You guys are on crack.
Pierce is an overrated defender. This is coming from a Celtics fan. He shouldn’t be on any list. Tony Allen, Shane Battier, and Grandpa Grant Hill should easily be on first team. The problem with the league and it’s fans is that they believe players who step up and want to guard the opposing team’s best players are great defenders.
Bryant shouldn’t be on the list. See him step up to Nowitzki? Guess what? He still drained nearly 3 point fadeaways on his overrated @#$%. Bryant also doesn’t even close out and rotate well. All he does is step up to another star to feed his legacy and rarely does that turn into anything. James still went for his, Pierce went for his, Paul went for his…
You know what James does well? Help defense? Recovery? Yes, he may not step up and tell the media he wants to guard the opponents best player but he is significantly a better defender than Bryant.
This is the NBA attempting to make their players seem better and more rounded than they actually are. There ARE players who specifically play defense in the league and they were all robbed.
See original article:
KG, Bryant tie all-defensive team record (AP)