First team: Andre Iguodala, Philadelphia (minus-4.12). The stopper on a Philly team that isn't exactly flooded with great defenders at the moment, Iguodala kept up the defensive focus that made him such a valued performer for Team USA this past summer. The Sixers have made dramatic improvement overall, from 23rd a year ago to eighth this season, and while Doug Collins' schemes get much of the credit, that stuff all works much better when there's an Iguodala to check the opposition's top scorer every night.
Iguodala ranks as Hollinger's best defensive small forward, ahead of Paul Pierce and LeBron James. I don't think many will disagree with ranking Iguodala and LeBron and the first/second best defensive small forwards in the league. We'll see if the hype machine has been working hard enough to land Iguodala on the actual first or second all-defense team this season.
Hollinger uses the players' defensive on-off differential from basketballvalue.com, and "[his] subjective estimation from watching all these teams this season" to determine his first, second, and third teams. Kyle Lowry, Tony Allen, Kevin Garnett and Dwight Howard join Iguodala on Hollinger's first team. No sign of Jrue Holiday yet, which is warranted, given his inconsistency.