Clyde Drexler defensive

[Archaeon]

How come Clyde never make it to NBA All Defensive team? I thought his steal stats is quite good?

[Masigond]

How come Clyde never make it to NBA All Defensive team? I thought his steal stats is quite good?

First of all high steals numbers don't necessarily mean good defense. A player can gamble a lot, thus getting his 2-3 steals by playing the ball hawk in the passing lane, while leaving his opponent open for another 10 plays - that's no good defense.

That being said: Drexler had all the tools for being a great defender but he didn't concentrate on it like the guys who got voted to the All-Defensive teams. Just look at his rivals for these spots: Michael Cooper, Dennis Johnson, Sidney Moncrief, Maurice Cheeks, Joe Dumars, Alvin Robertson, John Stockton, Derek Harper, Scottie Pippen, Gary Payton and Michael Jordan: Either guys who were known as real defensive specialists or at least known for giving much effort on the defensive end. Remember that Drexler had the problem that his game seemed to be that effortless.
The jury arguably had the impression that he could have done even more. In all Drexler was a good defensive player. But not giving it all or naturally being that great on defense to get voted over all those renowned perimeter defenders of that era.

[Warspite]

Making an all D team over GP, Cooper, Squid, Robertson, MJ is something no current player could do. The other factor is that all defense teams ment something back then. it wasnt just given to the best defender who scored 25ppg.

[tsherkin]

No current wing, anyway. That said, Lebron could probably make it over Cooper, Robertson and Squid. Robertson's D was a little overrated by his steals and of course we know a little bit more about the relative value of perimeter defense than we did when those first few awards were being handed out. Then again, LBJ is a forward these days, so he almost becomes irrelevant, and that leaves who?

Paul, Tony Allen, Bradley and Conley, right? Allen would certainly be competitive with Cooper for an All-D mention, especially given that they line up in terms of time on court.

Payton and Jordan have the 1st Team on lockdown, of course... and we're actually still not mentioning Stockton, who was on the All-D teams in 89, 91, 92 and 95 (97 as well, but that was WELL past Drexler's prime, since it was his second-last season).

That really leaves only two spots for Drexler to have fought with and yeah, no guard today would be getting past those two for a First Team mention, so it would be a dogfight.

[lorak]

How come Clyde never make it to NBA All Defensive team? I thought his steal stats is quite good?

His steals are nice, but his defense was bad. He often looked like he was uninterested in defense, he gave up to quickly, his defensive awareness wasn't anything special.

[bastillon]

Drexler's prime was in 88-93. Moncrief was irrelevant at that point. Robertson was past his prime too. Cooper was long gone in the 90s. GP started being a great defender in like 94-95. MJ wasn't in the league in 94. the competition wasn't really that strong. the best non-MJ defender was Dumars. I'd take Tony Allen over Dumars easily (length, strength, help defense, rebounding). look at the guards who made all-defensive teams during Drexler's prime: MJ, Dumars, Stockton, Robertson, Fat Lever, Harper, Micheal Williams, Starks, Blaylock. competition wasn't stacked or anything, its just that Drexler wasn't very good defensively, especially if you value man defense a lot.

if anything wing defense was very poor back then compared to today. pretty much no super athletic SFs around, or those with 6'8 length 7+ wingspan etc. no Marion, Iguodala, Deng, Kirilenko, Tony Allen, Sefolosha. to me wing defense is much better today. not even close.