His Greatness

Cloud, Squall, and now Lightning. The protagonist in XIV is going to be named Haiti Earthquake.

Who was ranked at fifth before this season? Carter? Ginobili? Jackson and Ellis just don't feel right.

He's protected (like every superstar), but I would wager that it has less to do with the officiating and more to do with his style of defense and him just being smarter with his fouls. Aside from the occasional strip and block attempts, when have you ever seen him play physical? He doesn't body up on the perimeter, and he never takes unnecessary fouls inside. Watch him on the outside next time: he's often very liberal with the amount of space he gives his man. The Artest brand of defense is very different from the LeBron brand of defense. I believe someone collected a series of 'questionable' plays regarding his fouls on defense last year in the playoffs and there was nothing conclusive.

I'm torn on LT. His ego presents a foreseeable problem, and I still feel we should be cultivating young talent with Young, who is well prepared for the backup role. Peterson should also be getting more touches. It's a wonderful tradeoff for Chester talent-wise, but I am not as excited about the possibility of this as other fans are.

Holiday has the higher ceiling, and is already one of the best first-year defenders I've ever seen, but Collison is the superior player. This will become a legitimate debate in three years' time.

If you're not saying that it's everything, then why are you implying that Brown is just as good a defender as LeBron "for all I know"? There is no timing statistic, but you don't need one. You eventually get a feel for it if you observe them enough, just like with everything in basketball. Having the physical tools to do everything (like LeBron) is a plus. BTW, judging from the infrequency of Brown's blocks—27 career total, 14 total this season and averaging .2 BPG—I'm inclined to believe these are spectacular occurrences rather than something routine. And that is absurd — no one is as athletic as LeBron. And he is much bigger than Shannon Brown, which makes a huge difference when you're judging this.

I hope Obama declares war on Canada tomorrow.

You're getting caught in the trap that team/help defense is all steals and blocks again. It's not. And uh, my proof is through watching. It's the only "proof" you need to evaluate defense. Brown doesn't do anything as well as James, and physically and athletically it's not even close.

LeBron is not a good defender because he gets blocks and steals; he gets blocks and steals because he is a good defender. You were saying that he was in same vein as Shannon Brown in that their numbers define their defense. Brown blocks shots and gets steals but that does not make him a good defender, just like it doesn't make Smush Parker or Al Jefferson good defenders. Context. How often do Brown's come, and in what situations? How well does he time his block attempts? How fast is he? How quick is he off his feet? How high can he jump? Does he gamble a lot? Does he foul? LeBron is a better shot blocker than Shannon Brown just like Dwight Howard is a better shot blocker than LeBron. Defensive anchors do most of their work inside, LeBron is all over the floor. Not many defensive wings have the range to do that. You said it. I never implied even implied DPOY. Chill. You already know my take on this. I think that he's such an exceptional and versatile team/help defender that it compensates for not-so-excellent man-to-man defense. I see it differently. Agree to disagree, because this is getting tedious.

You guys have strong reading skills.

No, he's just LeBron James. Camby is strictly a weakside shot blocker. LeBron is much more than that. Why does there have to be any comparisons? No I'm not. I'm simply writing up what LeBron is good at. You could do the same for every good defender. And no, that's not the same thing. Not even close. 1) LeBron's highlights come as a result of playing quality defense. Shannon Brown is an athlete that just happens to make the occassional highlight. Big difference. 2) Just because he blocks shots and picks off passes does not mean he is as good as LeBron at it. Doesn't have the timing, doesn't have the anticipation, and certainly doesn't have the physical tools. Nash and Calderon are both pass-first point guards, but I'm sure you can tell the difference. 3) Help/team defense is much more than steals and blocks. It's neutralizing open looks when there is a misstep on defense. It's assisting your teammates in recovery while they're navigating traffic. It's reading a set and reacting promptly with appropriate adjustments. It's denying penetration and challenging every shot at the rim. It's boxing out so you or your teammates secure the defensive board. Shannon Brown does not do any of that as good as LeBron (if he does it at all), and he's not special enough at any one thing to compensate. They had LeBron check Rafer to make the most of his ability as a help defender. It made sense from a strategic standpoint: Cleveland's defense is predicated on providing help, Alston presented the least threat offensively, and it's simply too much to ask LeBron, who already shoulders a massive load on both sides of the floor, to shut down Turkoglu or Lewis for 48 minutes. It's not that he "refuses" the assignment—he still occasionally defends the best player in crunch time, as you saw with Carmelo last week—it's just that conserving his stamina is much more important.

Absolutely he should, and he's going to be the favorite to win it every year. Howard's total defensive impact is in another league.

Playing our worst? We have that? Funny, I hadn't noticed.

Cavs fans just had a heart attack.

Dirk Nowitzki is an elite basketball player. He is not in the discussion as the best. They're flaws. Every great defender has them if you want to nitpick. It's not like he's biting on every feint or yielding an open look on every possession, they're just areas he can improve on. You won't see him making those mistakes when he 'turns it on'. LeBron's athleticism is a tremendous asset to his defense. It is not why he is an elite defender. Read again: Those were literally my last few statements defending his man D. How did you miss that? Team defense. LeBron is very good at it. That's why I rate him so highly. That is essentially what I've been saying this whole time. Very convincing argument.

Stefanski signed Brand to that mammoth contract, gave Iguodala franchise money, overpaid Lou, and still hasn't fired Eddie Jordan. The Brand misstep didn't look bad to start, but you need more foresight than that as a GM if you're going to pay someone a ton of cash to be your feature player for five years. Now we're stuck as a middling team, not qualifying for a championship or a lottery pick, with a non-contending group of players being paid contender money. Yes Stefanski was probably [expletive] out of luck when he accepted the position, but he really hasn't done much to fix what was an originally a reparable situation. And while Jordan has been the worst at his job by far, the reason he's here (and still here) is all on Stefanski.

I'm arguing with you for knocking LeBron and underestimating the value of what he does defensively. Well not necessarily, because 'substantial' isn't quantifiable. Overall impact is most prominent when it comes to evaluating defense. It's not static. I don't believe in 'allotting points' — you're either an elite defender or you're not. LeBron's minor fundamental flaws in man defense are all perfectible, but they're not quite significant enough to call him a liability or demote him to "average". Yes he cheats too much, and yes he can tighten up his perimeter stances. But on the flipside, he cannot be overpowered, he doesn't foul, he's one of the top d-rebounders at his position, and there's not a better recovery defender in the league. What more, who else has that same combo of size, length, power, speed and quickness? On top of that, he's such a special help defender that I can't not call him elite.

On top of the five years, she kept cheating even after knowing he bought the ring, and would've probably continued after the marriage. [expletive] deserved more.

Why doesn't every elite defender shut down his man every night? Because those games happen. It's unrealistic to always expect a defensive shutout. LeBron will get lit up every now and then just like every good defender. You stick any player on a team where defense is an afterthought and their individual defense will inevitably decline. That's natural. You need your help to be there... that's the entire concept of defense. LeBron is not an elite on-ball defender. I never called him one. Fortunately, defense is not only played on the ball.

They should all just join forces and form a super-team. Easy answer.

The difference is, I'm not citing a single game to prove or disprove his defensive ability. That's not how defense is gauged, not even close. I picked that game out to disprove what you said about how Granger would always light LeBron up as if it were fact. I probably approached it wrong by flatly citing the 4 points, but I remember that game and it was truly a defensive clinic put on by LeBron. What? No, I never even implied it.

Carmelo was on fire, and it would've been tough for any defender to stop him that night. Also, it was one game. If one game is enough to sully a player's reputation as a defender, then there would be no elite defensive players in the NBA. ... and in another game that year, Granger scored 16 on 28%, and this season Granger is averaging 16 PPG, 29% against Cleveland. But my question is this: did LeBron actually guard Granger the entire night by himself in all those games? Because on that 4-point game he did, and did a damn good job shutting him down. You said this:

Because on-ball defense is the only form of defense. Besides, where is this reputation coming from that LeBron is a poor man-to-man defender? He's improved substantially in that area every season, and this year I can legitimately call him an elite defender overall. In that scenario, on one play, I'd actually be more inclined to take my chances with LeBron. If he's focused on getting one last stop, there is not a player more physically capable than he is, and he can recover better than any player in the league. And just for the record, the last time LeBron checked Granger one-on-one for the entire game, he held him to 4 points, 2/7 shooting.

The disguised weapons one is brilliant.

Classy moves like these are exactly why all the big-name free agents are dying to play with Philly.