Kobe Bryant is routinely considered one of the best defenders to ever lace up a pair of high-tops, so if he calls someone a great defender, it’s not something to be taken lightly.

Asked about Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar put things straightforwardly.

“You don't see a lot of players [like Luc] who understand the value of playing hard defensively,” Bryant said.

Luc pressures the Atlanta Hawks' Joe Johnson into a loose ball (Getty Images).

Luc has taken pride in playing great defense since he was introduced to the game, and has improved his play at each level, evolving into a lockdown defender who routinely matches up against the most formidable offensive players in the NBA.

“Ever since I’ve started playing, all the coaches I’ve played for preached defense,” Luc said. “My coaches back in Cameroon, to my coach in high school to coach Howland at UCLA always preached defense, so I’ve always won in those programs, so it kinda got into me that if you wanna win, you’ve gotta play defense, no matter what.”

Milwaukee Bucks coach Scott Skiles loves having someone who he can count on defensively without hesitation.

“He can guard guys individually and he's a good team defender, which might be the rarest thing,” Skiles said. “He understands our schemes. He has good length, he has some thickness to his upper body and he's willing to take a charge. And he likes to play defense. He understands that's how he's going to get his minutes.”
 

Manning Up

For Luc, playing defense always came naturally. His breakout defensive performance came during the final of the Pac-10 tournament his freshman year at UCLA. Luc he shut out Cal star Leon Powe for almost the entire second half, holding him to six points in the last 20 minutes and none in the final 16. Powe had scored 41 the night before in a semifinal win over Oregon.

"He can guard guys individually and he's a good team defender, which might be the rarest thing." -- Scott Skiles

But it was in the 2006 NCAA tournament that Luc really shined. He was a defensive stopper throughout the first rounds, and then, in the Final Four, squared up against Glen Davis of LSU. Davis was tearing through opponents, drawing comparisons to a young Shaquille O’Neal. He scored 22 in an opening round win over Iona, 21 the next game against Texas A&M, and exploded for 26 to beat the Texas Longhorns in the Elite Eight.

In the Final Four, Luc held the massive center to a tournament-low 14 points. “My back hurts,” Luc said after the game, but it was his effort, which included two steals, that led UCLA to the championship game.

Over his next two years at UCLA he was frequently matched up against opposing teams’ top players, dueling with such future NBA members Thaddeus Young, O.J. Mayo, Joe Alexander, Brook and Robin Lopez, and Courtney Lee.

No. 12 v. No. 24 (Getty Images).

When the Milwaukee Bucks took Luc 37th overall in the 2007-2008 NBA Draft, he almost immediately became the team’s defensive stalwart.

“They saw my ability to defend at UCLA and at draft camp and draft workouts,” said Luc, “but I don’t think it was until we started in training camp and I had to guard Michael Redd and Richard Jefferson everyday in practice and made a commitment to really guarding every day in practice when they put me in the game I always had to guard the best players and wanted to be the best player, and I could really play defense. They started encouraging it.”

Since then, Luc’s been constantly matched up against opposing teams best scorer, which is just fine with him.

“When you play you want to go against the best,” Luc explained. “There’s Kobe and LeBron, but then there’s Carmelo, Dwayne Wade, Joe Johnson, all those other scorers. To me, every team has somebody good that I get to go against. Just the feeling of going against the best every night, that in itself is something I really enjoy.”

Asked who was harder to stop – Kobe or LeBron – Luc was ready with a quick reply.

“On nights when LeBron is making his shot, he’s very hard to stop. And the same with Kobe, when he’s on it’s tough.”

Either way, it’s up to Luc to stop them.