Around the NBA, the field of legit contenders in many of this year’s award races has been narrowed to just one or two players. It’s hard to imagine anyone besides Giannis Antetokounmpo or James Harden being named Most Valuable Player. Trae Young looks like the only real threat to Luka Doncic for Rookie of the Year. And Lou Williams appears to be tightening his grip on a second consecutive Sixth Man of the Year award.
However, no clear frontrunner has emerged yet for Defensive Player of the Year. The award is typically one of the trickier ones to forecast, since voters have to rely on much different metrics and statistics than they would for most of the NBA’s other accolades. With so many different ways to measure a player’s defensive impact, it’s impossible to rely on a single stat, and it’s rare that every defensive metric will point to a single candidate.
For instance, Rudy Gobert – last season’s Defensive Player of the Year – figures to be a popular choice again this time around. In terms of defensive real plus-minus, he easily ranks first among players who have averaged at least 20 minutes per game. He’s also tied for fourth in total defensive win shares. However, his on/off-court numbers suggest that the Jazz have actually been a slightly better defensive team when Gobert isn’t on the court — their 103.1 defensive rating when he sits edges out their 103.5 rating when he plays.
Joel Embiid, on the other hand, ranks far down the list in DRPM, but has more defensive win shares per game than Gobert, and the Sixers have a noticeably better defensive rating when he plays (103.1) than when he doesn’t (107.7).
Antetokounmpo, who ranks first in the NBA in defensive win shares, isn’t necessarily the same sort of rim-protecting anchor that Gobert and Embiid are, but he can play that role if needed, in addition to chasing more active players around the perimeter.
Marcus Smart and Paul George are two of the NBA’s best perimeter defenders, and you could make an argument in favor of either player this season. George’s case is particularly compelling, given the quality of the players he has matched up against, and his impact on the Thunder‘s defensive net rating (102.8 when he plays vs. 107.4 when he doesn’t).
This list of players – and statistics – is just a start, as there are several other candidates who deserve consideration for 2018/19’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
What do you think? Who is your pick for Defensive Player of the Year? Is there an under-the-radar contender you believe deserves the honor? Which factors do you believe should be weighed more or less heavily when making a selection?
Head below the comment section to weigh in with your thoughts!
I think Antetokounmpo is deserving of it, but I don’t think he’ll win, given that he’ll most likely win MVP, and ususally those two awards don’t get awarded to the same person, so I’d go Geroge over Gobert
My money is on PG13 but I’m surprised Myles Turner wasn’t mentioned in this article. Leads the league in blocks and Indiana has been a very good defensive team as a result of his play.
1) Embiid
2) Giannis
3) PG13
This year the award belongs to Embiid, he should have won it already last season, this is definitely his year!
you took the words right out of my mouth
Gotta be PG13 on this one.
PG13 is guarding usually the opponents best player nightly
Giannis is second in the league in total defensive rebounds,defensive rating.defensive win shares,defensive plus/minus and second in Percentage Points Different(only behind Favors),with 1.4 blocks and steals per game.I don’t know what they talk all about,he is easily the DPOY and his name is not even the article.
He’s mentioned in the article after Gobert and Embiid.
Yeah.