The great Greg Popovich once said: ‘offence wins games, defence wins championships’. With this in mind, using advanced stats and numbers, who is statistically the best defender of all time.

First things first, let’s go over the formula used to find out a great defender’s value. Using a points system creatively named, overall defensive value or ODV for short.

A players ODV is figured out by calculating basic stats such as blocks and steals, advanced stats being defensive win shares (DWS) and defensive plus minus (DPM), as well as defensive accolades such as all defence teams and Defensive player of the year (DPOY) awards.

For example, LeBron James averaged one steal and one block with 78 DWS and an average DPM of two. Along with six all defence selections, he clocks in at 88 ODV. DPOY awards will be counted as five points of ODV as it is more valuable than the stats alone.

With that out of the way, here are the candidates:

Ben Wallace

‘Big Ben’ was a defensive force during his time with the Detroit Pistons between 2001-2006. He also played for the Washington Wizards, Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers in his career which spanned from 1997-2012. During his career, he averaged a steal and two blocks, with a career 70 DWS and a DPM of three. On top of this, he had six all defence selections and four DPOY awards and clocks in at 102 ODV.

Hakeem Olajuwon

‘The Dream’ is considered by a fair few to be the greatest ever in his position. Winning two championships in his career with the Houston Rockets which spanned between 1985-2001 before spending 2002 with the Toronto Raptors, Hakeem was a veteran of the game. Averaging two steals and three blocks with a career 95 DWS and a DPM of three is great on its own. Add on to this nine all defence appearances and two DPOY awards, he clocks in at 113 ODV.

Tim Duncan

Tim Duncan is one of the best players of all time. Spending his full career at San Antonio Spurs, he helped them to five championships. He had a career average of a steal and two blocks per game with 106 DWS in his career and a career DPM of two. He could well be in the running for the greatest with 15 all defence selections and a whopping 126 ODV.

Bill Russell

Russell is a strange case. Playing for the Boston Celtics between 1957-1969 winning 11 championships, most defensive stats weren’t recorded back then. From what was measured, which was DWS, he has a whopping 137 in his career. With one all defence selection which was the first year it was introduced in 1969, Russell clocks in at 138 ODV which is insane, even with most statistics not being measured. Who knows what he could’ve ended up with.

Although the argument can be made that he played in a weak era of the NBA, Bill Russell’s defensive dominance can’t be understated. The fact he tops the list without steals, blocks, DPM, all defence teams or defensive player of the year makes him without a doubt the greatest defender of all time.

Who is the best NBA defender of all time?