Ranking the five greatest defenders in NBA history

Bill Russell

Reasoning: None needed.

If you stumbled to this answer 1.) expecting any other answer and 2.) expecting sound reasoning for this answer, you are mistaken. Bill Russell is the only player on this list that requires zero explanation as it pertains to his intangibles (the smartest, most team-oriented defender of all-time), his physicality (a 6’10” athletic marvel who ran like a gazelle being chased by a lion being chased by a cheetah), and his overall passion for the defensive side of the ball.

Bill Russell legitimately made it cool to play good defense. Though not confirmed, it is theorized in some circles that the NBA began to count blocks and steals because of how defensively dominant Bill Russell was (the NBA did not start recording blocks until the 1973-74 season). Russell became so good at blocking shots that he would purposely deflect the ball toward his teammates to jumpstart fast-break opportunities, in which there were oodles in the up-and-down 1960s NBA.

I was hoping to keep this Bill Russell part short to emphatically slam the book shut with a mic drop moment, but unfortunately, I have a per-page word count quota to reach, so here is the only Bill Russell explanation I feel might be necessary:

Bill Russell was frequently tasked with defending Wilt Chamberlain, the most prolific scorer in NBA history. During the seasons in which Wilt and Russell both played in the NBA (1959-1969), Chamberlain maintained astronomical regular season averages of 34.3 points and 24.3 rebounds per game on 53 percent shooting. Crazy, right? Well, in his 94 regular season matchups with the great Bill Russell, Wilt averaged only 29.9 points per game on just 48 percent shooting. Granted, Wilt averaged 28.1 rebounds in those contests, but Russell was significantly smaller and Wilt missing more shots at the rim against shorter opponents meant more rebounds for the notorious stat-padder (seriously, look it up). The Russell/Chamberlain playoff matchups were even more telling of Russell’s defensive prowess. In 49 contests, Russell held Chamberlain to only 25.7 points per game and cut his attempts from 24.6 in the regular season to a staggeringly low 19.6 in the playoffs.

So yes, Bill Russell was better than Wilt Chamber—err, the best defensive player of all-time (though he is the former as well; that column is for another time).

He never swatted the ball out of bounds to hear the ooh’s and the aah’s of a crowd, he never quit on what appeared to be an easy shot at the rim, he never allowed his teammates to believe they could lose with him anchoring the middle, and he limited the most limitless player in NBA history. If there is a “Greatest Defensive Player of All-Time” list where Russell is not the de facto number one choice, that list is wrong.

As Russell famously once said…

"“The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.”"

And that is precisely what Bill Russell did.