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"Legal Guarding Position" is not equal to "guarding".
The former is relavent only to contact situations. The latter can be achieved without being in a "LGP" by forcing the opponent to stop, turn, make mistakes, etc. all without contact. Guarding is putting pressure on the offense, without contact, by being where they want to go or by forcing them to go where you want them to go.
So, a 5 second count can and should occur when the defense is applying pressure (closely guarded). The threshold of pressure is defined as 6 ft. A player farther away is not really applying pressure. A player within 6 ft. may or may not be applying pressure, even if they are technically in a "LGP". They may be guarding another player other than the ball handler and just happen to be within 6 and in a "LGP".
Again, you can be guarding without being in a legal guarding position. You can be in a legal guarding position with guarding.
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