[POLL ADDED] Who are your top 5 defensive "bigs" all time?

[TheNG]

Who are your top 5 defensive "bigs" (basically pf or c) all time?

[EDIT]
After 3 pages, I took the top mentions from the posters so far, and added a poll with the top 10 names - the last name was difficult to add, but I added Wilt because he was mentioned as "honorable mention" in some posts so I gave him the advantage over Green and Giannis.

Spoiler:

The poll was added based on these results from the first 3 pages:
Russell 21
Hakeem 20
Ben Wallace 17
Duncan 16
Mutombo 12
Rodman 7
Garnett 7
Robinson 6
Dwight 5
Wilt 3
Green 3
Giannis 3
Thurmond 2
Rudy Gobert 2
Unseld
KAJ

[KGtabake]

Rodman
Garnett
Olajuwon
Green
Giannis

[Duffman100]

In no order (or that much thought)

Rodman
Duncan
Russell
Ben Wallace
Hakeem

[Ritzo]

1. Hakeem
2. Duncan
3. Garnett
4. Big Ben
5. Dwight

[The-Power]

Three responses and two of them don't list Bill Russell? Yikes.

[SeattleJazzFan]

Rudy
Russell
Dikembe
Hakeem
Rodman

[Duffman100]

Rudy
Russell
Dikembe
Hakeem
Rodman

I went Duncan over Mutombo, but it was a hard choice.

[hauntedcomputer]

Russell
Wilt
Dikembe
Thurmond
Unseld

[JJ_PR]

Tim Duncan
Bill Russell
Ben Wallace
Hakeem Olajuwon
Giannis Antetokounmpo

[70sFan]

Only centers included:

Bill Russell
Hakeem Olajuwon
Tim Duncan
Dikembe Mutombo
David Robinson

HM: Nate Thurmond, Wilt Chamberlain

[Duffman100]

Surprised that Ben Wallace isn't making it into people's top 5.

[oldncreaky]

I've got a pretty clear top 4

Russell
Wallace
Mutumbo
Rodman

For the last slot, any of Duncan, Hakeem, Thurmond or Robinson are reasonable

[rzzzzz]

Three responses and two of them don't list Bill Russell? Yikes.

Dude only won 11 NBA titles. Plus 2 NCAAs and Olympic Gold back when we didn’t play pros. By dominating the defense.

[cupcakesnake]

Surprised that Ben Wallace isn't making it into people's top 5.

Ben Wallace is my favorite all-time player and I will wax poetic about his rotations, his quicks, his ability to help and recover, his underrated ability to guard the perimeter etc.

But when you watch extensive film on Ben (or if you just look at him once haha) one thing becomes a bit evident: He was really short. Now I know we all know that, but I think it gets overlooked when you compare Ben to guys like Mutombo or David Robinson. There was a certain rim protection playtype that these 7 footers had that Ben had. Essentially if you get into the paint against Mutombo/Robinson/Wilt and they're off balance or needing to react quickly, their standing reach is already a big obstacle and it provides them a huge margin for error that Ben just doesn't have. They're still hard to score on in that fairly common scenario, where if you catch Ben flatfooted, he was easier to finish over, just because he is tiny by comparison. I see it show up in film all the time. Ben is guarding/helping some main action, the ball ends up in the paint unexpectedly, and Ben is too late to make a play despite being in the paint. Now if Ben is tracking the ball, he was one of the quickest leapers ever, and surprised people more often they they surprised him. But I do think it is important to understand this primary weakness. People also don't know what to do with Ben's short prime, though I think people don't understand how good Ben was on defense in his twilight.

That all being said, I don't necessarily have Ben outside the top 5. I go:
1. Bill Russell
2. Hakeem

and then there's 5 guys for 3 spots, depending on team needs:
Tim Duncan, KG, Ben Wallace, DK, David Robinson.

Honourable mentions: Nate Thurmond, Marc Gasol, Wilt Chamberneezy, Rudy Gobert, Draymond

People putting guys like Giannis or Rodman above KG...I just don't see the argument. With Rodman, I guess you only value man-to-man defense. Rodman was a true genius at that, but I don't see him approaching the value of these legendary bigs who destroy entire offensive schemes. Giannis is really similar to KG, except he's less cerebral and not as good at defending the perimeter.

[Tottery]

Rodman
Wallace
Howard
Duncan
Garnett

no order

[BodieB]

Three responses and two of them don't list Bill Russell? Yikes.

Big fan of the guy, but I do find the outrage in responses like this interesting for a player that literally no one that posts on here has ever seen play.

[Black Mage]

So many of these lists are a disgrace.

No Wilt, Shaq or Moses? Ben freaking Wallace????? Any one of those guys takes Ben's lunch in a heartbeat. Even, Charles would crush Wallace.

[chilluminati]

1. Ben Wallace - "My era/my team/favorite player" bias
2. Bill Russell
3. Wilt Chamberlain
4. Dwight Howard
5. Dikembe Mutumbo

[scrabbarista]

Mostly eye test, some stats, only those I've seen live:

Duncan
Olajuwon
Mutombo
B. Wallace
Gobert

Draymond replaces Gobert if you count him as a big. I also didn't count Rodman.

[Dutchball97]

1. Bill Russell
2. Hakeem Olajuwon
3. Tim Duncan
4. David Robinson
5. Ben Wallace

Russell is a clear #1 for me as I don't see anybody else even coming close to just how long he wasn't just among the best in the league on defense but a undeniably standout for pretty much his entire career. That's also what kind of hurts Wilt and Thurmond for me as they never really seemed like better defenders than Russell at any point imo. It might be unfair to them as being a bit worse than someone who is generally regarded as the best ever could still see them 2nd and 3rd but there are too many strong candidates for me to give them the benefit of the doubt here.

Hakeem is usually my "modern GOAT" on defense and #2 defender ever behind Russell. He dominated the league on defense from the late 80s till about the mid 90s. The closest competition for that second spot to me is Duncan. While Duncan didn't dominate the league as much on defense he does bring that insane longevity with him. It's not a perfect metric but I do think it's quite telling Duncan was 2nd in defensive rating in both his rookie season in 98 and his last season in 2016.

David Robinson is a bit underrated defensively in an all-time sense because he dominated the late 90s and while his offense didn't hold up as well in the play-offs, his defense doesn't really show signs of doing the same thing. I went with him as my 4th pick because he seemed just as capable of taking a lackluster defense to a good one as taking a good one to an elite one.

That's a bit of a segway into my last spot as I chose Ben Wallace for his ceiling raising. I heavily contemplated going with either Garnett or Mutombo here as well. Even though it might be because of lackluster teams, I'm not as convinced by their ability to consistently create great defenses even with their +- impact numbers being through the roof.