Some genuinely stunning inclusions in that list. Always highly subjective, but on the positive side, they didnt take the soft option and pick guys that may be 1st or 2nd team all nba, but defensive chairs.

Embiid is the interesting one but i guess based on regulary season he was good. Embiid got exposed to the point of unplayable in the Boston series so be interesting to see how he adjusts next season.

Can't argue with the first three... not really sure on Oladipo's reputation but can't say I've watched all that much of him.

But Covington??

Where did that come from. I watched quite a bit of Philly this year and was truly disappointed with him on both ends. Obviously can be an absolute force from outside the arc, but with Philly's constantly switching d, I can't say I noticed him all that much, and when I did notice him, I definitely wasn't impressed.

Could almost consider Baynes unlucky with his influence in the regular season.

Paul George and Josh Richardson were clearly better defensively this year than a number of guys on that list, as was Chris Paul.
Embiid is horribly over-rated defensively.

Sometimes the impact is the way someone changes how the other team plays.

Gobert and embiid would do that.

Are we just discounting Andre Roberson because he didn't play a large part of the season? He is the best wing defender in the NBA

How in the world can you not have Marcus Smart?

Surely him over Covington.

Smart is the best defensive guard in the NBA. The guy plays 30 minutes a night and that is literally all because of his defence; (I mean he plays that many minutes whilst shooting 37& and 30% from the field and from 3).

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that MACDUB is a Celtics supporter??

Why isn't (insert player from your team) in over (insert player not from your team)?

I find it a little odd that LeBron isn't in either of these teams. When engaged, he is clearly a top 5 defender in this league. Covington is the outlier for me from those selected.

AKA, I hate the Celtics with a strong passion.

Funnily enough I'm a cavs fan and to disprove your theory of bias I actually agree with LBJ not being there. As you have alluded to he takes too many defensive plays off. The issue with that is we know LBJ is the smartest basketball brain in the world so the unfortunate thing is that its not a lack of knowledge on where to be but purely effort or a lack thereof.

I take it back then MACDUB, sorry!!!

I feel as though LBJ needs to choose where he spends his energy. He can't play 100% flat out on each possession as the Cavs require him to do too much and he would therefore spend his tickets which we are already starting to see. If he isn't on this Cavs team they are a 25 win team at best! If he had the help where he could limit his minutes and play each possession 100% then he would be a lock for the all defensive first team.

AKA I think you're theory is right.

Sixers had Covington on the bench for key defensive possessions in the Boston series. Pretty hilarious selection.

Covington was on the bench in 4th quarters because he couldn't throw a beach ball into the ocean, not because of his D.

Even so, on specific defensive possessions he was still parked on the bench. From the games I watched this year he's a pesky defender who gets a lot of tips and deflections, but nothing like a first team defender as far as his individual man defense.

Because he's on a team that switches so much you don't notice the "lock down" D like in the past. That's partly why he sat those plays in the 4th because he was already sitting for a long period and he wouldn't be the one targeted on mismatches anyway, which is pretty much the whole league now. Look at Warriors Rockets now, both teams just target the weakest defender after forcing the on ball switch.

His defensive rpm stats have him 3rd behind Gobert and Roberson for the season, his activity and versatility are still underrated.

Espn real plus minus ratings:

Gobert 5.13
Davis 3.80
Covington 4.31
Holiday 2.13
Oladipo 3.25

Embiid 3.60
Horford 2.70
Green 2.94
Butler 2.86
Murray 3.60

For those who said Smart 1.94
For fun comparison Melo was -1.23