How would you rank these players on defense?

[LA Bird]

Baylor
Barry
Gervin
Drexler
Miller
Pierce
Allen
Dantley

Would be great if you could include your reasoning for the rankings as well.

[No-more-rings]

From best to worst, not focusing on peak/prime per say just how i’d rank then in a vacuum.

1. Drexler
2. Pierce
3. Baylor
4. Barry
5. Miller
6. Allen
7. Gervin
8. Dantley

I’m not confident in this at all though, since i’m not super knowledgeable on the defense of guys like Baylor, Barry, or Gervin.

Feels it’s a little off to bunch Drexler and Pierce in there though, those two seem like legitimately good defenders, the others not so much.

[LA Bird]

Bump. Any other thoughts on this?

[AEnigma]

Bump. Any other thoughts on this?

See a pretty clear separation of tiers between Baylor/Barry/Drexler/Pierce and Gervin/Dantley/Miller/Allen. The former were all comfortable positives, and the latter were negative to situationally neutral.

Within those two tiers, I struggle to finely distinguish raw ability and league-relative impact. I think Dantley was the most limited in his time, and he takes a hit being a small forward and therefore limiting team defensive construction more (and even if you play him at shooting guard, you still would want a better spacing wing next to him, at which point the exact positional label feels superfluous). I think Miller has an edge over Allen; those two had enough overlap for me to feel okay. Gervin is the toughest to place because he was not good in his time but did have some desirable defensive traits with his length and peak athleticism. Maybe a smart defensive coach could have made better use of him, but in general I think I prefer Miller’s ability to stay with his man even if Gervin might be the better option in a pure iso situation (neither has the awareness for me to care much about their help defence; Gervin was a better threat to block a shot but Reggie might have the edge in rotations and deflections).

8. Dantley (somewhat positional)
7. Allen
6. Gervin
5. Miller

The other four have the broadest range. Only Barry and Baylor have any real overlap, and both predated Gervin (in Barry’s case, only to an extent). I think I would take Baylor over Barry; he was a better defender earlier and was more physical, although I do respect Barry’s superior ability to play passing lanes. Drexler and Pierce… I think I also might lean toward them over Barry too; more physical and more modern. That latter element is what makes me cautious with Baylor, but as far as skillset I do not have any precise complaints. So maybe it is more that I think someone like Pierce and Drexler were smarter defenders and less reliant on exploiting their athleticism relative to his peers. And then between Pierce and Drexler, I think I trust Pierce more as a help defender, and with neither clearly separating themselves in man coverage (hell, that might be Baylor’s advantage), I will side with Pierce.

4. Barry
3. Baylor
2. Drexler
1. Pierce

Splitting hairs, though.