You have got to be effin kidding me!!!

[Diesel]

Do you think Theo " the Rattler" Ratliff ever deserve DPOY or to be first team all defense?

[Johnnybravo4]

Yep..as much as Deek ever did.

[Lascar78]

Agreed, Theo in his prime was a great defender, on his man and in help situations. The whole offense was worried about him anytime they went anywhere near the paint

[AHF]

Deke deserved the DPOY much more than Ratliff - they were not equally deserving, IMO. Both were good defenders and at his peak Ratliff deserved an All-D Team nod but he was not at the same level as Deke or equally deserving as Deke of those honors, IMO. Just the defensive rebounding from Deke alone made him a much better defender.

[Johnnybravo4]

Which just emphasizes why Lon Kruger, Stotts and Lenny Wilkens failed as coaches.

[chillzatl]

Theo would always be a fringe guy IMO and I think in the minds of most voters. Mainly because, despite having solid block stats, he missed lots of games (around 30 per year in his best days). Also, because he wasn't, as you will attest, a great man to man defender. He was a better team/help defender. Without looking I would say that he made 2nd team once or twice and placed in the balloting for DPOY several times, but never won it. I would also say that was fair as well.

[chillzatl]

agreed, Deke was a force against everyone he faced. He didn't get pushed around by anyone, where Theo would. He would block your shot face up or from the weak side. Theo was always more of a help defender and not even close to being in the same class as Deke.

I remember watching him block Shawn Kemp, in Kemps heyday, three times in a row on the same posession. Kemp isolated deke on the left side and tried to take him off teh dribble, deke bloked him clean. But Kemp got teh ball back off the block and tried again, Deke packed him again. But AGAIN, kemp got the ball back, The final time he came in, Deke blocked him and took the ball out of his hands. Kemp, who was a stud at that point, was completely dejected and just hung his head and ran back down. It was hilarious because Deke was basically wagging his finger the entire time, during all three blocks.

[Lascar78]

to be honest, I didn't see DPOY, I thought we were talking first team all-D. I think he was a first team all-D caliber guy, although obviously the fact that he is made of glass hampered his career.

[Diesel]

Actually...

Theo never deserved DPOY nor all defensive team first team. He didn't have the stats to help back him up. Some people like Lascar thinks he was a great defender. He was far from that. He was just a guy who blocked shots. He didn't rebound and he surely didn't play man on man defense well.

When these writers get together and say that Kidd and Kobe deserve first team honors and a guy like Wallace does not, I don't know what they are watching. Honestly, Wallace covers passing lanes and blocks shots.

[Lascar78]

He obviously wasn't the man to man defender that Deke was, but he still handled his own against his man, and intimidated the rest of the team. Hell when he was here he basically was covering 5 men. He never got much of a fair chance to play man to man because he was constantly helping on the little guys that got by JT and co.

[chillzatl]

You say actually as if I stated something incorrectly? I said exactly what you said.

I wouldn't have considered him a DPOY or first teamer. But I'm sure he placed in the balloting for both and made 2nd team a few times. From reading his bio that appears to be correct.

Blocks and steals are misleading stats when it comes to defense.

[Diesel]

I just think a lot more is weighted towards team performance than individual performance. Charlotte sucks so Wallace can't be on the All defensive team. Seriously, is there a player on that ALL DEfenSIVE first or second team that wasn't in the playoffs? Has there ever been?