With the NBA regular season coming to a close it’s time for awards week at The Hoops Manifesto. We’ve teamed up with some of Bloguin’s best NBA writers to vote on who gets the (virtual) hardware. Next up: All-Defensive Teams
Voting Panel: Jeff Fox from The Hoops Manifesto, Lives from Knicks Fanatics, College Wolf and Bonk from TWolves Blog, Philip Rossman-Reich from Orlando Magic Daily, and Don from With Malice.
All-Defensive First Team
Guards
Rajon Rondo – Boston
Tony Allen – Memphis
Forwards
LeBron James – Miami
Kevin Garnett – Boston
Center
Tyson Chandler – New York
Synopsis: The guards on our All-Defensive First Team, Rajon Rondo and Tony Allen, actually used to share the backcourt in Boston – Allen now provides defensive grit for the up-and-coming Grizzlies. LeBron James was a lockdown defender again this year – opposing forwards’ stats when guarded by LeBron were ridiculously bad. Kevin Garnett might have tons of miles on his odometer, but he is still one of the top defensive menaces in the league. Tyson Chandler helped push the Mavs over the championship edge last year, but unfortunately for Knicks fans it’ll take more than Chandler to do that for their team.
All-Defensive Second Team
Guards
Chris Paul – Clippers
Dwyane Wade – Miami
Forwards
Andre Iguodala – Philadelphia
Serge Ibaka – Oklahoma City
Center
Dwight Howard – Orlando
Synopsis: Chris Paul led the NBA in steals again this season – that makes four out of the past five years. Only seven players who appeared in at least half of this past season’s games averaged more than a steal and a block per game, and Dwyane Wade is the only one who isn’t a frontcourt player. Andre Iguodala showed that you can be considered a star even if you don’t post eye-popping offensive stats. Serge Ibaka‘s 3.65 blocks per game was the highest average in the NBA since 2000/01. Who would have thought we’d see the day that Dwight Howard didn’t make the All-Defensive First Team?
Others receiving votes: Shawn Marion, Jared Jeffries, Mike Conley Jr., Iman Shumpert, Josh Smith, Rudy Gay, Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, Avery Bradley, Russell Westbrook, Andrew Bynum, DeAndre Jordan, Kobe Bryant
Previous Award Winners: Executive of the Year, Coach of the Year, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man of the Year, All-Rookie Team, Rookie of the Year
Next up: Defensive Player of the Year
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