Anonymous
Years ago
If you had to name your top 5 all-time best NBL defensive players who would they be?
I'm thinking:
Damian Martin
Darnell Mee
Mike Kelly
Terry Dozier
Simon Dwight
by the way, that's an amazing starting 5!
paul
Years ago
Andrew Vlahov, Mika Vukona, D-Mac and Cedric Jackson all fairly handy.
Backcourt
Damian Martin
Darnell Mee
Frontcourt
Mika Vukona
Andrew Vlahov
Simon Dwight
Bench
Sam Mackinnon
Darren Lucas
Jason Smith
Mike Kelly (I'm sensing a theme here)
Darryl McDonald
Willie Simmons
Herb McEachin
so I'm assuming your coach would be Goorj? ;)
Here is a list of NBL Defensive Award winners - you can see why I selected Dozier, but I didn't know Smyth won any, let alone 4!
1980 Ray Wood
1981 Ray Wood
1982 Phil Smyth
1983 Phil Smyth
1987 Leroy Loggins
1988 Phil Smyth
1989 Phil Smyth
1990 Leroy Loggins
1991 Terry Dozier
1992 Terry Dozier
1993 Terry Dozier
1994 Darren Lucas
1995 Darren Lucas
1996 Isaac Burton
1997 Mike Kelly
1998 Mike Kelly
1999 Darnell Mee
2000 Darnell Mee
2001 Darnell Mee
2002 Simon Dwight
2003 Glen Saville
2004 Ben Castle
2005 Darnell Mee
2006 Darnell Mee
2007 Sam Mackinnon
2008 Chris Anstey
2009 Adam Gibson
2010 Dillon Boucher
2011 Damian Martin
2012 Damian Martin
2013 Damian Martin
2014 Damian Martin
Darren Smith was a walking foul.
It was good D when the refs didn't call anything though.
Isaac Burton???? Phil Smyth??
Did the league just used to give the award to the steals leader back in the day? I'm guessing the didn't have the Sport VU cameras or anything back in the 80s/90s....
I guess if Kobe was all defensive first team a few years back, its ok if the nbl made a few mistakes with this award.
AHOS
Years ago
No mention of the Rock, Peter Ali?
Darnel Mee the best in my mind.
Simon Dwight?
The odd spectacular blocked shot does not make a great defensive player.
This award has never been judged correctly as people need a 'moment' or statistic to judge it by. Fact is the best defensive players are not able to judged by stats. Team defence wins games so the ability to not make defensive mistakes in a team cohesiveness should be the criteria. That can only be judged over a period of time by a trained eye. If you do want stats to judge it by then the amount of times a guy denies his man the ball, rotates correctly on help d, boxes out, gives up nothing in defensive transition, contests shots should be recorded. But they're not, so people simply look at steals and blocked shots to determine a 'great' defensive player. Andrew Gaze actually had decent steal numbers during his career but that was because he simply cheated lanes and took the easy option. I dare anyone to say he was a defensive juggernaut.
Terry Dozier was the best defensive player I've seen in the NBL.
No love for Warwick Giddey, Ray Gordon & Grant Kruger?
#471871
There is the occasional blocked shot and there is Simon Dwight blocking over 4 shots a game in 97. That is valuable.
It wasn't like he was just jumping around trying to block every shot. He was quick enough to guard the pick n roll and keep in front of guards when a switch was needed.
I'd take a guy like Dwight on my team protecting the paint over a guy like Ben Castle who just looked like he was trying hard on defense although didn't really have any positive impact on the game.
4 blocks a game and about 10 shots changed along with guys not even going to the paint because he is there!
Daltonfor3
Years ago
What about Tim Morrissey? I might be biased as a Kings fan but he was a master at annoying and frustrating opponents. He was somewhat mysteriously picked for the Boomers for 1990 World Champs and against Italy (I think) he got some minutes in garbage time and was punched by his opponent in his first minute or two of being on court.
He might not have got many steals or blocks but as alluded to above that is not necessarily the best indicator of defensive worth. He was always given the toughest defensive assignment and played good help defence within the team structure. I think he once won a game for Sydney (vs Giants or Tigers from memory) by collecting a charging foul as someone attempted a half court heave right on full time.
Tim Morrissey/Tyson Demos and players like that managed to find a spot in the league by placing effort on the defensive end. Mainly because they wouldn't have got on the court if the didn't.
Although its hard to put them in the same class as some of the other players mentioned in this thread.
Very Old
Years ago
Darren Lucas
Jason Smith
Tim Morrissey
may as well put Jerry lee in there
these were players who would have averaged 21 fouls a game if the refs had been able to see and call all the things that they had to do to (literally) hold back ( or illegally annoy) better players.
Ray wood was a very clean and quick defender at a time when scoring guards like Cal Bruton were the gun imports, and at a time when basketball was literally "hands off"
Perot Loggins was a lock-down defender. Although he usually had to save his energy for offensive end.
Wilson Sting
Years ago
Grabau punched above his weight (height) as a defender, he regularly played the 4 spot defensively and held his own. Great core strength and knew how to get body position against bigger players.
Camel 31
Years ago
" You have got 5 fouls if they were calling this correctly." I said to ray wood , playing against him in 1981 , and he just laughed. Refs told me that he's just so quick , very hard to tell what he's doing.
" That backs up his views , but my arms are so bruised. " I told them , but I wouldn't have said anything had I known he was the nbl's best defensive player then.
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