We all know that the coaches think so by voting him as the Defensive player of the year but what do you think? Does anyone think that there is a better player defensively than Artest? I pose this question because there has been a lot of contraversy surrounding his award such as accusations about fabricated stats, people alluding to the fact (fiction?) that he doesn't even guard the best players. What does everyone think? Is Artest a defender or pretender? <font size="1">I will respond later......</font>
Artest is in the leagues top 2 defenders, Him and Big Ben dominate everyone. But Big Ben owns the paint and his defense effects both teams while Ron Ron's defense only affects one player and thats the guy he's gaurding.
Exactly , I think Centers affect the whole game while SF or SG or PG affect their player but in his Position he is the best. Best Centers are Ben Wallace , Theo Ratliff then is Artest and Bowen.
Personally, i thought Ron Artest was not the Defensive player of the year, not to take anything away from him but I felt Ben Wallace should have won.
well for one, i think the center position's defensive play will affect the way the opposition the most and will make them change ther plan. Take Big Ben, teams know that he is a two time defensive player of the year, and that he is one of the best defenders since '00. CourtVision I know where you are coming from and Artest is one of, dare i say the best perimeter defender in the league today, but I just feel that Ben Wallace has made a bigger impact on his team with his defense.
I don't think Ben Wallace is a better defender than Artest but it's hard to gauge because they have completely different jobs on the court. Ben Wallace' job is to keep defenders out of the paint and he does it well. Artest' job is to contain/stop the opposing teams best player from scoring and he does it just as well. Is that job as important as guarding the paint? I believe so. Artest is guarding 20 points a night on average and winning most of the battles. Don't disparage his defensive talent just because he does not play centre position. Artest ranked #3 in steals per game. Why am I bringing this stat up? This stat shows that he is getting in the passing lanes and playing terrific help defense as well as straight up guarding the best shooting guard/small foward on their team. Just because Artest doesn't get blocks doesn't mean he doesn't affect the opposing team in many other ways. Other notes: - Since '88 there have only been 2 players before Artest to win the award as guards (I consider Artest to be a foward but he defends guards as well) Michael Jordan and Gary Payton. The rest have been power fowards and centres. This shows that Artest is a special type of defender who's value goes further than statistics. The last time I checked those two players are hall of famers. - Not only does Artest put pressure on the defensive end, the person that Artest is guarding has to worry about him on the offensive end as well. This just makes its significantly tougher on the other player. - Artest is a freak in his own right. He weighs 250 and is one of the best at anticipating other players. His style of defence overpowers opponents and sometimes entire teams. More importantly he does all of this as a G/F. Not as a centre. He is one of the only G/F's that can take over entire games with his defence alone EVER in the NBA. Artest is a special player <font size="1">(and I don't just say that because I'm a fan, it's the truth)</font><font size="2"> and the DPOY just reaffirms that fact. His value to his team </font>is just as much as Ben Wallace' if not more.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting DajuanWagner#2:</div><div class="quote_post">Okafor will get in next season, and be one of the best!</div> Amen , hopefully he'll be playing with Orlando too
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting PS11:</div><div class="quote_post">Artest is in the leagues top 2 defenders, Him and Big Ben dominate everyone. But Big Ben owns the paint and his defense effects both teams while Ron Ron's defense only affects one player and thats the guy he's gaurding.</div> So Artests defense doesn't effect the whole game? I think that's abit wrong. Say Artest is guarding the opposing shooting guard,the other teams best player and scorer and he completely shuts him down. This effects the whole team. It not only locks down the top scorer but it forces other players to try and step up and take the slack. Lockdown defense on the best player,especially a guard,effects the entire team. It effects the tempo of the game and the other teams ability to score.
Artest is a great defender and he was derserving of the award IMO ....HOWEVER, I don't buy into those stats Carlisle threw out ...bunch of bs if u ask me ... and if they are in fact true, then I would have to question the quality of the players he was guarding...
Artest does not need any more stats backing him up. He has been a DPOY candidate ever since he came into the league, or so I say. He gives top offensive players his all-out defensive effort, and has guarded just about every position, and he does a great job at that. Big Ben might be a good shot-blocker, but would you want him out on the perimeter guarding Kobe Bryant with 2 seconds on the clock? No.
i've always considered it more difficult to defend against smaller players (pg,sg,sf) then being a center and guarding the lane it's takes more work to run all over the court, getting around picks and stuff then it is to defend one area like a center usually does, so i'm glad that artest won personally i respect players that are good at both defence and offence much more that one-dimensional players like Wallace, who can play defence but suck at offence, much like Mutombo who is another player i don't like Artest plays both ends of the court and contributes a lot more than players like Wallace and Mutombo
Artest is deffintantly the best one on one defender in the game today.I used to think maybe Bruce Bowen but then Kobe scored 30 on him in Game 1 of the series(LA/San Antonio.)
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Trip:</div><div class="quote_post"> Big Ben might be a good shot-blocker, but would you want him out on the perimeter guarding Kobe Bryant with 2 seconds on the clock? No.</div> Its kind of unfair to say that about Ben though. Of course we wouldn't ask him to guard Kobe due to positions, but would we ask him to play defence on Shaq, KG or TD with 2 seconds on the clock? Hell yeah.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting B-22:</div><div class="quote_post">Artest is deffintantly the best one on one defender in the game today.I used to think maybe Bruce Bowen but then Kobe scored 30 on him in Game 1 of the series(LA/San Antonio.)</div> On 38% shooting, thats terrible shooting You don't decide who is the better defender on points but on how they shoot against you.
Artest is definetly one of the best defenders in the league. He is a very special player. He has the size to overpower his man. He affects the game on both ends of the floor. To see if he plays great defense you can't look at the player, that he is guarding, stats like fg% and points because some players could have off nights for reasons like being inconsistent. I feel that you will need to see how he plays before you judge his defense. He gets a hand in front of his man's face, doesn't let him get any easy shots, etc. He won DPOY and that is great accomplishment for him. The voters voted for him because they felt he deserved it. He is very special player because like Courtvision posted before not alot of guards wins this award. He doesn't block as much shots like Ben but he affects the game in other ways. But there are alot of great defenders in the league like ,the 2 time defensive player of the year, Ben and alot more. And I believe Trenton Hassell will become a very great defender. Even better than he is already.
Personally I'm stuck between 4 players. Him, Big Ben, Bowen and Hassell. They lock down. I feel though the other players are soft compared to him, except Bowen, being one of the best defenders, he has to be and talk dirty. Artest reminds me a lot of either Jordan or Rodman. Great defender, a guy who got into the other guy's head. He does this so much better than others, that alone would make him stand out above the rest for me. Although there can never necessarily be a best, in this case, solely for that, it works for me.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting B-22:</div><div class="quote_post">Artest is deffintantly the best one on one defender in the game today.I used to think maybe Bruce Bowen but then Kobe scored 30 on him in Game 1 of the series(LA/San Antonio.)</div> Didn't he shoot like 10/26 or something though?
