# Are there any defensive stopper PGs in this draft?



## PacersguyUSA (Sep 1, 2002)

Like Lindsay Hunter, Mike James, etc.


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## mediocre man (Feb 24, 2004)

The closest thing to it would have to be Deron Williams. But I'd love to see him try to stay in front of Telfair, Parker, Marburry or any of the other lightning quick points in the league.


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## LanierFan (Oct 5, 2004)

Felton and Jack both have excellent defensive skills, with Felton being quick and Jack being strong. Jack may be around when the Pacers pick, and I think that'd be a nice selection. 

If you're looking for a late steal, the guy who comes to mind is Eddie Basden of Charlotte. He's listed as a 2, but there are suspicions that he's smaller than 6'5. Here's part of his draftcity profile:



> Best attribute as far as the NBA is concerned is his outstanding disruptive defense, both man to man and team. Capable of locking down anyone from the 1-3 positions. An instinctive defender, sees things before they happen and always seems be in the right place at the right time. Terrific anticipation skills, gets in the passing lanes, comes up with a lot of steals, but without risking his defensive positioning excessively. Speed is not an issue as his lateral movement is fantastic. Has excellent strength and terrific hands. An excellent rebounder, despite his size.


It'll be interesting to see how he does in the Chicago camp.


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## TM (Jun 30, 2003)

as was stated before, Jack's quite the defensive player. I read somewhere, though, that's he's strongly thinking about returning to GT.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

Luther Head will be able to defend PG's on the pro level.


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## ATLien (Jun 18, 2002)

Chris Paul

Sike.  

I think Jack is an awesome defensive PG.


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## vadimivich (Mar 29, 2004)

Jarrett Jack is the best defensive guard in the draft. He has shut down every type of PG you can imagine in college, including absolutely throttling Chris Paul (the super fast jitterbug type) over his career.

Deron Williams is right there with him, maybe just a half step slower.


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## matt! (Feb 21, 2005)

Jack is just so strong, he's like an Artest type defender where he just uses his arms and body to limit where you can go with the ball. Someone like Chris Paul might get around him, but he positions his body and feet so well than they don't get by him totally, he moves them from the basket.

Raymond Felton is an excellent defender as well, he fights through and around picks as well as anybody I've seen.


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## NorthSideHatrik (Mar 11, 2003)

TheATLien said:


> Chris Paul
> 
> Sike.
> 
> I think Jack is an awesome defensive PG.


Chris Paul isn't that bad..... In the NBA he'll mostly likely be below average in terms of covering his man, but he's not terrible... He will get a few steals a game from having quick hands in the passing lanes.

Edit- a big part of Pauls lack of D was Skip Prosser. If he gets drafted to team with a defensive minded coach Paul has the speed/quickness to really hound people


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## Max Payne (Mar 2, 2004)

Jarret Jack is as good as it gets for wing defenders in this draft. I think he's an excellent defender with very good skills and instincts.


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## STING (May 29, 2002)

Jarret Jack and Deron Williams probably be most anyone's choice for guarding the bigger breed of PGs, Ala Wade, LeBron (he will end his career a pg), Marbury, But if you are looking for a pesky defender who is quick enough to get infront of anyone, you want Chris Paul. Lindsey Hunter proved in the ECF this year that you don't have to have a size advantage on your man to play good defense. Chris Paul is a better peremeter defender than both Jack and Williams.


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## Drewbs (Feb 16, 2004)

STING said:


> Jarret Jack and Deron Williams probably be most anyone's choice for guarding the bigger breed of PGs, Ala Wade, LeBron (he will end his career a pg), Marbury, But if you are looking for a pesky defender who is quick enough to get infront of anyone, you want Chris Paul. Lindsey Hunter proved in the ECF this year that you don't have to have a size advantage on your man to play good defense. Chris Paul is a better peremeter defender than both Jack and Williams.


Paul is NOT a better defender than Jack or Williams. He is quick, but he reminds me too much of Allen Iverson on defense.


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## vadimivich (Mar 29, 2004)

> Chris Paul is a better peremeter defender than both Jack and Williams.


Which is why he got lit up by everybody and their brother in the ACC, and teams shot such a tremendous 3pt% against Wake.

Chris Paul is a terrible perimeter defender, he doesn't get in front of his man and he doesn't close out on shooters. There's no defensive technique he does well, other than gamble wildly for steals. It's impossible to underate Paul's defensive ability, he doesn't do ANYTHING right on that end.

That being said, he's a terrific offensive player. Absolutely brilliant.


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## TM (Jun 30, 2003)

didn't Paul make the ACC all-defensive team?  what a joke.


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## bullet (Jul 1, 2003)

Jack and Deron are both great defenders . Both are not super quick , and rely on very smart defensive game (especially Deron who's less athletic than Jack) - so we'll have to see how they compete with super quick PG's in the next level. I think they'll both be good defenders , due to Physical strength , good size at point and great understanding of how to defend your man.

I think the Best defensive PG in this draft is a guy not close to Deron/Jack on the offensive side. probably a mid to low 2nd rounder - Aaron Miles from Kansas , he's small , but you can hardly beat him of the dribble and he's as quick as they get.

another good PG defender from the 2nd round - Dukes senior Daniel Ewing.

Felton is also a good defender.


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## Max Payne (Mar 2, 2004)

Drewbs said:


> Paul is NOT a better defender than Jack or Williams. He is quick, but he reminds me too much of Allen Iverson on defense.


 Once again, it's the Iverson misconception...put two and two together...have you ever heard of a guy who is as competitive a player as Iverson NOT playing defense ? What are you smoking ? The big problem that AI and Paul have is not that they have bad lateral speed or instincts....it's that bigger guys can simply see over them, and that's what causes them to lose some potency on the defensive end. Still, if he hustles like Iverson does, Paul will be a good defender in the league.


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## Drewbs (Feb 16, 2004)

Max Payne said:


> Once again, it's the Iverson misconception...put two and two together...have you ever heard of a guy who is as competitive a player as Iverson NOT playing defense ? What are you smoking ? The big problem that AI and Paul have is not that they have bad lateral speed or instincts....it's that bigger guys can simply see over them, and that's what causes them to lose some potency on the defensive end. Still, if he hustles like Iverson does, Paul will be a good defender in the league.


When I say that he reminds me of Iverson, I mean that he gambles too much, as is the case with Iverson.


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## celtsb34 (Apr 22, 2005)

Jarret Jack is the best defensive point


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

Paul didn't play any defense last year whatsoever. None.


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## SeaNet (Nov 18, 2004)

I agree w/ Jack, Deron, & Luther Head. Oh, and Dee Brown too, if he's in the draft. Quite frankly, I've lost track.


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## vadimivich (Mar 29, 2004)

Daniel Ewing is a terrific defender as well, nice job pointing him out. He'll be a nice pick in the middle of the second round for someone.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

vadimivich said:


> Daniel Ewing is a terrific defender as well, nice job pointing him out. He'll be a nice pick in the middle of the second round for someone.


He's no defensive stopper. I seem to remember Ager, Brown and Torbert doing anything and everything they wanted to him in that Sweet Sixteen game.


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## girlygirl (Dec 6, 2003)

Aaron Miles is a terrific defender. He made the Big 12 All-Defensive team his last 3 years at KU and also ended up finishing 1st or 2nd all-time in school history for steals. He isn't blindingly fast, but is quick enough to stay with almost any PG. Although at 6'1" 185, he may need to get a little stronger to stay with bigger PGs. 

I think he will be a nice pick-up for a team that takes him in the 2nd round.


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## tpolish (Feb 25, 2003)

Will Conroy from Washington is a great defensive point guard. He's strong and quick enough to stick with NBA point guards. Look out for him to be a very succesful role player for years to come.


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## OwnTheBlocks (Jun 10, 2003)

Can Chet Mason get some love?


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## PacersguyUSA (Sep 1, 2002)

Jack is sounding good to me. I think a defensive stopper PG is what the Pacers should draft.


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## LanierFan (Oct 5, 2004)

He'd be a good fit on the Pacers. Tough guy, good teammate, effective complement to Tinsley. As a Pistons fan I'll cross my fingers and hope he pulls out.  Meanwhile I'm hoping Detroit can get Basden.


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## STING (May 29, 2002)

Yes, Paul made the ACC all defensive team as a complete fluke.

Chris paul has terrific defensive instincts, and he has way more lateral quickness than either jack or williams, who both have below average quickness for NBA point guards.


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## vadimivich (Mar 29, 2004)

Chris Paul made the ACC All-Defensive took because he's an awesome offensive player. And the voters are almost all from North Carolina newspapers.

Derek Jeter won a gold glove, when he was possibly the worst defensive shortstop in baseball. Offensive excellence often has a way of creating this illusion that someone has an all-around game.

Absolutely nobody that seriously followed the ACC this year thinks Paul deserved any recognition on that team. It was obvious the entire year that WF was a very poor defensive team, and especially bad on the perimeter (they gave up just an insane number of 3pt baskets, and couldn't stop dribble penetration). Chris Paul was a key contributor to this.

And finally, for the "Jack is too slow to stop super quick guards, but Paul has it" argument, lets look at the results.

*1/20/04*
Paul - 1/6, 4pts
Jack - 1/7, 7pts

*2/22/04*
Paul - 1/6, 2pts
Jack - 7/14, 21pts

*1/27/05*
Paul - 2/11, 8pts
Jack - 7/11, 23pts

*3/02/05*
Paul - 4/11, 17pts
Jack - 8/15, 23pts

So, over 4 head to head matchups in their careers ... Jack held the lightning quick Paul to 31 total points on 8/34 (23%) shooting. Meanwhile, the lightning quick Paul who was first team All-ACC Defensive and can get his feet in front of anyone managed to limit Jack (who's slow) to a measly 74 total points on 23/47 (49%) shooting.

Maybe it's not that Jack can't guard quicker players, it's that Paul can't guard stronger players and can't score on them either, for that matter. Chris Paul is a defensive joke. He's a brilliant offensive player.

(for the record, here's Paul's game against Deron Williams, who's also too slow to guard quick guards:

Paul - 4/11, 10pts)

Either those are some darn good defensive guards, or Paul is really overated for not being able to light them up even once.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

I think it's a little bit of both. Remember Illinois did not just beat Wake Forest, they killed them.


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## bigbabyjesus (Mar 1, 2003)

I think Jack is one of if not the best defensive player in the draft. Deron Williams, Raymond Felton, and Aaron Miles are three other guys I'd call defensive stoppers.


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## OZZY (Jun 14, 2002)

Yes, there are some very good defensive PG's in this draft.

Chris Paul probably has the best defensive footwork of any PG, he has very quick feet. 

Deron Williams is a lock up defender, really uses his strength and size to play solid overall defense.

Jack is solid, has good toughness and uses good technique.

I like Krauser's defensive game, he is a very tough player, quick hands gets a lot of steals and has street toughness.


So yes there are good defensive PG's in the draft, and they are for the most part not just 2nd round picks, Paul, Williams and Jack all have legitimate skills outside of just defense.


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## Cap (Nov 5, 2003)

At the pro level Felton has the best combination of wingspan, lateral quickness and speed to be an All Defensive guard at the PG spot. After him would be Jarrett Jack, who's a stop slower, but stronger and smarter than Felton defensively. Plays the angles right, good anticipation. 

I have no idea why people continue to believe the myth that Deron Williams is a great defender. As I scouted him throughout the entire tournament this year, every time he was got iso'ed by a faster player he was burned by that player. Dude has slow feet, and handchecks a lot, which will be called at the NBA level (especially with the new rules instituted this year on hand checking). He's smart, and tall, but that doesn't matter when Parker, Nash, Billups, Marbury, etc. are all about the same height. Maybe if he loses enough weight he'll be able to defend well at the NBA level, but you can't teach quickness. Deron is fast, not quick, especially laterally.


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## Max Payne (Mar 2, 2004)

STING said:


> Yes, Paul made the ACC all defensive team as a complete fluke.
> 
> Chris paul has terrific defensive instincts, and he has way more lateral quickness than either jack or williams, who both have below average quickness for NBA point guards.


 I wouldn't say that. Jack and Deron are a lot faster than people give them credit for.


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## Hustle (Dec 17, 2003)

mediocre man said:


> The closest thing to it would have to be Deron Williams. But I'd love to see him try to stay in front of Telfair, Parker, Marburry or any of the other lightning quick points in the league.


Dee Brown got defensive player of the year in the Big Ten. But I guess his lack of height makes people question his ability at the next level.


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## STING (May 29, 2002)

Max Payne said:


> I wouldn't say that. Jack and Deron are a lot faster than people give them credit for.


maybe jarret jack is, but the reason dwilliams plays d so well is becuase of his ability to body up. Unless the player he's guarding is quick enough to get around him, williams will feast on him. North Carolina succeeded against illinois partly becuase Felton and McCants, two of the quickest guards in the NCAA, wore Williams out by making him chase them all game.


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## vadimivich (Mar 29, 2004)

UNC suceeded against Illinois because Sean May looked like Shaq v. my church league team.

D. Williams did a very nice job on McCants during that game, effectively shutting him out in the entire second half when the Illini worked their way back into the game (tying it up at one point).


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

Hustle said:


> Dee Brown got defensive player of the year in the Big Ten. But I guess his lack of height makes people question his ability at the next level.


He was guarding Felton in the championship game and Felton feasted on him. Stopper my ***.


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## vadimivich (Mar 29, 2004)

To be fair, Felton seems to have his number. That's two straight years that Felton has just blown him up (both UNC wins).


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

vadimivich said:


> To be fair, Felton seems to have his number. That's two straight years that Felton has just blown him up (both UNC wins).


If he can't guard Felton, he is going to have a hell of a time guarding pro guards. Remember, most PG's in the pros are all over 6'1. Dee Brown is 5'10. Who is he going to guard on the pro level? 

The best PG defenders are usually strong quick guys like Lindsey Hunter, Marcus Banks or bigger defenders like Anthony Johnson and Mark Jackson to beat on you.


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## STING (May 29, 2002)

vadimivich said:


> UNC suceeded against Illinois because Sean May looked like Shaq v. my church league team.
> 
> D. Williams did a very nice job on McCants during that game, effectively shutting him out in the entire second half when the Illini worked their way back into the game (tying it up at one point).


Dwilliams didn't exclusively guard McCants the entire game. True May was dominant, but he wouldn't have gotten enough space to do what he did had he not had the great peremeter players to pitch the ball out to in the case of a double team. 

I still say Paul is the best defensive pg in the draft

Aaron Miles needs to learn how to score more, and more consistently, if he wants to play PG in the nba. He is often too content to play distributer, though he has the ability to put points on the board.


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## vadimivich (Mar 29, 2004)

> I still say Paul is the best defensive pg in the draft


You are either utterly insane, or have never watched a college basketball game. There's no other way to put it.


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## STING (May 29, 2002)

we could put it this way: I have a different opinion than you do

but if it makes you feel better we can resort to internet-name calling, lol


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## BigDubSimien (Jun 15, 2005)

Aaron Miles is a decent shooter, but he just chooses not to shoot unless open (he has tested out well on the shooting aspect in Chicago). Also don't look for Miles to come into games and jack up shots anyway. His job is to be a back-up PG in the mold of Jacque Vaughn or Chris Duhon. Play great defense, distribute the ball, and shoot when open. Miles is a excellent on the ball defender, but I agree he needs to continue to get stronger as the only player I've ever seen really take advantage of him is Jarret Jack due to his size. 

Daniel Ewing is also a very good defender to watch out for.


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## STING (May 29, 2002)

no doubt Miles is a pass first point guard, however with that kind of ball handling ability and the ability to finish he poseses, i just would hope he could have broken 10 ppg in his sr season. We really needed his scoring as giddens had an off year


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## NorthSideHatrik (Mar 11, 2003)

vadimivich said:


> You are either utterly insane, or have never watched a college basketball game. There's no other way to put it.


I agree that Paul was a terrible defender at Wake, but its not because he doesn't have the tools. Prosser's system didn't include much defense at all from anyone. With the right coach he could be outstanding, except for his height, he has all the tools. He's one of the quickest playest in college basketball.


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## STING (May 29, 2002)

Im not saying anything bad about Deron Williams' defensive ability. He was arguably the best peremeter defender in college this year, however you have to take into account that Paul has tremendous speed and lateral mobility, while Deron Williams is a body up defender. Not to mention Paul has better hands and can play the passing lanes better. Once they are playing against NBA guards, Paul will have the tools to be a better defender than Williams.


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