A year ago, Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award, with Lakers big man Anthony Davis and Jazz center Rudy Gobert finishing as the second- and third-highest vote-getters, respectively.
Antetokounmpo is a perennial candidate for the award, but he has missed a little time with injuries this season and Milwaukee’s defense in 2020/21 (109.6 rating; sixth in the NBA) isn’t as dominant as it was last season, when the team ranked first with a 102.5 defensive rating. He’ll probably get some votes, but he’s unlikely to repeat as the DPOY.
The Lakers have the league’s best defensive rating so far this season (105.5), and Davis has played a major part in the unit’s success when he’s healthy. But he has only played in 23 of L.A.’s 55 games so far and remains sidelined for the time being, essentially removing him from the DPOY conversation.
Of last year’s top three finishers then, Gobert looks like the best bet to take home the award in 2021. He has won it twice already, and the Jazz have the NBA’s best record at 41-14. Gobert, as usual, has anchored their defense, which is the league’s fourth-best (107.6 rating), and he’s leading the league in DRPM (defensive real plus-minus) by a wide margin.
Still, Gobert isn’t a lock to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors. He has struggled to slow down many of the league’s top centers in their head-to-head matchups this season, allowing Nikola Jokic to average 41 points, 13 rebounds, and seven assists in his two games against Utah, while Joel Embiid racked up 40 points and 19 boards in his lone matchup with Gobert.
Another Sixers All-Star, Ben Simmons, scored 42 points against Gobert and the Jazz in the game Embiid missed, something he recently pointed out on ESPN’s The Jump when making his own case for Defensive Player of the Year.
“I’m one of those guys who can guard one through five,” Simmons said, per Ky Carlin of SixersWire. “Obviously, there’s a lot of respect for Rudy. I know what he’s capable of. I know he’s great down there in the paint, but he’s not guarding everybody and that’s just what it is. He guarded me in Utah…I had 42, and apparently I’m not a scorer. It is what it is, but I have a lot of respect for him. At the same time, I think it’s mine this year.”
Simmons, who finished fourth in the 2020 vote, has been a key part of the NBA’s second-best defense this season (106.6 rating), and his versatility makes him an intriguing candidate to win the award. However, as Rich Hofmann and Andrew Patton note in a piece for The Athletic, Simmons doesn’t necessarily stack up well to other top candidates based on publicly available advanced stats, even if those stats perhaps underrate his contributions.
Pacers center Myles Turner has a legitimate case for Defensive Player of the Year honors this season, posting an eye-popping 3.5 blocks per game to lead the league. He ranked second in Steve Aschburner’s recent breakdown of DPOY contenders at NBA.com. Still, Indiana is a sub-.500 team (26-28) with a middle-of-the-pack defense (111.5 rating; 13th in NBA), which will work against Turner’s case.
Hawks center Clint Capela has been making a strong push for DPOY consideration as well, as Chris Kirschner of The Athletic details, ranking in the top two or three in a handful of advanced stats, as well as third in the NBA in blocked shots (2.2 per game). Although the Hawks’ defensive rating (112.1) is just 19th in the league, that’s a significant improvement on last season’s showing (28th), as Capela has been discouraging shots around the rim, and has been better at preventing the attempts that are made.
What do you think? Who would be on your three-man Defensive Player of the Year ballot, and who do you view as the frontrunner? Which players not mentioned above would you consider?
Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
If not Rudy, then its Julius Randle. DWS FTW.
Rudy Gobert for me. Nobody protects the rim like him.
I like Simmons but then he has been DESTROYED by Zion and Kyrie lately after handling Lillard well earlier. I just expected more.
Myles Turner would disagree on that. 3.5 blocks a game vs 2.7
Rim proctection isn’t solely based on blocks. Gobert has a lower conversion rate against him, higher intimidation, better positioning, better rebounding etc etc.
Turner might disagree but nobody else will.
Lu
It’s Simmons. Rudy is an elite rim protector, but I’d argue it’s much harder to guard the perimeter than in the paint.
Is gotta be Simmons… I mean Gobert can’t defend for his life, right?
I said it for the last few years, the good centers have always great games against him, last playoffs Jokic obliterated him, this season he simply annihilated Gobert, truly embarrassed him, so has Embiid & KAT… & so on, if that is the DPOY… I just don’t know, to me he is a pretty below average defender if you ask me!
Opposing centers with an offensive game do have a tendency to put up big numbers against Gobert. He’s not trying to shut down one man he’s trying to change the opposing teams entire offense.
It’s Simmons and it’s really not close. Simmons does it all and can guard them all.
Apart from Zion and Kyrie.
I think it’s Simmons, he consistently guards top players on the opposing team while doing a great job.
I don’t know how gobert could win when as the article correctly points out, he gets dominated by the best offensive players at his position. Yeah he’s great at guarding the rim against whatever players but DPOY should not be allowing 40 plus to his counterparts.
Simmons or Giannis edge to Giannis at this point. He shuts everyone down. His big weakness is foul trouble but is getting handle on it.
I’m on board with Simmons as DPOY. Sixers have him guarding their opponents’ best players every night, and he plays great defense.
He’ll be a regular MVP candidate if he can ever develop offensive consistency… and take more than five 3pt shots in a season..
Simmons is no more likely to be an MVP candidate than Gobert will ever be. Winning the MVP is all about being outstanding on offense, which neither of them are capable of.
Wally, If Simmons can get a decent 3 point shot he’s in the MVP conversation cause he’s like Doncic with elite defence. Doncic would be a huge contender for MVP if the Mavs had more wins.
Can’t see him getting it with Joel Embiid tho. Similarly to Bron and AD, it would take something very very impressive for him to get MVP with Joel around.
Sure. Just because Westbrook won an MVP doesn’t mean that Simmons can, even if the latter is better than the former.
There should be a defensive stat that gives credit to those who guard the opponent’s top scorers. Everyone “in the business” says that but nobody does the work for public use.
538’s Nate Silver hints that there are private systems that account for on-ball defense and player tracking… not that their system RAPTOR goes there. Weak.
Simmons has done the work. One cannot prove Simmons is the most versatile and covers the most ground but oh well, can’t prove that for anyone else either.
I think Gobert has already been adequately recognized for backing up teammates.
If the Bucks win it all, fans may wish Jrue Holiday got the DPOY, as he has work to do to get them there.
Simmons for sure, team defence the Sixers are the second best team in the league. Simmons guards 1-5, he always take the oppositions best player be it a point guard, small forward or whatever.
Gobert gets buckets dropped on him regularly, look at Jokic and Embiid against him. People be saying he leads the teams great defence and it’s all about team defence but they are the fourth best defensive team behind the Sixers. So your saying he should get it as the leader of the fourth best