Better defensive peak: Ron Artest vs Lebron James

HeartBreakKid · Post #1 » by **HeartBreakKid** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:41 pm

Who do you think was the better defender at their respective best?

Winsome Gerbil · Post #2 » by **Winsome Gerbil** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:45 pm

Peak? Artest. LeBron gets a little overrated on that end at time. He's a rock, and has been a rock on that end for years. But he's got other things on his mind. Artest on the other hand was a smothering psychotic monster at his peak. Not just a great defender, an impact defender/leader. For a moment about as good as any player that size has been, and added in raw intimidation as well.

eminence · Post #3 » by **eminence** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:53 pm

For a full season I'd go Metta, though I think LeBron has had a few more impressive series he just doesn't have the drive to keep that up all season long.

mischievous · Post #4 » by **mischievous** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 10:30 pm

Artest.

Amare_1_Knicks · Post #5 » by **Amare_1_Knicks** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 11:07 pm

Give me Lebron. Artest was supremely gifted as a perimeter defender, and contributed so much to that Pacers defense in the early 2000's, but Jermaine probably had as much of a hand in that as Artest did(IMO, more). Lebron, on the other hand has essentially been anchoring defenses since 2010 really, essentially playing safety defensively and providing weak side help, and chase down blocks that Artest simply never could. I won't knock anyone taking Artest but this is clearly Lebron, for me.

oaktownwarriors87 · Post #6 » by **oaktownwarriors87** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 11:09 pm

LeBron has his moments but he's not an elite defender like Artest.

Dupp · Post #7 » by **Dupp** » Thu Sep 21, 2017 12:16 am

Playoffs, Lebron pretty comfortably. His team defense for the best at his "peak" in Miami is pretty far above artest honestly.

magicmerl · Post #8 » by **magicmerl** » Thu Sep 21, 2017 12:28 am

LeBron can't put that much energy into defense because he needs to shoulder an offensive load as well.

Artest is defense first.

Jedi32 · Post #9 » by **Jedi32** » Thu Sep 21, 2017 2:12 am

it seems like lebron is starting to get overrated on that end of the court. this is artest for regular season or playoffs.

RCM88x · Post #10 » by **RCM88x** » Thu Sep 21, 2017 3:23 am

Season - Artest
Series - LeBron

mademan · Post #11 » by **mademan** » Thu Sep 21, 2017 3:24 am

Artest. That said, I think Lebron had the greatest defensive performance by a wing player in the 2016 finals (and to a larger extent, his entire playoff run that year)

Jurassic_Park · Post #12 » by **Jurassic_Park** » Thu Sep 21, 2017 5:09 pm

artest pretty comfortably

Drylick · Post #13 » by **Drylick** » Mon Sep 25, 2017 12:53 pm

Artest. LeBron has no argument regardless if he was more versatile.

bizil · Post #14 » by **bizil** » Mon Sep 25, 2017 5:09 pm

As far as pure man on man defender, Artest. And Artest in his own right was a very good two way player too. He was more productive on offense than guys like a Cooper, Bowen, Tony Allen, etc. But Bron at his best was a great defender too. In Bron's early days in the league, he wasn't a great defender. ONCE he came into his own as a defender, that's when he passed Kobe by as the best player in the world. He had the total package Kobe had at that point, BUT was also more versatile and a more efficient scorer.

70sFan · Post #15 » by **70sFan** » Mon Sep 25, 2017 5:24 pm

bizil wrote:As far as pure man on man defender, Artest. And Artest in his own right was a very good two way player too. He was more productive on offense that guys like a Cooper, Bowen, Tony Allen, etc. But Bron at his best was a great defender too. In Bron's early days in the league, he wasn't a great defender. ONCE he came into his own as a defender, that's when he passed Kobe by as the best player in the world. He had the total package Kobe had at that point, BUT was also more versatile and a more efficient scorer.

Cooper was better offensively than Artest and I'd definitely take him over Ron on my offense.

bizil · Post #16 » by **bizil** » Mon Sep 25, 2017 5:38 pm

70sFan wrote:
bizil wrote:As far as pure man on man defender, Artest. And Artest in his own right was a very good two way player too. He was more productive on offense that guys like a Cooper, Bowen, Tony Allen, etc. But Bron at his best was a great defender too. In Bron's early days in the league, he wasn't a great defender. ONCE he came into his own as a defender, that's when he passed Kobe by as the best player in the world. He had the total package Kobe had at that point, BUT was also more versatile and a more efficient scorer.

Cooper was better offensively than Artest and I'd definitely take him over Ron on my offense.

LMAO!!!! How was Coop better than Artest on offense??? His career was 11.9 PPG AND he came off the bench the majority of his career. Artest averaged over 15PPG numerous seasons. Coop was a better passer, but Ron was the better scorer. There's are reason why Coop was coming off the bench all those years. Peak Artest was All Star SF, DPOY, and All NBA 3rd team. Coop was NEVER regarded as one of the top two way players in the league. Peak Artest was ALWAYS regarded as one of the top two way players in the league!

HeartBreakKid · Post #17 » by **HeartBreakKid** » Mon Sep 25, 2017 5:43 pm

bizil wrote:
70sFan wrote:
bizil wrote:As far as pure man on man defender, Artest. And Artest in his own right was a very good two way player too. He was more productive on offense that guys like a Cooper, Bowen, Tony Allen, etc. But Bron at his best was a great defender too. In Bron's early days in the league, he wasn't a great defender. ONCE he came into his own as a defender, that's when he passed Kobe by as the best player in the world. He had the total package Kobe had at that point, BUT was also more versatile and a more efficient scorer.

Cooper was better offensively than Artest and I'd definitely take him over Ron on my offense.

LMAO!!!! How was Coop better than Artest on offense??? His career was 11.9 PPG AND he came off the bench the majority of his career. Artest averaged over 15PPG numerous seasons. Coop was a better passer, but Ron was the better scorer. There's are reason why Coop was coming off the bench all those years. Peak Artest was All Star SF, DPOY, and All NBA 3rd team. Coop was NEVER regarded as one of the top two players in the league. Peak Artest was ALWAYS regarded as one of the top two way players in the league!

It's because Cooper knew his role on offense and Artest didn't.

Ron Artest couldn't control himself offensively, and tried to be something he wasn't. He tried creating his own offense, and he didn't do a good job at it.

Basically, Ron Artest could score 15-18 points because he would take a lot of shots. That isn't good at all, someone like Cooper is more useful to a good team with real offensive options. Would you rather have Nick Young or Danny Green offensively?

bizil · Post #18 » by **bizil** » Mon Sep 25, 2017 5:56 pm

HeartBreakKid wrote:
bizil wrote:
70sFan wrote:
Cooper was better offensively than Artest and I'd definitely take him over Ron on my offense.

LMAO!!!! How was Coop better than Artest on offense??? His career was 11.9 PPG AND he came off the bench the majority of his career. Artest averaged over 15PPG numerous seasons. Coop was a better passer, but Ron was the better scorer. There's are reason why Coop was coming off the bench all those years. Peak Artest was All Star SF, DPOY, and All NBA 3rd team. Coop was NEVER regarded as one of the top two players in the league. Peak Artest was ALWAYS regarded as one of the top two way players in the league!

It's because Cooper knew his role on offense and Artest didn't.

Ron Artest couldn't control himself offensively, and tried to be something he wasn't. He tried creating his own offense, and he didn't do a good job at it.

Basically, Ron Artest could score 15-18 points because he would take a lot of shots. That isn't good at all, someone like Cooper is more useful to a good team with real offensive options. Would you rather have Nick Young or Danny Green offensively?

'
Once again, why was Coop coming off the bench all those years. Artest was an All NBA SF and All Star. I'm not saying Artest was a great offensive player. BUT he was a better one than Coop. Coop only averaged double figure scoring in two seasons....

HeartBreakKid · Post #19 » by **HeartBreakKid** » Mon Sep 25, 2017 6:00 pm

bizil wrote:
HeartBreakKid wrote:
bizil wrote:
LMAO!!!! How was Coop better than Artest on offense??? His career was 11.9 PPG AND he came off the bench the majority of his career. Artest averaged over 15PPG numerous seasons. Coop was a better passer, but Ron was the better scorer. There's are reason why Coop was coming off the bench all those years. Peak Artest was All Star SF, DPOY, and All NBA 3rd team. Coop was NEVER regarded as one of the top two players in the league. Peak Artest was ALWAYS regarded as one of the top two way players in the league!

It's because Cooper knew his role on offense and Artest didn't.

Ron Artest couldn't control himself offensively, and tried to be something he wasn't. He tried creating his own offense, and he didn't do a good job at it.

Basically, Ron Artest could score 15-18 points because he would take a lot of shots. That isn't good at all, someone like Cooper is more useful to a good team with real offensive options. Would you rather have Nick Young or Danny Green offensively?

'
Once again, why was Coop coming off the bench all those years. Artest was an All NBA SF and All Star. I'm not saying Artest was a great offensive player. BUT he was a better one than Coop. Coop only averaged double figure scoring in two seasons....

Because the Lakers were stacked. Where's the shame of coming off the bench on a great team? It doesn't really infer much about offense either, think about it - most 6th man of the year winners are offensive players.

Cooper only averaged double figures, but how much scoring did the Lakers need? When Ron Artest went to the Lakers, he scored only about 11 points - which is comparable to what Cooper did but Artest was way less efficient.

Ron Artest was a better player than Cooper, I am not disagreeing - but it's because Ron Artest is in another class of defense than Cooper was - it wasn't because Artest could jack up shots.

mischievous · Post #20 » by **mischievous** » Tue Sep 26, 2017 1:41 am

Amare_1_Knicks wrote:Give me Lebron. Artest was supremely gifted as a perimeter defender, and contributed so much to that Pacers defense in the early 2000's, but Jermaine probably had as much of a hand in that as Artest did(IMO, more). Lebron, on the other hand has essentially been anchoring defenses since 2010 really, essentially playing safety defensively and providing weak side help, and chase down blocks that Artest simply never could. I won't knock anyone taking Artest but this is clearly Lebron, for me.

The question is about peak, so the bringing up what Lebron did from 2010-2017 is irrelevant. I don't get picking Lebron here. People get so enamored with the moments
Lebron picks it up and reaches high heights. I've watched Lebron a lot when he was on the Heat and a fair amount pre and post Heat, he simply never played at that level consistently game to game over a full season. Artest, at least for peak was legit lockdown defender every night, Lebron was never that.

Who peaked higher defensively?