Michael Jordan. L Only 7.2 percent of Jordan's career field-goal . But Jordan also excelled as a guard in an era when hand-checking them was legal, when teams like the Bad Boy Pistons could draw up physical defenses specifically designed to pummel the opponents star. Can you name the 2 other players in NBA history to average 40+ PPG in the first 6 games of an NBA Finals series? A 10:42 AM. G @Neil_Paine, NBA (1152 posts) O 0.44 Especially on the defensive end. Those defensive players, because of their great footwork, skills and intelligence, force their opponents into bad nights and do whatever they need to do to be a defensive standout at all times. Over his career, he averaged 30.2 pace-adjusted4 points per 36 minutes, easily the most of any qualified player since 1977. Most guys couldn't or didn't want to absorb the contact. [ Levis has supreme arm talent and an ultra . He could also switch guarding any of the 1 to 4 positions without a problem. Michael Jordan had a defensive rating of 102.7 in his career. Here are the greatest man-to-man defenders in the NBA history! F V ] P "I liken it to a five-speed car. L He outranks Jordan in career Defensive Win Shares, believe it or not, and his 4.0 Steal Rate in those two non-Jordan seasons were the highest ever for a player 6-8 or higher, by miles and miles. V F F And he found a way not only to become a great defensive player, but the best defensive player in the NBA. P Dave DeBusschere, Walt Frazier, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Willis Reed, Michael Cooper and so on. GOAT (13) This 69-point, 18-rebound effort against the Cleveland Cavaliers from 1990. F P In 1992, Ainge finished the season with Portland. Even Jordan said that Joe Dumars was the toughest defender he has faced, and we all know how terrific Jordan was. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. To score under 100 career long is extremely impressive. t O This is especially true for players such as Bruce Bowen and Trenton Hassell who are defensive specialists but don't get many blocks or steals. Awards The Dream impresses even on the stat sheet. Having a lockdown defender is always useful. Share Results Compare single seasons or full career Ex. Kobe finishes nowhere near Michael Jordan (3.1%), Chris Paul (3.2%) or John Stockton (3.5%). During the 2000's, no one else played better perimeter defense than the great Bruce Bowen, who is known for his ability to defend. O Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. He expected his teammates to do the same. F Hakeem Olajuwon: 9 x NBA All-Defense, 3 x BLK Champion, 2 x DPOY, All-time leader in in blocks (3,830). He also had good skills and a big body, who put in hard work in every single game. Compare multiple combined seasons for up to six players Search Criteria But MJ has the stats on his side: He remains the NBAs all-time career leader in Win Shares per 48 minutes and Player Efficiency Rating, both of which can be computed going back to 1951-52. l Dennis Rodman couldn't do many things right, but for everything bad that he did on and off the court, he was an unquestionable success rebounding and defending. Take, for example, the sequence that set up his iconic final shot as a Bull against the Utah Jazz in the 1998 NBA Finals. Let me also mention that Jordan's scoring average is 5.1 points more than Bryant. Or that Jordan had a strong supporting cast with multiple Hall of Famers (including Jackson as coach) and hyper-efficient role players (Steve Kerr, Horace Grant, etc.). A the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. The three-point shot entered the league in 197980 season. He was an athletic forward who had toughness, nice jumping ability, long hands and footwork combined with nice skills that earned him eight All-Defensive First Teams selections. B Only two qualified players in NBA history had a career usage rate of at least 30 percent with a turnover percentage under 10 percent Jordan and Dominique Wilkins (rivals in a couple of iconic 1980s dunk contests). at Return to Top; Players. > Career Player Efficiency Rating. to his advantage. Well, Michael was just as clever. The guy's attention to detail was impeccable. 2 1984-85 Jordan 1985-86 Jordan 1986-87 Jordan 1987-88 Jordan 1988-89 Jordan 1989-90 Jordan 1990-91 Jordan 1991-92 Jordan 1992-93 Jordan 1994-95 Jordan 1995-96 Jordan 1996-97 Jordan 1997 . Overall advanced defensive statistics Defensive rating essentially measures how many baskets a player gives up per 100 possessions. He was an athletic, strong, skilled and quick defender that would often guard the opponent's top scorer while still lighting up the scoreboard. F Michael Jordan and Gary Payton both won defensive player of the year in their career, and were defensive anchors for their respective teams. i B Given these values, with a bit of math we can show that a player will break even on his two point field goal attempts if he hits on 30.4% of these shots. g ] K Garnett played his entire career with limitless energy and 100% effort. Get viral NBA graphics, memes, rumors and trending news delivered right to your inbox with the Clutch Newsletter. His skills, intelligence and athleticism also helped him a lot in locking down his man. Kawhi may be silent off the court, but his impact on the court is definitely heard. What Are His Chances For 2024? + ): 11 (7885th overall since 1960) High School: Plymouth Draft: Cincinnati Bengals in the 4th round (136th overall) of the 2019 NFL Draft. Everyone remembers the drive, pull-up and arguable push-off as Jordan freed himself from Bryon Russell and drained the championship clinching jumper. P Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. P Jordan posted higher rates of steals, blocks and defensive rebounds than Bryant, and team-based defensive metrics like Dean Oliver's defensive rating consider Jordan far superior (101.1. T Antoine Walker experienced his forcefulness on opening night of the 1997-98 season. Read up on Michael Jordan's biography, career, awards and more on ESPN. Porter's 40% forced incompletion rate in 2022 led all Power Five cornerbacks. Why was Jordan so great, though? ] Very few could lock their man up regardless of their positions like former great Bad Boy Joe Dumars, who was called "Joe D." That D stood for defense, which is the perfect nickname for this legend that had superb professionalism. This guy said, Those are my weaknesses. = F G He knew everyone's game and that helped a lot, which made him even stronger in one-on-one matchups, as he was called to guard the opponent's best big men and forced them into their worst nights. They are interchangeable in terms of making. He was a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, and made seven All-NBA Defensive teams, including five first team appearances. At only 29, he is already a 2 x DPOY and 6 x All Defense. "I think Reggie got under Michael's skin," Jackson says. Although slightly higher than Leonard, 102 is still a very good NBA defensive rating. Pippen, however, only scored under 100 four times in seventeen seasons. T Usually, "imposing his will" referred to Jordan's gravity-defying dunks or artistic layups in traffic. Payton is one of the best defenders Michael Jordan ever played against, as he helped force Jordan to his worst scoring and shooting Finals series (27.3 points on 42 percent from field). had a defensive rating of 106.8 in his rookie season in 1984-85. Consistently. 0.44 m Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Penalty save on the stroke of half-time prevented Everton from going in two goals down at the break as he won the battle of wits with Maddison to stay on his feet and parry his . And he still managed to get to the line roughly once out of every three shots he took from the field, making 84 percent of his free throws. That adds volume to the defense that "The Squid" had during his entire career. This wasnt quite true back in October, but Chris Paul played below his career average this season, dropping his lifetime rating slightly below Jordans. He was picking up guys full court on every possession for the entire 30 minutes he played. Very few could be argued as better stoppers on their man. A On three pointers the break-even point is 21.4%. An exasperated Jordan, who missed 16 of his 23 shots in that game, waved off his teammates and guarded Walker for the final minutes. He also had 14 win shares. P It's funny, [Larry] Bird and Magic [Johnson], neither of them was a super athlete, so we gave them all this credit for their brains. In June 1998, as Jordan's career in Chicago dwindled to its final days, he challenged his teammates to close out their "last dance" by dominating the game on the defensive end. [ 2 In that series, Detroit averaged just 0.79 points per play with Jordan as the primary defender, and shot just 35%, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information. Hakeem also ranks 9th all time in steals. In addition to being omnipresent in the old YouTube clips weve all been watching, MJ will also take center stage in a 10-part ESPN documentary, The Last Dance, which premieres Sunday.1 The film covers the 1997-98 season, Jordans final year in Chicago, as well as Jordans cultural significance and that of the Bulls dynasty as a whole. Kobe Bryant has more career points than Michael Jordan, but Jordan was the better scorer between the two. F E In reality, he was most effective defending only centers and power forwards. c + He led the league in . The player with the highest grade at the end will be crowned the best defender in NBA history. He would, of course, bounce back to dominate in 1996. R He led the league in steals and was 14th in blocks -- the only guard in the top 40 that season. What better way to keep track of the ball than guarding the guy with the ball? Just ask James Harden, Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, or Trae Young. P P ) "In my mind, Michael was actually a defensive player who also happened to be an exceptionally talented offensive player," says B.J. Active players are listed in bold ( Jordan Pickford 7. Pippen was athletic enough to defend guys on the perimeter, and strong enough to battle with the big men down low. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? "Michael knew exactly what we were doing," says Armstrong, who was a reserve on that Hornets team. 2 l G The other thing that people told him was that he wasnt really a good defensive player, Jackson said. Facing multiple Hall-of-Famers from his position, he often outmatched them all to lead his team to wins! ( The fact that he is also a two-time defensive player of the year and the all-time blocks leader just speaks to his presence on the defensive end. [7] The debate was intensified on 1 October 2013, with Jordan stating that he would have liked to have played against LeBron, and believes he would have won a one-on-one encounter. Hollinger has set up PER so that the league average, every season, is 15.00, which produces sort of a handy reference guide:[2]. ] Sports may be shut down, but Michael Jordan is as relevant as hes been in a long time. A And he did it by shooting and shooting and shooting and shooting. If you had the opportunity to make your ideal NBA defender, it would probably look like Scottie Pippen. Of course, theres also been a lot of mythology built up around MJ over the past three decades, and The Last Dance is sure to add to it even as the movies director, Jason Hehir, says he took steps to humanize Jordan. o [ B ] G As a result, Jordan is an outlier on the furthest boundary of the usage-vs.-efficiency curve for all-time players: Jordans placement is even more impressive when you consider that he didnt make much use of the 3-point shot. R Some have argued that PER gives undue weight to a player's contribution in limited minutes, or against a team's second unit, and it undervalues players who have enough diversity in their game to play starter's minutes. Jordan relentlessly tracked guards Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, pickpocketing them in the backcourt or springing out of his low defensive stance with catlike quickness to flood their passing lanes. Active players are listed in bold. He returned to basketball in March 1995. Data Provided By He was going to make sure that no one could ever think they were in his category. E 17, 2020, E . R "Michael would say, 'I know what you want to do, you're not going right at all today.' Michael Jordan (18) t Ainge says that's not entirely accurate. Plus his ability to block shots was awesome too. 3 Russell was also one of the very few seven-footers in the NBA during his time in the NBA. JORDAN DIDN'T MAKE his first All-Defense team until the 1987-88 season, his fourth year in the league. Actually, if we took a player that was completely average in every other respect for the 200607 seasonrebounds, free throws, assists, turnovers, etc.and gave him a league-average rate of shots, and all of them were 2-pointers, and he shot 30.4%, he'd end up with a PER of 7.18. Duncan was an incredible NBA rim protector for decades, but outside of the paint, he didnt really have much of an impact. T m Rodgers, a four-time MVP winner, departs Green Bay as the Packers' franchise leader in touchdowns (475), completion percentage (65.3) and passer rating (103.6). Jordans most underrated offensive strength of all might have been his ability to generate high-quality shots (for himself and others) without turning the ball over. The formula is: u B IF THERE'S ONE thing that "The Last Dance" has demonstrated, it's that Michael Jordan was nearly impossible to guard. He wasn't the strongest, tallest or quickest, but he was a skilled and productive defender. The lower your defensive rating is, the better. . (0:29). He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009. Jackson warned his Pacers teammates about Jordan's uncommon defensive resolve. Regular Season, Playoffs, All-Star) Awards. Very impressive defensive resume from Kawhi. 0.56 m A league-average PER is always 15.00, which permits comparisons of player performance across seasons. StatMuse has season-level data for defensive rating going back to the 1973-74 season. Hakeems sustained greatness on the defensive end shows with his nine-time NBA all defensive team honours (Tied for 7th most ever). F Some of the more important rule changes that should be considered include; some of the players on this list, such as Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, played before the three-point shot, blocks, and steals stats were officially recorded. The amazing thing is that Jordan wasnt supposed to excel in the areas that ended up being cornerstones of his legend. T I'm sitting there watching Michael, and he was just unbelievable. Michael could take that initial bump. ) Full Site Menu. His best defensive work came in the 2000 season, when against LA he held Shaquille O'Neal to just 23 points per game during his monster season. People were wondering, 'Why is Jordan guarding the backup point guard on this team?' A From quarterbacks Will Levis and Hendon Hooker to defensive backs Brian Branch and Joey Porter Jr., we . D Regardless of how skilled the players are on the offensive end, without solid defense, there will always be the argument of hes not a complete player. Only 31 times has a player posted a season efficiency rating over 30.0 (with more than 15 games played in that season), with the highest score being 32.85 (Nikola Joki). That team was an offensive powerhouse, finishing no worse than second at that end of the court in any season, but also finishing no better than fourth on defense. i V NBA MVP, All-NBA, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, All-Rookie, Hall of Fame . l Now, I wasn't one of our primary offensive threats, but Jordan understood we were trying to keep him away from the ball. Alabama defensive back Jordan Battle was drafted in the third round by the Cincinnati Bengals. P That should be scary for all other teams. ) T Michael Jordan. This final step takes away the advantage held by players whose teams play a fastbreak style (and therefore have more possessions and more opportunities to do things on offense), and then sets the league average to 15.00. G Seasons with Bulls: 13 (1984-1993, 1995-1998) Born: February 17, 1963 in Brooklyn, N.Y. . Indeed, Jordan had a 101 defensive rating in the 1996 and 1997 playoffs. O + How did a 6-foot-6 shooting guard from North Carolina, who wasnt picked first OR second in his draft class, come to dominate a league whose best players had disproportionately been big men over the three decades before he arrived? B + Jordan was in town as a member of the Dream Team to play exhibition games in the Tournament of the Americas. He was often called to defend players from multiple positions too, anything from 1-4. Subscribe to Stathead, the set of tools used by the pros, to unearth this and other interesting factoids. + L Russell had phenomenal instincts and was very quick. [13], Former ABA and NBA Coach Larry Brown is quoted as saying: "The college game is much more physical (than the NBA) [] I always tease Michael (Jordan), if he played today, he'd average 50."[14]. Michael Jordan had a defensive rating of 102.7 in his career. Leonard is currently the best two-way player in the NBA and has been over the last half-decade. P T He also held Jordan under 30 points five times in six games during the 1996 NBA Finals. + He established himself as one of the best defensive guards in NBA history because of his bulk and rocket-launcher legs, which helped him frequently win battles against players nearly a foot taller. F Although Kobe never won a DPOY, he received NBA All-Defensive Team Honours 12 times over his career. A [ 2023 ABC News Internet Ventures. B Im gonna figure out how to make those my strengths. And he did it.. The two hit the links for 36 holes the morning of Team USA's first game against Cuba. S O 82: . Duncan is the epitome of defensive excellence. Michael Jordan had a defensive rating of 106.8 in his rookie season in 1984-85. The game is different now than when it was played in the 1980s or even before that". = He was one of the most feared lockdown defenders to ever step on a NBA hardwood. ( Round 7, Pick 225: Jovaughn Gwyn, G, South Carolina. His offense was perhaps equally good to his defense. He also. R His length allowed him to contest shots on the outside, but a lack of speed deterred him from being an effective perimeter defender. S Bill Russell was the symbol of great defense, who successfully revolutionized the concepts of defense on the court and was the game's very first lockdown defender. The way he moved, anticipated and invented ways to score based off what he saw on the defensive end he never cheated the process.". So a player can be an inefficient scorer and simply inflate his value by taking a large number of shots. g T "That, combined with his athleticism, made him a suffocating defender. Here we will examine some of the advanced defensive statistics to see how these players rank against each other. Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and Gary Payton were all fantastic NBA perimeter defenders. Even the great legend Wilt Chamberlain had problems with his offense against this guy. g He was a versatile defender, as he was often called up to guard players from multiple positions. Bryant won eight All-First Team Defensive selections and two All-Second Team selections, which adds volume to his great ability to lock down his man. Despite the difficulty and inherent inefficiency of Jordans shot selection, he still managed to make an impressive 51 percent of his career 2-point attempts, notably higher than such similarly midrange-focused players as Bryant (48 percent), Carmelo Anthony (47 percent), Russell Westbrook (47 percent) and even Dirk Nowitzki (50 percent). Do you have a sports website? P V m Clicking on a tab heading will display the specified set of statistics. The fact that Pippen was able to average the most steals per game in the NBA in a season is so impressive considering he is a forward. A This required Jordan to track Mason defensively in transition. PER largely measures offensive performance. Jordan and Co. always seemed to ratchet up the intensity, especially during the playoffs. Scaled to a tempo of 100 possessions per game. This allowed him to completely dominate the paint in an era where scoring from the inside was coveted. Subscribe to Stathead Basketball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Basketball Reference Database. His finest moment came in the 1984 Finals as part of the Boston Celtics, where he shut down the much taller and stronger Earvin "Magic" Johnson. ] This defensive ability vaulted players into greatness, or even to an elite Hall of Fame level. He has earned 10 All-Defensive Team Selections, including eight on the first team! Charlotte stunned Chicago in Game 2, 78-76. S And that was not Michael Jordan's fault. Hollinger freely admits that two of the defensive statistics it incorporatesblocks and steals (which was not tracked as an official stat until 1973)can produce a distorted picture of a player's value and that PER is not a reliable measure of a player's defensive acumen. O On May 6, 1998, Chicago Bulls guard Michael Jordan was named to the NBA All-Defensive first team, becoming the first player in history to accomplish that feat nine times. *Includes players listed as guard/forward at Basketball-Reference.com. Yet Jordans numbers have held up to challenges from LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and numerous others in the generations that followed in his footsteps. He could play in third gear and be better than most. Despite having a size disadvantage, Michael Jordan repeatedly wins his defensive matchups in the paint against Charles Barkley. Hakeem Olajuwon DBPM: 2.5 (career average), Scottie Pippen DBPM: 1.8 (career average). 1988. T It's a shame he played in Milwaukee and did not have a great team around him. Few have dominated in the paint with their defense like the great Tim Duncan, who maximized his talent by playing perfect fundamentally and more to the ground, which is different than most big men. T Over the years there have been plenty of premier defenders in the NBA who have worn the label of best defender in the NBA. Nine of them were All-First Team selections. Michael Jordan was a 6'6, 195-215lb freak of nature. t [ F Just like Lebron he is considered one of the most athletic players ever too. May 6, 2021 12:31 pm ET. The Falcons certainly kept true to their . g At under 280 pounds, he's on the small side for an interior lineman but he has speed (a 4.79 40), which Moore said is becoming more important among interior defensive linemen because . g . It is also adjusted for the team's pace. Using a detailed formula, Hollinger developed a system that rates every player's statistical performance.[1]. Once uPER is calculated, it must be adjusted for team pace and normalized to the league to become PER: P l B Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Each of these NBA players demonstrated defensive excellence throughout their careers, and some still havent even finished their defensive legacy. T P Only 31 times has a player posted a season efficiency rating over 30.0 (with more than 15 games played in that season), with the highest score being 32.85 (Nikola Joki).Michael Jordan and LeBron James lead with four 30+ seasons, with Shaquille O'Neal, Wilt Chamberlain, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Joki and Joel Embiid having accomplished three each, Anthony Davis having accomplished two . m In the 1987-88 season, Michael Jordan led the league in scoring with 35 points a game, was named the defensive player of the year, and won MVP. m "Reggie had great respect for Michael, but he wasn't afraid. Jordan's defensive acumen was apparent in real time; he was selected first team All-Defense on nine occasions, tied with Gary Payton, Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant for most ever. He was also an elite perimeter defender with a RAPTOR plus/minus of +2.2, which ranks fourth among players that Basketball-Reference lists as guards or guard-forwards since 1976-77: Best RAPTOR defensive plus/minus ratings for NBA guards* with at least 15,000 minutes played since 1976-77, including regular season and playoffs.