NBA wasn't perimeter oriented until recently. From the day Jordan retired until 08 you had to have Shaq or Duncan on your team to make the Finals. That said defending the basket will always be more important than defending the perimeter. That's the last line of defense. Great perimeter defense is often made/assisted by great post defense.
I cleary said Dirk wasn't a defensive player. He passed KG when he became that post player. KG was not a guy you could toss the ball to late in a close playoff game and say "take us home". Dirk did that numerous times. What good was KG's defense when Dirk put up Kareem numbers even before developing his post game? Dirk needed top notch role players to get his ring. KG needed prime Pierce and Allen and top notch role players to get his.
Yaknow, if Dirk played more defense he wouldn't need to score as much. And the Mavs were the only team that challenged the spurs this year. If Dirk had showed up, they likely would have won.
I saw Dirk get shut down by Stephen Jackson. Sure he developed an improved game around 2009 or so, but why would that rank him higher than KG? If we look at the totality of their careers, KG has been more valuable.
Also, this notion that you can ride players to carry you to a win in the 4th quarter? What gets ignored in those contexts is the fact that the team has to get defensive stops to be in a position to win anyway. That's how the 2004 pistons were able to win despite not having any player with Dirk's quality.
I cannot place 1 dimensional players over 2 dimensional players. I can't place Dirk over KG because Dirk's defense has been laughably bad. However, I will place Barkeley over Malone just because Malone was a bytch.
1. TIMMY
2. KG
3. Dirk
4. Barkeley
5. Malone.
fukk everybody I never watched play :JJ: