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The case for Jordan as best perimeter defender of all-time

UndisputedGOAT
22 min readMay 25, 2020

Before we begin, it should be understood that stats such as DBPM, Drtg, and Dwin shares are not accurate for measuring individual defense. There are far more accurate ways to measure individual defense, which will be explored in this article especially with regards to Jordan’s Wizard years before his knee injury. In the playoffs, Charlie Ward is top 15 in Drtg over Kevin Garnett, and Greg Ostertag and Anderson Varejao are top 25 ahead of Dwight Howard, Kahwi Leonard, Dennis Rodman, Hakeem, Tony Allen, Mutombo, and more. DPBM is another irrelevant stat. In the playoffs, according to DBPM, Marcus Camby and Greg Ostertag are top 3 defenders of all time over Hakeem, David Robinson, Mutombo, Dwight Howard, Garnett, Duncan and many more players that they are not close to defensively. As more proof of how useless these stats are for evaluating defense, Ron Artest never was top 10 in DBPM or Drtg in any of his seasons in the league, and only once was he top 10 in Dwin shares at 7th in ’03-’04 during his DPOY season. This is despite the fact that Ron Artest is considered arguably the best perimeter defender of his era. Clearly these stats are not to be trusted at all when it comes to evaluating defense, since apparently Ron Artest was never a top 10 defender in the league according to these stats, with the exception of Dwin shares in ’03-’04.

Anyways, here are the reasons why Jordan has a rock solid case as the best perimeter defender of all-time

Playoff Defense and 1–1 Matchups

There probably is not another perimeter player who took on as many tough matchups in the playoffs as Jordan did. There is a misconception that Pippen was the guy who always guarded the other team’s best player in the playoffs, because of the famous story when Pippen switched on Magic in Game 2 of the Finals and did a great job. But in the very next game, Game 3 of the ’91 Finals, Pippen fouled out at the end of the 4th quarter and after Magic had lit up Jordan + Pippen through 4 quarters, Jordan shut down Magic to 0–0–0 with 1 turnover in the OT.
In fact, Jordan had an elite defensive performance in every single one of his NBA Finals, including that Game 3 against Magic.

’92 Finals — Drexler, a top 5 SG of all-time, had 25 ppg on a poor 40.7% FG in the ’92 Finals after 25 ppg on 47% in the regular season, and most of his points came in transition or on other defenders when Jordan was not guarding him. Jordan completely locked him down. Jordan also shut down Terry Porter, who averaged 21.6 PPG with 52% FG and 47% 3PT in the ’92 Playoffs. He is the only player to average at least 15 PPG on 50% FG and 45% 3PT in an NBA Finals run (min. 1.5 3PA/game).

’93 Finals, Game 3 — Kevin Johnson scored 23 points before Jordan guarded him with 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter. KJ had 2 points the rest of the game including the 3 overtimes. Kevin Johnson is one of 3 players in history (Oscar + Isiah) to average 20–10 for 3 straight years, and before running into Gary Payton in the ’93 WCF, KJ averaged 19.6 ppg and 9.4 apg on 53% in the ’93 Playoffs which was just short of his 20–10 mark.

’96 Finals — With Ron Harper’s knee injury limiting him to 1 minute in both Games 3 and 5, Jordan shut down Gary Payton in both Game 3 and Game 5. Payton had averaged 22–5–7–2 on 50% through 3 rounds in the ’96 Playoffs, while sweeping the 2x defending champion Rockets and beating Stockton/Malone’s Jazz.

’97 and ’98 Finals — Jordan did not guard Stockton for long periods of time, as this was past his defensive peak. Jordan’s off-ball was huge, however, including the Flu game in which all 3 of Jordan’s steals came off of Stockton’s passes. His on-ball on Stockton was also good the few times when he did guard Stockton, and his off-ball and help defense on Karl Malone was also key, including the championship winning steal and shot in Game 6 of the ’98 Finals

And these are only the examples of Jordan’s defensive performances in the NBA Finals. Before the Bulls title years, Jordan also repeatedly shut down Isiah Thomas who shot 39–41% in all 4 playoff series against the Bulls (’88, ’89, ’90, ’91). Jordan also played great defense on former 2x scoring champ Adrian Dantley in the ’88 ECSF, who averaged 20 ppg on 51% in 31 mpg for the ’87-’88 season.

In the ’96 ECF, Pippen spent more time guarding Penny than Jordan did, but when Jordan did guard Penny, he did a better job. Penny only scored 1 total point with Jordan guarding him in the entire ’96 ECF.

Jordan also locked down these guys when he guarded them

  • Tim Hardaway (’96 1st Rd) — averaged 17–10 on 43% in 28 games with the ’96 Heat, and 25–10 on 46% for his playoff career prior to that series.
  • Rod Strickland (’97 1st Rd) — Strickland was an underrated player who averaged 17–19 ppg and 8–10 apg at his best, and even led the league in assists in ’97-’98.
  • Steve Smith (’97 ECSF) — averaged 20 ppg on 43% in ’96-’97

And in ’98, with the season on the line against Indiana in Game 7 of the ’98 ECF, Jordan was the one who had to guard Reggie Miller in the 4th quarter. Reggie had 22 points on 7/12 (58%) FG through 3 quarters, then Jordan switched on him in the 4th and Reggie had 0 points and was only able to attempt 1 shot.

Here is an incomplete list of notable offensive matchups Jordan guarded in the playoffs:

Adrian Dantley — ’88
Isiah Thomas — ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91
Charles Barkley — ’90 (brief stretches)
Magic Johnson — ’91
James Worthy — ’91 (brief stretches)
Clyde Drexler — ’92
Terry Porter — ’92
Kevin Johnson — ’93
Tim Hardaway — ’96
Penny Hardaway — ’96
Gary Payton — ’96
Rod Strickland — ’97
Steve Smith — ’97
Reggie Miller — ’98
John Stockton — ’97, ’98 (brief stretches)

In every NBA Finals, Jordan guarded a top 5 or top 10 all-time PG or SG

Magic Johnson
Clyde Drexler
Kevin Johnson
Gary Payton
John Stockton

Rodman is a superior defender than Jordan overall and took on even tougher overall matchups than Jordan in the playoffs

But if we’re talking strictly perimeter defense, Jordan was better. Rodman was better than Jordan as an overall defender because of his rebounding and arguably the best post-defense of all time along with Russell + Hakeem, and doing all that while also being a top-5 all-time perimeter defender at his best in his Pistons days. But after leaving the Spurs in 1995, Rodman became exclusively a post-defender, and therefore putting him behind Jordan as a perimeter defender, because he didn’t have to defend the perimeter for as long as Jordan did.

Pippen is a top-5 perimeter defender, but contrary to popular belief (mostly based on Game 2 of the ’91 Finals) Jordan took on more difficult matchups at a higher rate than Pippen in the playoffs, and most of the time did a better job. Even though Pippen did a better job on Magic Johnson in Game 2 of the ’91 Finals, Jordan came right back the next game and shut down Magic across the board in OT (0–0–0 with 1 TO) after Pippen fouled out in the 4th quarter. And as mentioned in the Penny Hardaway example, Pippen guarded him more often, but Jordan did better in the stretches he switched on Penny.
Pippen was more versatile since he could guard 1–4, but versatility doesn’t necessarily mean better defense. Anthony Mason was more versatile than Jordan and Payton since he could guard 2–5, but that doesn’t automatically make him a superior defender. Versatility is only one aspect of defense, not the deciding factor.

Jordan finished ahead of Pippen in DPOY voting in ’88, ’89, ’90, ’93, ’98
Jordan tied with Pippen in DPOY voting in ’91 and ’92
Pippen finished ahead of Jordan in DPOY voting in ’96 and ’97

In their 9 seasons together

  • MJ finished ahead of Pippen 5 times in DPOY voting
  • Pippen and MJ tied 2 times in DPOY voting
  • Pippen finished ahead of MJ 2 times in DPOY voting

Despite Jordan missing most of his 2nd year due to injury and taking 2 prime years off afterwards.

Jordan has more

  • DPOY (1 to 0)
  • Top 5 finishes in DPOY (7 to 5)
  • Top 8 finishes in DPOY (10 to 8)
  • Steals titles (3 to 1)
  • All Defense 1st Team (9 to 8)

Jordan and Pippen tied for

  • Top 2 finishes in DPOY (2)
  • Top 3 finishes in DPOY (3)

Jordan has always been regarded as the better defender than Pippen for their overall careers. Only after their careers ended did revisionism start the myth that Pippen was the better defender and guarded top threats more often.

This myth mainly stems from Pippen switching onto Magic in Game 2 of the ’91 Finals, yet many people who believe this myth as a result of that game don’t even realize that Jordan was still the primary defender on Magic Johnson in the other 4 games and still had success

  • Holding Magic to 0–0–0 with 2 TOs in OT of Game 3
  • Causing all 6 of Magic’s TOs in Game 5 and forcing others that were not credited to Magic himself.

To seal the deal as to who was the better defender between Jordan and Pippen, one only has to look at Game 7 of the ’98 ECF. With the season on the line in Game 7, Jordan was the one that guarded the Pacer’s best player, red-hot Reggie Miller who had 22 points on 7/12 through 3 quarters, before getting shut down to 0 points in the 4th quarter by Jordan. If Pippen really was the better defender than Jordan, then Phil would have put his trust in letting Pippen shut down Reggie in the 4th quarter with the entire season on the line. But that wasn’t the case.
Payton also took on a lot of tough matches in the Playoffs and did a great job on most of them

Tim Hardaway ’92
Kevin Johnson ’93 and ’97
John Stockton ’96
Michael Jordan ’96
Scottie Pippen for short stretches in the ’96 Finals
Stephon Marbury ’98
Tony Parker ’04 Parker averaged 21.0 ppg 8.5 apg on 53% in the ’04 Playoffs prior to getting shut down by 35-year old Payton
Rip Hamilton ’06 Averaged 20 ppg on 49% for the ’05 — ’06 season
Chauncey Billups ’06

In terms of taking on tough playoff matchups and doing a great job on them, Payton doesn’t look too far behind Jordan. But the next section is where I feel Jordan has a big edge over Payton, as well as Pippen and Rodman (strictly at perimeter-defense)

Longevity, Consistency and Team Defensive Impact

Jordan was an elite defender from the ’86-’87 season through the first 46 games of the ’01-’02 season before his knee injury with the Wizards. That’s 10 full seasons and a half season in ’01-’02 over the course of 15 years
(not including ’94-’95, 17 game season, 27 including playoffs)

In ’86-’87, Jordan did not make the defensive team but he became one of 3 players with 200 steals + 100 blocks in a season. The other two are Pippen and Hakeem, both of whom are arguably the greatest defensive players at their positions. Jordan had 2.9 spg and 1.5 bpg in ’86-’87, making him the first player with 2.5+ spg and 1.5+ bpg in a season. Hakeem is the only other player to do that in a full season (’88-’89), although Gerald Wallace did that for 55 games in ’05-’06. Jordan was number 2 in the league in steals per game and number 1 among perimeter players in blocks per game. Granted, steals and blocks are not the end-all be-all but it says a lot that Hakeem is the only other player to match Jordan’s steals-blocks averages in a season. At the very least, Jordan was more deserving of defensive team honors than 2nd team Derek Harper, Mo Cheeks, and Paul Pressey, and first team Dennis Johnson.

In ’87-’88, Jordan won DPOY and with a rookie Pippen averaging 21 mpg, the Bulls allowed the least points in the league. Jordan once again had 200 steals + 100 blocks in the season, making him the only player to do that twice. We just went over all the great defensive jobs Jordan did in the playoffs from ’88 to ’98, so there’s no need to go over that again. But it is worth nothing that Pippen missed half the ’97-’98 season, but with Jordan + Rodman, the Bulls were still a top 3 defense in the league despite missing Pippen for so long.
This is why the ’94 Bulls defensive success without Jordan cannot be used against him. When you have 1 or 2 all-time great defenders on the same team, the team will still be great defensively even after losing one or the other. The Bulls were great defensively after Jordan left in ’93, and they were still great defensively when Pippen missed half the 98 season — showing that both Jordan and Pippen could make up for the other’s absence on D.

Old man’s game

Jordan still had an enormous impact defensively, even as a Wizard at age 38 and with multiple injuries entering the season

Jordan dominated defensively both 1 on 1 and team-wise before his knee injury against the Kings in his 46th game as a Wizard. Let’s look at his 1–1 defense first.

These examples are only through 46 games in the ’01-’02 season and the ones that I have footage and newspaper articles to back them up, so there very well be more that I have not discovered. And if not for his injury we could have seen many more great defensive performances by Jordan in the remainder of the season.

What seals Jordan case for the greatest perimeter defender of all-time in my opinion is how he impacted the Wizards team defense as a whole before his injury.

’01 Wizards = 2nd worst in ppg allowed the year before.

UP TO THE INJURY GAME

’02 Wizards = allowed 92.2 ppg through 47 games (Jordan missed 1 game)
Would be tied for 6th best in the league with the Pistons.

’02 Wizards = allowed 92.0 ppg in the 46 games Jordan played
Would be tied for 5th best in the league with the Nets

AFTER JORDAN’S INJURY

’02 Wizards = allowed 96.8 ppg in the remaining 35 games
Would be ranked 19th in the league and fell to 11th in ppg allowed for the overall season.

The Wizards were 2nd worst in ppg allowed the previous year with Rip Hamilton playing 78 games. The Wizards were on track to be top 5 in ppg allowed through the first 46 games Jordan played, and that was with Rip Hamilton missing 5 weeks (last week of December and almost all of January). Considering that Rip played almost the entire 2nd half of the season after Jordan’s injury, Jordan’s defensive impact is even greater than what the above numbers show us. And like Jordan’s offensive numbers, Jordan’s defensive impact was improving as the season went on before his injury

THE WIZARDS STARTED THE SEASON OFF SLOW WITH A 2–9 START

  • Allowed 98.4 ppg during the 2–9 start
  • On pace for 5th worst in the league

IN JORDAN’S LAST 35 GAMES PRE-INJURY AFTER THE 2–9 START

  • The Wizards allowed 90.0 ppg
  • On pace for 3rd best in the league

WHEN JORDAN AND RIP HAMILTON PLAYED TOGETHER, THEY WERE 15–1 IN THEIR LAST 16 GAMES TOGETHER UP TO THE INJURY

  • The Wizards allowed 86.3 ppg in that 15–1 stretch
  • Easily on pace for the best in the league
  • The ’02 Heat were number 1 at 88.7 ppg allowed

Rip played 78 games the previous year and the Wizards were still 2nd worst in ppg allowed. Had Jordan and Hamilton played a full, healthy season together, Jordan could potentially have taken the Wizards from 2nd worst to the best defense in the league in ppg allowed, and with Jordan being the only major addition to the player roster.

Think about that for a second. A 38 year old hobbled Jordan being the only major addition to a team that would have gone from 2nd worst to number 1 in ppg allowed if not for injuries. Can you think of any other perimeter player who could have that type of defensive impact at that late a stage of their career? There are even very few big men or rim protectors who could have done so.

Outside of Jordan, the ’02 Wizards only new additions were 5 bench players, 4 of whom where rookies that played very little minutes — Tyronn Lue (20 mpg) — Rookie Kwame Brown (14 mpg) — Rookie Brendan Haywood (14 mpg) — Rookie Etan Thomas (13 mpg) — Rookie Bobby Simmons (11 mpg). Jordan was the only new player on the ’02 team that had a significant impact and played significant minutes.

The Wizards did add coach Doug Collins, but after Jordan’s injury, the Wizards allowed 96.8 ppg in the remaining 35 games with Rip Hamilton playing almost all those games, which would be ranked 19th in the league. So Collin’s impact on the defense as coach was negligible compared to Jordan’s as a player, especially considering Jordan was anchoring the defense without Rip Hamilton for 5 weeks through the first 46 games (missed 1 game) whereas Collins had Rip for the majority of the remaining 35 games. And Jordan still played 14 games after his injury as well, they would have been even worse on defense post-injury had Jordan not played those 14 games.

Under Jordan’s defensive leadership, the ’02 Wizards were also great at holding opponent’s to low FG%.

The ’01 Wizards opponents shot 47.0%, 3rd worst in the league

THROUGH THEIR FIRST 47 GAMES PRE-JORDAN’S INJURY (JORDAN MISSED 1 GAME)

  • The ’02 Wizards’ opponents shot 44.3%
  • On pace for 11th best in the league

IN THE 35 GAMES POST-JORDAN’S INJURY

  • The ’02 Wizards opponents shot 46.4%
  • On pace for 2nd worst in the league (0.0001% worse than the Suns)

And under Jordan, the Wizards improved on holding opponents to low FG% as the season went on

WIZARDS GOT OFF TO A SLOW 2–9 START TO BEGIN THE SEASON

  • The Wizards opponents shot 46.8%
  • On pace for worst in the league

IN THE WIZARDS LAST 36 GAMES PRE-JORDAN INJURY (JORDAN MISSED 1 GAME)

  • The Wizards opponents shot 43.6%
  • On pace for 8th best in the league

THE WIZARDS WERE 15–1 IN THE LAST 16 GAMES THAT JORDAN AND RIP HAMILTON PLAYED TOGETHER PRIOR TO JORDAN’S KNEE INJURY

  • The Wizards’ opponents shot 41.7% in that 15–1 stretch
  • Easily on pace for best in the league
  • The ’02 Lakers held opponents to a league best 42.4%

Remember, Rip played 78 games the previous year and the Wizards were still 3rd worst in the league in opponent FG%. When Jordan and Rip played together, they were easily the best, and Jordan was the only major addition to the roster.

Jordan also had a huge impact on his team’s rebounding, even though he was only third on the team in rpg.

’02 WIZARDS = 43.27 RPG THROUGH 47 GAMES PRE-INJURY (MJ MISSED 1 GAME)

  • On pace for 9th best in the league

’02 WIZARDS = 43.39 RPG THROUGH 46 GAMES THAT MJ PLAYED PRE-INJURY

  • On pace for 8th best in the league

’02 WIZARDS = 40.40 RPG IN 35 GAMES POST-INJURY

  • On pace for 4th worst in the league
  • Fell to 18th in rebounding for the overall season

And Jordan’s impact on rebounding was also improving as the season went on.

WIZARDS GOT OFF TO A SLOW 2–9 START TO BEGIN THE SEASON

  • Averaged 40.36 rpg in that stretch
  • On pace for 4th worst in the league

IN JORDAN’S LAST 35 GAMES PRE-INJURY

  • The Wizards averaged 44.34 rpg
  • On pace for 3rd best in the league

Jordan was only 3rd on the team in rpg, but for whatever reason, his presence alone still made the Wizards an elite rebounding team, and they were a poor rebounding team without him. As the only notable addition, a 38-year old Jordan with crippled knees and cracked ribs singlehandedly transformed the Wizards from a poor rebounding and defensive team to an elite one. You will never find a perimeter defender that dominated both team-wise and 1 on 1 at that late a stage of their career. In fact, there are very few defenders in general, including big men, who can maintain that level of defensive impact for so long.

As mentioned earlier, Rodman was no longer a perimeter defender after ’95, so only about half of his career was devoted to perimeter defense whereas Jordan was elite on the perimeter nearly his entire career up to his Wizards injury. Again, Rodman is better as an overall defender, but not strictly as a perimeter defender.

Pippen is comparable to Jordan in terms of longevity, but as we saw earlier, Jordan took on the tougher playoff matchups when they were teammates. Pippen was also a great defender in Portland, but his focus in Portland was more so on help and team defense rather than on locking down the other teams best player. Even in Washington, Jordan had to and did shut down the other teams top scoring threats multiple times while also impacting the team’s defense at the same time, and on a worse team than what Pippen had in Portland (The Blazers made the ’99 WCF with a top 10 defense the year before Pippen got there). Payton had longevity, but was not as consistent on defense as Jordan because he tailed off for a few years defensively from ’00 to ’03 despite his defensive accolades.

  • 37-year old Stockton put up 13–12 on 51% against Payton in the ’00 Playoffs
  • Payton shut down rookie Tony Parker in 3/5 games in the ’02 Playoffs, but Parker also put up huge numbers on Payton in the other 2 games, showing that Payton was not as consistent as he used to be

To his credit, Payton did shut down Parker when they met again in the ’04 WCSF at age 35, and did a great job on Billups and Hamilton in ’06 at age 37. However, Jordan was a threat defensively from age 23 to 38 (pre-injury), and he impacted the Wizards team defense greater than Payton did in his last years with Seattle.

For being able to dominate in all aspects of perimeter defense, and being able to dominate in more perimeter defensive areas for longer periods of time than the other GOAT perimeter defender candidates:

  • Playoffs
  • Tough 1–1 matchups
  • On-ball
  • Off-ball
  • Longevity
  • Team impact

Until someone can:

  • Lock down as many 20+ ppg scorers/Hall of Famers in the playoffs
  • Continue shutting down 20+ and 25+ ppg scorers at age 38 (Peja, Vince, Pierce)
  • Singlehandedly turn around a top 2 or 3 worst defense to a top 5 best defense (and number 1 when playing with Rip) as the only major addition, at age 38

In Jordan’s era, there were no 2nd/3rd place votes for DPOY prior to ’02-’03. That makes his defensive resume even more impressive, since he did it entirely off of 1st place votes alone.

Jordan finished ahead of Pippen in DPOY voting in ’88, ’89, ’90, ’93, ’98.

Jordan tied with Pippen in DPOY voting in ’91 and ’92.

Pippen finished ahead of Jordan in DPOY voting in ’96 and ’97.

IN THEIR 9 SEASONS TOGETHER

  • MJ finished ahead of Pippen 5 times in DPOY voting.
  • Pippen and MJ tied 2 times in DPOY voting.
  • Pippen finished ahead of MJ 2 times in DPOY voting.

DESPITE JORDAN MISSING MOST OF HIS 2ND YEAR DUE TO INJURY AND TAKING 2 PRIME YEARS OFF AFTERWARDS

Jordan has more:

DPOY (1 to 0)
Top 5 finishes in DPOY (7 to 5)
Top 8 finishes in DPOY (10 to 8)
Steals titles (3 to 1)
All Defense 1st Team (9 to 8)

Jordan and Pippen tied for:

Top 2 finishes in DPOY (2)
Top 3 finishes in DPOY (3)

Jordan has always been regarded as the better defender than Pippen for their overall careers. Only after their careers ended did revisionism start the myth that Pippen was the better defender and guarded top threats more often.

Quotes on Michael Jordan’s defense

“I think Michael realized that by stepping up and putting a lot more pressure on Magic, and I think that’s why Phil stuck with Michael because he was able to put a lot more pressure than what he did in Game 1“

Scottie Pippen after the ’91 Finals — confirming that Jordan primarily defended Magic for the series

“I would probably call him the ultimate weapon on the basketball court. Offensively, defensively, inspirationally.”

Julius Erving, ’93

“I don’t think there’s any flaws in this guy’s game. He’s the best defensive player in the league, in my opinion.”

Jerry West, ’93

“…Michael Jordan’s presence on both ends of the court, that’s a real special package to have in one player”

Jerry West, ’96

“He’s not only a factor on the offensive end, but the defensive end I think he’s nearly as great, and everything he does offensively overshadows his incredible defensive abilities that he has”

Jerry West, ’96

“To me, the better part of his game is his defense. He becomes very intense and disrupts in the same manner that K.C. Jones did for the Celtics,”

Chamberlain said.

“There are guys who play Jordan who are afraid to put the ball down and afraid to pass. They’re always looking and saying, ‘Where the hell is Michael?’ He’ll steal the ball or cause you to do something you don’t want to do. But Michael understands that we have always loved numbers and scoring and the point system. The people who score the touchdowns or score the baskets are the guys who get all the applause.”

NY Daily News, November 3, ’96

“He’s met every challenge ever put in front of him, he plays great defense.”

Red Auerbach, February ’98

“And he kept taking on all comers. He gave you 30 points a night, he gave you defense, he gave you attitude.”

Red Auerbach, January ’99

“Michael has the most talent in every aspect of the game, even defense.”

Dave Bing, January ’99

“The whole package. He’s scary sometimes with his defense.”

Billy Cunningham, January ’99

“He wanted to be known not only as a great scorer and a winner, but a great defender. And he was. As good as Chicago was offensively, they were better defensively primarily because of Michael Jordan.”

Dave Cowens, January ’99

“He does everything well. He’s great offensively and defensively. What else would you want a guy to do?”

George Mikan, January ’99

“Michael’s definitely the best basketball player of all time. He’s the greatest offensive weapon to ever play, and probably the best defensive player we’ve ever seen.”

Shaquille O’Neal, January ’99

“He has the complete package in all facets of his offensive game, and when you break him down defensively, he’s also the best defensive player in the game… He should be remembered as the greatest of all time.”

Isiah Thomas, January ’99

“I don’t believe Michael was the greatest shooter or the greatest dribbler or passer or the greatest defensive player, etc. However, I believe he could do all these things better than anyone else who ever played in the NBA.”

Bill Sharman, January ’99

“To me he’s the best offensive player and the best defensive player in the league for a number of years. To be the defensive player of the year with all the other things he had to do, to me, he’s a marvel.”

Jerry West, January ’99

“He could break through virtually any screen and shut down almost any player with his intense, laser-focused style of defense.”

Phil Jackson, May ’13

“He has the ability to do what a Michael Jordan did at both ends. I don’t mean he’s Michael Jordan, but Michael played both ends of the floor.”

Gregg Popovich, November ’15
Comparing Kawhi Leonard’s 2-way play to Jordan

“Michael Jordan always took it to a point that he wanted to guard the best player even with myself, even if I start talking trash to him he would always tell Scottie Pippen ‘look, I’m taking Gary tonight…
He would always take the best basketball player… Michael Jordan really had a mindset of ‘I don’t care how much I do tire myself out, I’m gonna go and take this guy because I want to prove to him that I am the better basketball player.”

Gary Payton, June ‘18

SOURCES FOR QUOTES:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-01-17-9901170076-story.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20070104171507/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/1999/jordan_retires/news/1999/01/13/jordan_greatest/

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Jordan did all this while playing in the most stacked era at the guard position defensively.

ALL GUARDS WHO WON DPOY

  • Sidney Moncrief — ’83 and ’84
  • Alvin Robertson — ’86
  • Michael Cooper — ’87
  • Michael Jordan — ’88
  • Gary Payton — ’96

ALL GUARDS WHO WERE 2ND PLACE IN DPOY

  • Sidney Moncrief — ’85
  • Alvin Robertson — ’87
  • Michael Jordan — ’93
  • Gary Payton — ’97 and ’98

ALL GUARDS WHO WERE 3RD PLACE IN DPOY

  • Maurice Cheeks — ’83
  • Michael Cooper — ’83
  • Dennis Johnson — ’84
  • Sidney Moncrief — ’86
  • Joe Dumars — ’90
  • Derek Harper — ’90
  • Alvin Robertson — ’91
  • Michael Jordan — ’92
  • Mookie Blaylock — ’97
  • Eddie Jones — ’00
  • Kobe Bryant — ’02
  • Dwyane Wade — ’09

Paul Pressey and Shane Battier were 3rd place in ’85 and ’08 DPOY voting, respectively. According to Basketball-Reference, however, these players were listed as SFs for those respective seasons and not as SGs.

Including Jordan himself, all 5 guards that have won DPOY and/or came 2nd place in DPOY competed in Jordan’s era (’84-’85 — ’97-’98).

  • 13 Guards in NBA history have come at least top 3 in DPOY voting.
  • 11 of 13 (85%) played multiple seasons in Jordan’s era (’84-’85 — ’97-’98) as full-time starters.
  • This excludes Kobe and Wade and includes Jordan himself.

As you see Jordan has a rock-solid case as the best perimeter defensive player of all-time, along with being the best offensive player of all-time.

Michael Jordan
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UndisputedGOAT

Written by UndisputedGOAT

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So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? https://undisputedgoat.substack.com/

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