back and forth at each other, jawing away.

(AK-47 got cut during Training Camp. It's weird because he had such a good stretch in Summer League.)

The assistant coaches (Bruce Bowen and Sidney Moncrief) are furiously scribbling on a white board.
I gotta say, not sure a "scheme" is going to be the solution fellas. We aren't talking about young LeBron anymore.

Head Coach Bill Russell sagely watches it all unfold, often laughing at the spectacle.

Meanwhile, way over at the far end of the bench, are MJ and Kobe, the 11th and 12th men, who never get run, so they barely even bothered warming up in shootaround. They just sit and stare, quietly, annoyed, seething, just waiting for the coach to stop chuckling, throw up his hands, and finally (for once!) send them in to let them figure it out, one way or the other, once and for all.

Of course, in tonight's crowd, as always, are the "Waldorf and Statler" comedy duo of Jimmy Goldstein and Bobby Jones - no idea what those two are always talking about, but it sure as heck is not the game. Kinda seems a bit sketchy.

Up in a luxury box, back from their yearly reunion in Vegas, are Michael Cooper, Joe Dumars, Stockton, and Alvin Robertson. They aren't even watching the game because they keep arguing with Stockton about a bunch of non-basketball stuff, so who knows what that is all about. I can't read their lips from this far away, darn. Probably for the best.

Watching from home, sharing a vegan pizza (while some rando tech fixes the podcast microphones), are Dray and Iggy.
They are not laughing.

[GSP]

Andre Kirilenko

This was my pick so I’ll go with Draymond

Why would you go with Draymond with how many finals games we've seen of Bron bodying him and Iggy defending him better

[penbeast0]

Kirilenko, along with Bobby Jones and Larry Nance, is probably the best help defending forward in NBA history. Probably not the best man defender. I would go with Rodman or Artest, both strong enough to bang with LeBron and (when focused) aggressive enough to guard him tight.

[SkyHookFTW]

Tossing in a vote for Thurmond or peak Wilt.

[Dutchball97]

This question comes up pretty regularly and my answer is always Kawhi.

[jasonxxx102]

Andre Kirilenko

This was my pick so I’ll go with Draymond

Why would you go with Draymond with how many finals games we've seen of Bron bodying him and Iggy defending him better

Well draymond is a measurably better defender, so I'll stick with him

[70sFan]

I think you need someone who is long to bother James jumpshot without overcommiting, but also someone strong enough to absorb the contact from James. It would be nice if he had quick, strong hands as well.

Kawhi sounds like a good pick, although he's not the most consistent defender ever. Iggy did a very good job on James most of the time, but he's not big enough for my taste. Same with Havlicek, should do quite well but again undersized. Peak Artest had all the tools as well, but I'm not sure about that one.

I don't think Rodman's style would do that well against James. You shouldn't challenge James physically too much, that's a good way to pick up a lot of silly fouls.

How about someone bigger than James? How do you view Thurmond's chances? Or Karl Malone?

[eminence]

Not sure on Thurmond, but Karl is way too slow footed and doesn't have near the experience defending on the perimeter needed to go against the GOAT on every possession.

A '04 ish KG who can focus on defense might be my top pick.

[Colbinii]

2002-2004 KG. He did a fine job on Kobe and Shaq and also against the Cavaliers while LeBron presents a combination of the two offensively.

[Ginoboleee]

This was my pick so I’ll go with Draymond

Why would you go with Draymond with how many finals games we've seen of Bron bodying him and Iggy defending him better

Well draymond is a measurably better defender, so I'll stick with him

Wait a sec.
All emoji zings aside.

Dray is certainly better on paper. So given the "measures" sticking with him makes some sense, fair enough.
But this is a decently controlled experimental condition.
Same teams, same seasons, same matchups.
And our eyes clearly tell us that for whatever reasons, Iggy (when he still had his legs) was clearly better than Dray at defending James.
Unlike so many (ridiculous?) apples-and-oranges comparisons on this board, the Iggy vs. Dray question to defend LeBron is as valid and straight forward as it gets.
Both are good.
Neither is perfect.
Which do you choose?
The math? Or your lying eyes?

Seems like an extreme/imbalanced devotion to the analytics.

Sometimes analytics can be misleading/invalid/weak.

If we aren't choosing Fresh Iggy over Dray, something is off seems to me.
This is where the player/coach/scouts culture starts rubbing against the math/nerds/suits.

[PistolPeteJR]

Andre Kirilenko

This was my pick so I’ll go with Draymond

We saw what peak Draymond guarding peak LeBron looked like. Definitely not ideal in my opinion.

[PistolPeteJR]

2002-2004 KG. He did a fine job on Kobe and Shaq and also against the Cavaliers while LeBron presents a combination of the two offensively.

My pick too. He's got the length, pretty good strength, and quickness.

[jasonxxx102]

Why would you go with Draymond with how many finals games we've seen of Bron bodying him and Iggy defending him better

Well draymond is a measurably better defender, so I'll stick with him

Wait a sec.
All emoji zings aside.

Dray is certainly better on paper. So given the "measures" sticking with him makes some sense, fair enough.
But this is a decently controlled experimental condition.
Same teams, same seasons, same matchups.
And our eyes clearly tell us that for whatever reasons, Iggy (when he still had his legs) was clearly better than Dray at defending James.
Unlike so many (ridiculous?) apples-and-oranges comparisons on this board, the Iggy vs. Dray question to defend LeBron is as valid and straight forward as it gets.
Both are good.
Neither is perfect.
Which do you choose?
The math? Or your lying eyes?

Seems like an extreme/imbalanced devotion to the analytics.

Sometimes analytics can be misleading/invalid/weak.

If we aren't choosing Fresh Iggy over Dray, something is off seems to me.
This is where the player/coach/scouts culture starts rubbing against the math/nerds/suits.

Did they? Iguodala served a much different role than Draymond in the finals which led to him spending more time guarding LeBron.

Draymond is better utilized elsewhere in the Warriors defensive system. The finals are more about scheme and system and not so much who the best defender is on who.

We're talking in a vacuum for a single possession. It's Draymond for me because he's the superior defender in all ways.

[capfan33]

Draymond isn't the greatest man defender tbh, as a Lebron fan I never had any worries when Draymond got switched onto Lebron because he never had much trouble taking him 1on1 lol. Iggy in his prime was a different story, he gave Lebron issues even though some of that in 2015 was due to back issues.

As for the question, Artest, Kawhi and Detroit Rodman would be my choices.

[No-more-rings]

2002-2004 KG. He did a fine job on Kobe and Shaq and also against the Cavaliers while LeBron presents a combination of the two offensively.

When did Kg ever do a good job defending Shaq? I don’t think he had a big enough frame for it.

[Narigo]

Peak Jordan