Guarding Legends: Corey Brewer on defending Kobe, D-Wade, Dirk, more

This article was initially published on BasketballNews onOctober, 29, 2020.

I take pride in my defense. I’ve always enjoyed guarding thebest scorer on the other team. I look forward to it. When I’massigned one of those match-ups, I know it’s gonna be a funnight.

In my 13 years as an NBA player, I guarded many perennialAll-Stars and future Hall-of-Famers. I’m talking about the best ofthe best. I tried to contain them and get under their skin. I'dconstantly poke my hands in to try to get a pick or at least throwoff their rhythm. If I could get scorers to think and worry aboutmy hands, that was a win for me. But for these guys, it wasbasically impossible. They were always locked in.

What is it like to guard these superstars? In part one, I sharedmy experiences defending currentelite scorers. Today, I’ll break down some of the retiredlegends that I matched up against:

Kobe Bryant

You never forget the first time you played against Kobe Bryant.For me, it was in my rookie year in Minnesota and he dropped 30 onus. When he stepped on the court, just his swag, his wholedemeanor, made me feel like, “Damn, this is Kobe Bryant!”

Kobe was a nightmare to guard. Seriously. He knew what he wantedto do, and I couldn't make him do anything different. It was likethe game was a script to him; it was really a Hollywood script, andhe was going to put me in his movie. I can’t explain it any otherway except that I was in Kobe’s movie. When I was in the mid-postwith him, he knew what he was about to do. It was: “I'm gonna fakeleft and then fade over my right shoulder,” or, “I'm gonnapump-fake you, make you foul me and get the and-one,” or “I’m gonnapump fake and go dunk on your head.” He had a plan and he executedit. He was amazing, man. Unbelievable. Kobe would make so manydifficult shots and I’d just be amazed.

He was a no-nonsense killer, and that's why I'm glad I got toplay him in the playoffs a couple of times. Just to see him in thatenvironment, playing at that level and being the way he is on thebasketball court, that's why everybody respects him so much. He wasthat good, and he was really a student of the game. That's why heplayed for 20 years. He worked his tail off, and he was that goodfor so long because he was such a hard worker in all the nuancesand technical aspects of the game. He was everything. He wasrelentless and steadfast in his plan: from his footwork to his bankshots to getting fouled--everything he did, I knew he had thoughtabout it, worked on it and watched film on it. He loved the game.That's why Kobe Bryant was Kobe Bryant. Rest in Peace.

Dirk Nowitzki

I actually used to get to guard Dirk a lot. Dirk's tough, man --the one-leggers! He's a "footer" meaning he's at least 7 feet tall,so I'm not gonna block his shot, and I'm not gonna speed him up nomatter what. Like Kobe, he had a plan and I just hoped I could tryto do something that made him get out of a rhythm. When I guardedDirk, I just tried to deny him in his favorite spots or front thepost. I just tried to be a little 6-9 pest. It felt like the onlything I could do guarding Dirk was be a nuisance because when hegot the ball, it was over. He might miss, but he was typicallygoing to get the shots he wanted. If I could just force him toshoot 12 inches away from where he most wanted to go, I did myjob.

Dirk is one of the best scorers I've seen in the NBA. Ever. Iplayed with him in 2011, when he had that incredible postseason andgot us a Championship ring when we defeated the Miami Heat in theNBA Finals. It didn’t matter who they put out there, he wasn'tgoing to be stopped during our run to the championship.

Dirk is for sure the reason we have all these stretch-fours now.The trail three, that was his bread and butter! At the time, bigsused to run back into the paint, but Dirk Nowitzki trailed in,stopped at the three-point line and let it fly -- and it wouldsplash. Dirk was a bad boy, man.

While we all revel in how he shot the ball, it was the tirelesswork he put into his craft that made him that kind of shooter. Heworked on the one-leg jumper so much. It wasn’t just some randommove he would do sometimes; he worked on it a lot, and that's whyhe made so many and why it became his go-to. He changed the gameand evolved the big man position we all see now.

Dwyane Wade

I hated guarding D-Wade because his pump fake was justunbelievable. He was so athletic. Going to the rim, he’d dunk onpeople. Then he'd go and just stop on a dime, pump fake, then drawa foul. I knew his plan so I'd try not to foul him, but that’s whenhe had me right where he wanted--not as aggressive as I normallyam. He was just tough with the way he approached the game, the wayhe played the game and how good he was at getting to the basket andfinishing.

And, seriously, Dwyane Wade's pump fake has to be up there asone of the greatest ever. I hated that pump fake. My goal there wasjust to stay down and make him shoot a jump shot over me. I feellike if I did that, I did my job -- which, a lot of times, it stillwasn't good enough. But hey, I did my job; I'd rather him pumpfake, shoot a jump shot and make it than him pump fake and draw afoul or dunk on me or my teammate -- because his dunks would alwaysget his team and the crowd going. My job wasn't to stop scorerslike him, it was to get them to take shots they were less likely tomake than they otherwise would if I didn't do my job. Fouling wasthe worst thing I could do--most scorers shoot free throwswell.

Gilbert Arenas

If Gilbert Arenas didn’t get hurt, we’d be talking about him ona different level. I feel like people don't realize how good he wasand how well he played during his prime. When he got that bigcontract, he deserved it. He just got hurt and had bad luck. That'sall you can say. But he was a tough guard with the way he couldshoot it.

I wanted him to pass. I would try to send him to my help and getthe ball out of his hands because when he had that ball in hishands, he could get going. They didn't call him "Hibachi" fornothing! When he got going, he got going. He heated up fast whenhis confidence soared.

Gilbert Arenas was actually one of the first dudes to be comingoff the pick-and-roll and pull it from deep. He used to pull fromdeep, and he had the ball on a string; when he went to the basket,that was his thing. Gilbert was tough, and I feel like if he didn'tget hurt, we're talking about him in a different sense. But I haveto show him love because he was that good.

Tracy McGrady

I caught T-Mac toward the end of his time with the HoustonRockets. T-Mac was tough. I remember the first time I played T-Mac,he'd catch it and he'd jab step. He'd jab me off, and it was athing of beauty. I’d be thinking, “What is he gonna do? Is he gonnapull up? Is he gonna try to get by me?” His jab step was one of thebest ever. I wish I could’ve faced off against T-Mac more.

Check out Corey’s article breaking down what it’s liketo guard current superstars such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant,James Harden, Giannis Antetokounmpo and more.