Was LeBron's defense this year....

[Rasheeed!!!]

Deff. not All-NBA worthy.....@ his position Battier, Bowen, Prince, Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson had better years.

[yo_penny1]

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So you believe that Kobe played 1st team defense this season?

Since you have asked many questions, why don't you state your opinion?

[HarlemHeat37]

since handchecking isn't allowed as much and physicality isn't allowed as much in today's NBA, I think it's much harder to exert all that energy offensively and have enough energy to lock down one of the other team's best scorers..it's rare to see ANYBODY'S best player guarding the other team's best for a long amount of time, it's been like this for a few years now..

[Kobay]

^but they allow hand checking majority of the time especially now in the playoffs. Plus they rarely call hand checking when star is guarding.

For LeBron, You can't tell if LeBron is good defender or not because he is usually big for his position and really makes it a living hell when he guards smaller players because he recovers quickly to block the shots after he gets screened. But that is not the defense we are used to seeing, its still a gamble. He is like Josh Smith lite which is no knock at all. Its really hard to evaluate his defense compared to Battier and Bowen who just simply lowers guy's shooting % dramatically.

[Showtime:Part2]

lol at how its hard for lebron fans to admit that kobe is a 1st team all nba defender while its easy for a laker fan like me to admit that lebron was worthy of 2nd team all nba D. you guys have a serious insecurity complex.

[Icefire10304]

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Since you have asked many questions, why don't you state your opinion?

I thought Kobe's defense this year was good but not 1st team worthy. When Bynum went down with the knee injury, he was forced to carry some of the offensive load. However, when they got Gasol in the trade, he regained some of the offensive power for his team. His defense stayed pretty much the same since the trade and improved only a tad bit. LeBron's defense this year was very good and he's actually underrated in that aspect.

[Icefire10304]

^but they allow hand checking majority of the time especially now in the playoffs. Plus they rarely call hand checking when star is guarding.

For LeBron, You can't tell if LeBron is good defender or not because he is usually big for his position and really makes it a living hell when he guards smaller players because he recovers quickly to block the shots after he gets screened. But that is not the defense we are used to seeing, its still a gamble. He is like Josh Smith lite which is no knock at all. Its really hard to evaluate his defense compared to Battier and Bowen who just simply lowers guy's shooting % dramatically.

Isn't that part of defense? Using your body well to guard players?

[TheKingOfVa360]

Lebron is an average defender usually and above average in the 4th quarter. Guys like Kobe, Battier, Bell, Rajon Rondo, Gerald Wallace, Bowen, Artest, Prince, and Gerald Wallace would make the team over him at the g/f spots.

[TheOUTLAW]

I think that LeBron is better than just about any of those guys in the 4th quarter. So IMO it's not really about ability, it's about effort. I don't think he'll be able to give more energy to defense in quarters 1-3 without getting more help on the offensive end.

[DowJones]

Kobe Bryant is the most overrated defensive player in the NBA, and this is coming from a guy who likes Kobe as a player. All you have to do is go look at the stats from opposing SG/SF's that play the Lakers. The All-Stars put up huge numbers on the Lakers, so either Kobe isn't guarding them or he is getting beat by them. Either way, that doesn't scream 1st team All-NBA on the defensive end.

The guy who got screwed was Prince. Kobe Bryant is not even close to being the defender that Prince is. Battier is also a much better defender than Bryant. At best Kobe is 2nd team defense. Ron Artest also should be up there every year, he probably just slacked off this season.

[The_Believer]

Battier, Artest, SJax, G-Wall, etsc all had much better defensive years than LeBron did. I like LeBron, but his defense is starting to become really overrated after this Pierce series.

[Big Bird]

^^Agreed on the Prince&Battier part, but the thing is they are listed as F, while Kobe is a G.

btw, which are these SG/SFs that put HUGE numbers on the Lakers? I mean is there some factual proof for this year (I don't have the time to go look at boxscores atm and don't recall that many games of that matter) or is it just a generalization based on the 51 from Iverson (only 23 of those were scored on Kobe - if you count his FTs)? I think a link from 82games.com meassures the PER of the opponent at a certain position or something, perhaps that would be useful in this discussion.

I think LeBron could've been 2nd team, but the competition in the Forward spot is a lot better, so I can see why he's been dropped. Next year perhaps, his D has vastly improved.

[NO-KG-AI]

Battier and Prince play a man up role, and they are getting wayyy overrated. Kobe plays like a roamer, his guys are going to get some things.

[Chubby Chaser]

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So you believe Kobe played better defense than LeBron this year?

You're funny.