There will be little to no drama when it comes to voting for some of the NBA's award winners this season, as players like LeBron James (MVP) and Damian Lillard (Rookie of the Year) are virtual locks to collect hardware. But for many other awards, no clear frontrunner has emerged, meaning there is potential for races that include a wide range of candidates, rather than just one or two.
One such award is Defensive Player of the Year. A year ago, Tyson Chandler's influence in turning the Knicks into one of the NBA's better defensive teams led to Chandler winning the award for the first time in his career. But in 2012/13, there's no real dominant narrative.
The Bucks' PR department has aggressively pushed Larry Sanders' candidacy, while Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post wrote today that Andre Iguodala deserves the award. Marc Gasol, Tony Allen, Joakim Noah, and Tim Duncan are among the other players that have earned some buzz for their defense at one point or another this season.
So what do you think? Which player is the frontrunner at this point for the Defensive Player of the Year award? After making your vote, feel free to share your reasoning in the comments section.
I’ll get it started here by expressing my surprise that no Pacer is on this list. Indiana gives up the second fewest points in the league. Roy Hibbert would be the guy I’d nominate, and it’s funny, since he got crushed the first half of this season because all his offensive numbers were down after he signed the big contract. I wouldn’t give the award to him, though. I’ll go with Gasol, the anchor of the league’s best D.
I actually had Hibbert in my list of candidates and just forgot to include him when I was entering the options. He should be showing up in the poll any second now, and I’d definitely take him over a few others on the list.
— Luke
Avery Bradley?
Worthy choice. Considered including him, but he’ll only end up playing about 50 games, which I think will hurt his case.
— Luke
I still say that last year it should have been Lebron. Guarded all 5 positions at elite levels throughout the season, while also doing all that he did offensively. The energy it must have taken to do that is likely insane…
Agreed, and he was someone else I considered including. Wouldn’t surprise me if a sort of voter fatigue (considering he’ll get the MVP) prevents him from getting as many votes here as he deserves though.
— Luke
I think the award was Noah’s to win but with his latest injury i think he will lose out to someone else. Glad to see Luke commenting with us