List of Swingmen

I must say, the NBA is really exciting to watch.

Now, however - I present an argument that has always been hidden below the surface, and it is time to let that argument become documented.

This is an entry on the MVP of role players - the "glue guy" of the team.

So what defines a glue guy? I believe it is a person on a team who does the fundamentally sound things, does not hurt his team's win chances, plays very strong defense, etc.

Here is a list of defensively-known swingmen.

Shane Battier
Ron Artest
James Posey
Bruce Bowen
Andrei Kirilenko
Raja Bell
Shawn Marion
Lebron James
Kobe Bryant
Dwyane Wade
Paul Pierce
Tayshaun Prince
Caron Butler
Brandon Roy
Josh Smith
Gerald Wallace
Josh Howard
Andre Iguodala
Trevor Ariza
Thabo Sefolosha
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
Jamario Moon
Nicolas Batum

The list above is solely comprised of swingmen known for their defensive reputation, whether it be as a player on the NBA Defensive teams, or just a player known by name. For the most part, I excluded power forwards, centers, and point guards except for those known for their ability to guard/play multiple positions (see Andrei Kirilenko, Shawn Marion, etc.)

The problem with listing all players known for their defensive prowess is the fact that point guards handle the ball quite a lot - which can throw off some statistics. They also tend to guard players who tend to almost have the ball every single possession. Big men are different - as they are measured usually by defensive rebounds, blocks, etc. The swingmen play a completely different style. Most of their opponents play off the ball - which means less opportunities to pick steals, get assists, get turnovers. They also don't play on the big men, who are often given the ball when the offense is not running. Therefore, we will only judge swingmen in this post (other positions will be analyzed later).

If we look at the list above, we have a large plethora of different players: some designated as bench-players, others defensive stoppers (role players as well), others known as the best guy on their team/go-to guy, and more.

(Statistics will come later.)