WEDNESDAY, 2:32pm: Chandler officially received the Defensive Player of the Year award today at a press conference in New York. Serge Ibaka, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, and Kevin Garnett finished second through fifth, respectively, in the voting. Chandler barely edged out the Thunder big man, with 311 points to Ibaka's 294.
TUESDAY, 8:10pm: Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports that Knicks center Tyson Chandler will be named the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year for the 2011/12 season. Chandler is expected to be presented the award on Thursday at Madison Square Garden, prior to the Knicks taking on the Miami Heat in game three of their playoff series.
In December, Chandler signed a four-year contract with the Knicks worth approximately $55.4MM, as part of a sign-and-trade involving Chandler's former team, the Dallas Mavericks. The signing has paid off immensely for New York, as he has averaged 11.3 PPG, 9.9 RPG, and 1.4 BPG and anchoring their defense.
This is Chandler's first Defensive Player of the Year award. Previously, Dwight Howard had won it three years in a row.
Yes he is so deserving
Never has a player been more deserving. He was the reason the knicks were still in playoff talks. Go Knicks!
I’m not a Thunder fan, but Ibaka got robbed. He anchored the front court for the Thunder who have a a less than desirable defense. The more Ibaka got involved defensively, the more it seems like they bought in.
Imagine the Knicks without Chandler – now imagine the Thunder without Ibaka. That’s why Chandler deservedly won.