Jordan vs LeBron defensively?

 

There seems to be an on going topic right now about Michael Jordan vs LeBron...however unlike usual this debate is about the abilities on the defensive end and not as overall basketball players. Defensive has always been a very important aspect of the sport so you'll be glad to know that Michael Jordan is the player that is truly the better defender in this scenario. 

To prove it let's begin with their defensive longevity. LeBron just turned 36 and his defense is quite questionable at times. LeBron made his last all defensive team 7 years ago at the age of 29. However Jordan played at an all defensive level for the course of 9 years, making 1st team for all those as well. Even at age 35 Jordan was named to an all defensive 1st team. However it didn't stop there because believe it or not Jordan's defensive impact followed him even into his Wizards days. 

In 2001 the year before the Wizards would pick up Jordan they were the 28th best defensive team in the league (of 29) based on opponets points per game. But in 2002 before Jordan collided with a teammate and tore his meniscus he improved the Wizards defense to 6th in the NBA before his injury. And he was the only big addition to the roster. Wizards added some other players but the all barely played minutes. So it's safe to say Jordan was the cause for this improvement. And after Jordans injury the Wizards fell back down to the 19th best defense. And allow me to remind you that this was a 39 year old Michael Jordan...

Eye test: Jordan was a high level perimeter defender throughout his career. He had a special ability to anticipate a offensive players move before it actually occurred. He was able to take advantage of offensive players who lost focus at times and could have the ball ripped out of your hands in just the blink of an eye. Jordan was very sneaky with plays like this. 

He even was just as good of a shot blocker as LeBron was despite being 3 inches shorter and over 30 pounds lighter. His 48 inch leaping ability allowed his to smack layups attempts off the backboard quite often. In fact Jordans defensive abilities were so impressive that a little after Jordan 2nd retirement Shaq described Jordan as "probably the best defensive player we have ever seen." 

Jordan had a recorded 4.3 speed which allowed him to stay in front of most guys and keep them in front of him. Jordans versatility wasn't as good as LeBron's however. As Jordan was capable of holding down position 1-3. And LeBron could take 1-4. 

LeBron was able to take on more bigger guys than Jordan. As well as being a better post defender. LeBron can also leap out of the gym and send shots back. LeBron throughout his career did a better job at not getting into as much foul trouble although this can also be an effort thing. 

When it comes to their transition defense I see more often that LeBron doesn't make it to much of a priority to get back on defense. Obviously he has some amazing chase down blocks but it's not about what gets posted on ESPN but about what occurs majority of the time. Jordan is more consistent on defense and never took as many breaks as LeBron did on that end. Jordan would often pick his man up at half court and knew when to help out and when not too. 

Stats and accolades: Jordan was able to win DPOY in 1987-88. And he did this as a guard making him just 1 of 5 players to ever accomplish this feat. The fact that Jordan won DPOY over Mark Eaton, Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Cooper, Manute Bol, Dennis Rodman, and Alvin Robertson is one of the lengths people go to to show Jordans defensive talent. LeBron has never been able to win this award in his career. Jordan was top 5 in DPOY voting 7 times compared to LeBron's 4. 

Jordan has made 9 all defensive first teams compared to LeBron only doing this 5 times throughout his career despite playing 3 more years than Jordan. Jordan won 3 steals titles while LeBron has 0. The most steals LeBron has averaged in a season is 2.2 while Jordan has done that 9 times. They average the same amount of blocks for their careers but Jordan has more seasons averaging 1 block or more. 

Jordan has had 200+ steals and 100+ blocks in a season 2 times while LeBron has never came close to accomplishing this feat. Jordan has been top 6 in DWS 8 times in 15 years and 6 times in 18 years for LeBron. 

A Myth: Some people have this belief that Jordan only guarded bummy players and couldn't lock up talented offensive talent. This belief comes the 1991 finals in which Jordan switched off Magic in game 2. The reason for this was foul trouble. But let the fans tell it and Magic "torched" Jordan. 

In game 1 Magic only scored 1 field goal on Michael Jordan. And when guarded by Jordan had more turnovers than field goals. And when it came to game 3 in overtime Jordan held Magic to 0 points, 0 assists, and 1 turnover. 

In 1992 regular season Clyde Drexler averaged 25.0 points on 47% from the field however with Jordan as his main defender in the series he not only averaged less points but did so on 7% worse field goal shooting and 19% worse from behind the arc.