Ranking the NBA's Best Rim-Protectors So Far This Season
Anyone feel like giving a bear hug to the NBA's most effective rim protectors this season? If so, you've come to the right place.
Last time around, we shone a spotlight on the league's least effective stoppers at the hoop. This exercise will follow the exact same process to generate our more flattering pecking order.
Entering games played on Dec. 5, the Association as a whole is averaging a little over 1.30 points per shot at the basket. By comparing points per shot players have allowed to this expected value, we can see how many points they're "saving."
From there, to account for both volume and efficiency, we'll subtract the actual points per shot allowed from the expected points per shot, then multiply by shots faced.
Example time: Giannis Antetokounmpo is allowing just under 0.98 points per shot(!) at the basket. Subtract that number from our expected value (a little over 1.30) and multiply by the total looks he's contested (80), and he ends up with 26.42 points saved.
Is that mark good enough to crack the top 10? Let's find out.
But first, a housekeeping note: These results are not meant to be gospel. They don't account for the individual players who attempt each shot at the rim. Guarding some is harder than others. This also doesn't address why a player is defending shots at the rim in the first place. Is it by design? Is it the byproduct of a defensive breakdown they're trying to cover up? Did they stumble into Ja Morant's airspace by mistake?
Still, the returns mostly track with what we've all watched: that relative to volume faced and buckets saved, these are the most valuable rim protectors to date.
10. Jarrett Allen, Cleveland Cavaliers
1 of 10
Points Saved at the Rim: 27.55
Hopefully, this takes exactly no one by surprise.
Jarrett Allen is a shot-swallower, and he doesn't discriminate against the types of looks he inhales. His diet includes bulking up on scoop layups he derails on the move, one-hand pokings and slappings, poster-blocks on explosive rim-runners, help-rotation swattings and so much more. His knack for not leaving his feet and having the wherewithal to change body mechanics when he does at times defies logic.
So many shots around the basket never happen because Allen exists. Anyone who dares to challenge him is consigning themselves to outcomes with lower success rates than guessing a coin toss.
Opponents are converting 49.4 percent of their looks at the basket with Allen on their case, the stingiest mark in the league among 52 players to contest as many close-range shots.
Expect Allen to ascend up this ladder as the year goes on. Back issues recently caused him to miss five games, for a total of seven on the season, which left him at a volume deficit in contrast to others who follow.
9. Clint Capela, Atlanta Hawks
2 of 10
Points Saved at the Rim: 28.03
Clint Capela has on occasion registered as a high-volume shot-blocker. The crux of his value, though, has always lied in his capacity to change every type of attempt imaginable.
Peak Capela can close out on to shooters and then still recover backward in time to change what would otherwise be floaters or gimmes around the rim. He is someone who, if he's not already between opponents and the hoop, forces the ball-handler to peer over their shoulder, because he will absolutely erase shots coming over from the corner or behind.
Inflicting indecision is an immeasurably useful skill set. And Capela is back to doing it in heavy doses this season.
Rival offenses see the frequency with which they reach the rim plunge by 6.7 percent with him on the floor. Among everyone who has logged at least 250 minutes this season, this is the fourth-largest swing in the league.
Not that Capela is only valuable for his deterrence. His finish here declares just the opposite. The 55.3 percent clip he forfeits at the basket isn't especially low, but it's rock solid and comes on high volume.
8. Bismack Biyombo, Phoenix Suns
3 of 10
Points Saved at the Rim: 28.14
OK then!
Bismack Biyombo is not here thanks to significant volume. The 66 shots he has contested around the basket rank outside the top 90. The success rate he allows is just so freaking low it doesn't matter.
Of those 96 players to challenge as many attempts at the rim, Biyombo places first in opponent field-goal percentage (43.9). The 0.88 points per shot he allows at the iron isn't merely the top mark on this list, it is the best among 290-plus players who have faced 25 or more attempts from point-blank range.
Whether Biyombo's spot inside this shindig holds is debatable. He only recently became a semi-staple in the rotation, and Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams has both Deandre Ayton and Jock Landale at his disposal.
Even so, Biyombo deserves a perfectly placed fist bump for holding down the fort. He isn't just sending back or deterring shots while camping out around the basket. He runs the floor hard and can smother bigs and combo forwards who think they're quick enough to get by him from the outside in.
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7. Jalen Smith, Indiana Pacers
4 of 10
Points Saved at the Rim: 28.60
Yeah, so, I did not expect this...at all.
The numbers back it up. Smith is holding opponents to a 50.5 percent clip at the rim and faced nearly 100 attempts, which amounts to just 1.01 points allowed per shot—noticeably below the league average.
Spending time next to Myles Turner looks good on him. Smith can chopper in to bust up attempts around the basket. And simplifying his time as the anchor big allows him to utilize both his quickness and daring without regard for much else.
Smith has also done a nifty job standing up to smaller opponents. He seems to revel in the opportunity, whether it's on switches or just a matchup quirk. At this point, he might even want to list "Blocks punier sized humans" somewhere on his LinkedIn.
6. Jaden McDaniels, Minnesota Timberwolves
5 of 10
Points Saved at the Rim: 28.77
Jaden McDaniels' overall defense has really picked up as the season wears on, but his secondary rim protection is especially booming.
Rudy Gobert is the only player on the Minnesota Timberwolves who has contested more point-blank attempts, and McDaniels is limiting opponents to a sub-50 percent clip in these situations. Jarrett Allen and Bismack Biyombo, meanwhile, are the only players on this list who surrender fewer points per shot.
Finishing inside the top 10 as a wing-sized player is an oddity. Watch McDaniels, and it makes sense.
His composure on straight-up vertical contests is unflappable. When he comes in to smash up shot attempts as the trailer, it feels as if the game slows down—like everyone else is moving a half to full notch below his processing speed.
He also typifies the concept of perimeter rim protection. You don't have him funnel anyone anywhere. This is someone who will stick with drivers step-for-step before forcing the ball out of their hands altogether or obliterating a shot attempt they thought was going to be waaay easier.
5. Nicolas Claxton, Brooklyn Nets
6 of 10
Points Saved at the Rim: 31.25
Remember that time the Brooklyn Nets overpaid DeAndre Jordan and played him over Nicolas Claxton for way too long? Good times.
Claxton has earned his stripes as perhaps the most switchable big in the game (non-Draymond Green division). And his spindly frame can lend itself to getting overpowered in certain one-on-one matchups down low. But his combination of speed, size and length is relatively anomalous, and he knows how to use it.
There is almost a Robert Williams III-ian way to how Claxton can hightail it in from guarding the corners to rain on parades around the basket. The Brooklyn Nets do allow a larger share of opponent looks to come at the rim when he plays, but that's residual blowback of surrounding personnel and the gaps he's saddled with erasing.
Could Claxton stand to keep more of his swats inbounds? Absolutely. But we'll give him a pass, because he's not so much a highlight-chaser as a living, breathing highlight itself. And allowing a 54.5 percent clip at the rim, against top-12 volume, is pretty darn impressive when you consider how much ground he's tasked with covering.
4. Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors
7 of 10
Points Saved at the Rim: 32.44
Steady are the generational defensive instincts of Draymond Green.
At age 32, he does seem a little slower when venturing out to the perimeter. But he continues to defend every possession, location be damned, like he sees five seconds into the future. Which makes sense. Crystal-ball gazing is the only feasible way he can wreck, like, six different options per every half-court possession.
Green's IQ (and, screw it, clairvoyance) serve him well around the basket. There has likely never been a better help defender. He doesn't just rotate; he teleports. And he can go from contesting a shot from a monstrously sized human to pivoting on to a baseline cutter and erasing two different shot opportunities in as many seconds.
If Green weren't responsible for so damn much on the defensive end, he might lead this list. When he's around, opponents are hitting just 49.5 percent of their looks at the basket—by far and away the stingiest mark among anyone who has contested at least 100 rim attempts. Green, of course, doesn't have the luxury of a singular or dual or even tri-focused job description. He remains the foundation upon which all good Golden State Warriors defensive minutes are built.
Somehow, someway, he still has time to dominate the conventional rim-protection game—while standing no taller than a shooting guard.
3. Ivica Zubac, LA Clippers
8 of 10
Points Saved at the Rim: 33.25
Take that, Myles Turner-to-the-L.A.-Clippers trade rumors. (Related: Myles Turner would be absolutely awesome on the Clippers.)
Ivica Zubac isn't someone who's routinely celebrated for anything he does on defense. That should probably change. He has quicker feet than is usually discussed, and while the Clippers have streamlined his responsibilities in the face of other limitations, effective role optimization proves that he's not some gargantuan liability.
He's just gargantuan.
Plant Zubac outside the restricted area, and he will rove east and west, head on a swivel, ready to rotate and ruin entire possessions for the opposing offense. The 53.8 percent clip he allows at the cup is fine—much better than fine, in fact, relative to the volume he's undertaking. But the looks that never materialize are even more valuable.
Opponents see their share of shots coming at the rim drop by 11.4 percent with Zubac on the floor—a gigantic dip he absolutely plays a role in shaping, not to mention the largest such on-off swing in the entire league, bar none.
2. Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento Kings
9 of 10
Points Saved at the Rim: 37.88
This one will turn a few heads in exasperation before digging into the details.
Domantas Sabonis is surrendering just over 1.08 points per shot at the rim—a rock-solid mark that's also the third-highest of anyone on this list, behind only Clint Capela (1.11) and Nicolas Claxton (1.09). The raw data doesn't scream "Superhero paint enforcer," either. Opponents are knocking down 54.1 percent of their looks at the basket with Sabonis in the vicinity—a good-to-really-good-but-not-quite-great allowance.
Volume buoys his case. And that's fine. Kelly Olynyk is the only player to challenge more shots at the bucket, and among the 34 players who have faced at least 100 point-blank opportunities on the year, the 54.1 percent clip Sabonis lets up ranks fifth.
Though the Sacramento Kings are not elite when it comes to contesting looks at the hoop, they do a good job of dissuading them. Sabonis' size and smarts and understated lateral agility going downhill is part of that shot-distribution manipulation.
If this method inflates his value, it's not by much.
1. Brook Lopez, Milwaukee Bucks
10 of 10
Points Saved at the Rim: 44.58
Can we use this space to appreciate the genuine absurdity of Brook Lopez's career arc?
In New Jersey and Brooklyn, he was considered a plodding, offense-first center who neither chucked threes or defended that well. By the time he left the Nets and Los Angeles Lakers, he was a certified floor-stretcher but non-hub who needed to sign with the Milwaukee Bucks for the bi-annual exception in 2018.
Then, by the time 2019-20 rolled around, he was mission critical to how those same Bucks defended at a title-contending level—a feared rim protector who earned All-Defense honors. Skip ahead to 2021-22, however, and he missed most of the season with back issues that didn't quite nuke his value upon return but raised quested about how he'd fare in the years to come.
Fast forward to now, at age 34, in his 15th season, and Lopez is the betting favorite at FanDuel to win Defensive Player of the Year.
So, to sum up: Holy hell.
Oh, yeah, the ranking. Lopez's hold on the top spot is among the least surprising developments of this entire exercise.
Only two players have guarded more shots at the basket, where he's allowing a 52.1 percent conversion rate—an elite mark even without accounting for volume. His wide-legged, low-to-the-ground defensive stances have reached logo-level iconicism, and he can block and change point-blank attempts from a variety of angles. He is, in fact, the NBA's best rim protector.
Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass and accurate entering Tuesday's games. Salary information via Spotrac.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.
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