Superior defender: MJ or LeBron?

[fanofthegreats]

This should not even be a comparison or discussion...come on...

Why? Mountains of evidence to indicate LeBron was a more impactful defender in his prime.

[D.Brasco]

This should not even be a comparison or discussion...come on...

Why? Mountains of evidence to indicate LeBron was a more impactful defender in his prime.

Yeah but Jordan has the better documentary. He beat the security guard at gambling.

[fanofthegreats]

This should not even be a comparison or discussion...come on...

Why? Mountains of evidence to indicate LeBron was a more impactful defender in his prime.

Yeah but Jordan has the better documentary. He beat the security guard at gambling.

LOL- always funny when people come in and yell “not even a discussion!”. Why not? Was Jordan some sort of GOAT level defender? Clearly not.

[SweaterBae]

Nobody quits on defense like LBJ. Hi Luka!

[KembaWalker]

Not a very close poll lol

[Johnny Bball]

Who **** cares. Nobody is going to change OPs mind.

[SeattleJazzFan]

MJ is the greatest perimeter defender i've ever seen.

LeBron is the best/most versatile defensive player I've ever seen.

Iow, it depends on what you need - and frankly in the 80s and 90s where you mostly just guarded your position, I'd take MJ defensively.

in the 10s and 20s of today with all the switching, versatile offensive talent, etc, I'd take LeBron with his ability to switch anywhere and defend every position extremely well.

[FarBeyondDriven]

Lebron has never been a plus defender. His massive athletic and physical advantage allowed him to get some chase down blocks which are flashy and seemingly impress the casuals but he's never been a particularly good defender on or off ball. MJ was a demon on defense especially before his first retirement due to his relentless motor. When he came back he still had high defensive BBIQ and flashed but he was no longer as quick and his motor had diminished so he was no longer an elite defender but he was better then, than Lebron ever was.

[fanofthegreats]

Lebron has never been a plus defender. His massive athletic and physical advantage allowed him to get some chase down blocks which are flashy and seemingly impress the casuals but he's never been a particularly good defender on or off ball. MJ was a demon on defense especially before his first retirement due to his relentless motor. When he came back he still had high defensive BBIQ and flashed but he was no longer as quick and his motor had diminished so he was no longer an elite defender but he was better then, than Lebron ever was.

Lmao. Please stop.

[Stannis]

OP probably should have worded the thread title better.

Most of the posters didn't read the actual post and it shows:

"Overall, who is the superior defender at their best? MJ or LeBron?"

Yeah, I know overall career, it's obviously MJ. But LBJ vs MJ at their defensive peaks is a worthy discussion.

[Stannis]

This should not even be a comparison or discussion...come on...

Why? Mountains of evidence to indicate LeBron was a more impactful defender in his prime.

Yeah but Jordan has the better documentary. He beat the security guard at gambling.

He was also on the verge of making the MLB

[Iwasawitness]

Lebron at his best was an okay defender.

An okay defender doesn’t get runner up on defensive player of the year voting twice.

[HMFFL]

Jordan's and it's not remotely close.
Stop being silly

[Iwasawitness]

Lebron.
He's just a lot bigger and able to do more as a rim protector and help defender. Lebron was a much more disciplined defender as well.

MJ's a better pure point of attack guy with quicker feet and hands, but he also had a bit of lazy gambling in him. MJ liked to go for steals, and while he generated plenty of them, the trade off wasn't always positive because he left the defense in a bad position.

I think Lebron's point of attack defense got overrated after the series against the Bulls where he guarded D.Rose in spots. The rest of his defense though, is probably underrated by some fans. Prime Lebron covered so much ground and was so good at defensive rotations. Even as an old man conserving his effort, Lebron still impresses me sometimes with his ability to be proactive and rotate to the right spot (even if he's pretty bad at contesting shots or guarding the perimeter now).

They're both good defenders, but Lebron is bringing a larger overall impact on that end.

This is the only time disagree with your take. Jordan was all defensive 1st team 9x and recorded 200 steals and 100 blocks in 2 seasons. Lebron only had five 1st teams and one 2nd team. Jordan could not only school the best players of the opposing team, but score on them as well. I disagree with the "lazy" part of Jordan's defense; he was clearly the best defensive player even when he was playing against some of the best defensive players of his era (Hakeem, Mutombo, Shaq, Pippen, Payton, Rodman, etc.).

I can't say the same with Lebron; prime Lebron was a beast on defense, and he had a good 5 prime defensive years, but Jordan was dominant until he retired and went to the Wizards.

LeBron did that for a reason. He chose to conserve his energy and not give as much effort at that end. He more than likely would’ve broken the all teams record if he wanted to.

[Iwasawitness]

Jordan's and it's not remotely close.
Stop being silly

In what regard? MJ could never make the same defensive impact LeBron did at his peak. I find myself questioning anyone who thinks it’s not close between the two.

[lessthanjake]

I think peak LeBron had the ability to be a more impactful defensive player and was a legit DPOY candidate, but that was only for like 3-4 seasons. However, over the course of their careers, I'd go with Jordan

I think this is basically the answer to the thread. At his very best, LeBron was a better defender. Not a surprise, since he’s bigger. But LeBron spent huge swaths of his career not being all that great defensively (and sometimes even legitimately bad). The elite defensive years were kind of more the exception in LeBron’s career, which is not how it was with Jordan.

[ScrantonBulls]

Jordan's and it's not remotely close.
Stop being silly

In what regard? MJ could never make the same defensive impact LeBron did at his peak. I find myself questioning anyone who thinks it’s not close between the two.

HMFFL's rationale below.

https://www.cc.com/video/63ite2/the-colbert-report-the-word-truthiness

[FreeBird23]

Kuzma and its not even close

[twyzted]

Taj, you should put a little variety into your accounts, they are all bulls fans that hate on Jordan...

Yet another landslide victory for Jordan.

[Tottery]

Lets say we allow them. But then we have to us them with the other statement. That Jordan was CLEARLY the best defender over guys like Hakeem.

Block + Steal

87 Jordan 383 Hakeem 360
88 Jordan 390 Hakeem 376

Why don't I see a CLEAR lead here? I see a small one that's mostly due to Hakeem missing a few games.

If Hakeem hit his averages for the 3 games missed in 87-88, he'd still be down. There's no award for "close to being tied for 1st."

To answer the OP's question, it's Jordan. James had flashes of being great, but ultimately stopped giving that effort.

lol, yeah lets just ignore those rebound thingys....but again. He said it was CLEAR which it wasn't even using that metric.

Sure, then let's forget Jordan has 10 scoring titles as well. The steals and blocks are pretty close, but Jordan still pulls ahead. Missed the other post, my bad.