Kelly Dwyer’s Top 10 Defenders of the 2000’s

August 28th, 2009 by Andrew Wamboldt

As many readers of Yahoo Sports, such as myself, have probably noticed that Kelly Dwyer has been posting top 10 lists for the 2000’s in his Balls Don’t Lie blog. Today he did top 10 defenders, and I felt obliged to comment on this, not only because of the number of the Bulls on the list, but also, how low he ranked a certain defender.

His top 10 defenders list is:

10. Kirk Hinrich
9. Eric Snow
8. Jason Kidd
7. Bruce Bowen
6. Ron Artest
5. Dikembe Mutombo
4. Tim Duncan
3. Ben Wallace
2. Shane Battier
1. Kevin Garnett

(You can see Dwyer’s analysis on the list here)

It’s neat to see so many Bulls on the list. Three Bulls, Kirk Hinrich, Ron Artest, and Ben Wallace made the list.

I agree with Dwyer’s inclusion of Hinrich, and also his analysis. In 06-07 and 08-09, Hinrich was definitely one of the top perimeter defenders in the league.

However, the main reason I am posting this, is because of how low Ben Wallace is ranked. There is no reason why Shane Battier should be ranked higher than Ben Wallace. Because Battier is a perimeter defender, his potential impact on defense is less than Wallace, who is a big man. A perimeter defender can only affect their man, for the most part. An interior defender can affect the other team’s entire offense.

In the list, Dwyer is more concerned about the players’ primes, and not their prolonged impact. Ben Wallace was the best defender of this decade in his prime.

Looking at the top 10 best seasons in terms of defensive win shares and defensive rating, we get the following:

1. Ben Wallace, 2003-2004 - 8.9 DWS
2. Kevin Garnett, 2003-2004 - 7.9 DWS
3. Dwight Howard, 2008-2009 - 7.6 DWS
4. Ben Wallace, 2002-2003 - 7.5 DWS
5. Ben Wallace, 2001-2002, - 7.2 DWS
6. Tim Duncan, 2003-2004 - 7.1 DWS
7. Tim Duncan, 2001-2002 - 7.0 DWS
8. Shaquille O’neal, 1999-2000 - 7.0 DWS
9. Tim Duncan, 2002-2003 - 6.9 DWS
10. Tim Duncan, 2000-2001 - 6.9 DWS

Based on DWS, Ben Wallace and Tim Duncan are the two names that pop out. Kevin Garnett had an elite 2003-2004 season, but that’s about it. Garnett’s second best season was 2008-2009 with the Celtics, which was the 24th best DWS season of the decade. Ben Wallace and Tim Duncan each have 7 seasons that are better than Garnett’s second best defensive season based on DWS.

Now a look at the top 10 defensive seasons based on D-Rtg. The following is the top 10 D-Rtg seasons for players that playd 24 or more minutes per game.

1. Ben Wallace, 2003-2004 - 87.5
2. Tim Duncan, 2003-2004 - 88.5
3. Ben Wallace, 2002-2003 - 90.0
4. Marcus Camby, 2000-2001 - 90.6
5. Kevin Garnett, 2003-2004 - 91.6
6. David Robinson, 2000-2001, 92.1
7. Rasho Nesterovic, 2003-2004, 92.2
8. David Robinson, 1999-2000, 92.2
9. Ben Wallace, 2001-2002, 92.9
10. Manu Ginobili, 2003-2004, 93.1

What conclusions can be made from looking at both of these rankings? That Ben Wallace, in his prime, was the best defender of the decade. His 2003-2004 season is both the best DWS season and also the best D-Rtg season. His 2003-2004 season is actually the best D-Rtg season in NBA history, 16th best DWS season in NBA History (all that are better are from 1973 or prior), and he followed that up with the best D-Rtg postseason in NBA history.

Kevin Garnett is an elite defender as seen by these rankings. However, putting Shane Battier ahead of Wallace is a complete disrespect for everything Wallace has done on the basketball court.

Shane Battier’s best defensive season based on D-Rtg was 101.6 in 2003-2004. That was good for the 306th best D-Rtg of the decade, behind seasons by defensive prodigies, such as Antoine Walker. Battier’s best DWS season was 4.5 in 2006-2007, which is again, worse than defensive prodigy Antoine Walker’s best season.

Battier doesn’t belong in this top ten list, let alone ahead of some of the best defenders in NBA history in Ben Wallace, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett. Battier’s inclusion also knocked Shaquille O’neal off this list, who definitely belongs there.

Ben Wallace should have been #1 on this list.