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: Defensive Player of the Year and All-Defensive Team.
Voters: Jeff Fox from The Hoops Manifesto, Philip from Orlando Magic Daily, College Wolf and Dan Bonk from TWolves Blog, Aaron Hodges from Knicks Fanatics and Sean François from from Hoop Heads North.
Bloguin’s NBA Defensive Player of the Year
Dwight Howard – Orlando Magic
14.1 rpg, 2.4 bpg, 1.4 spg
Will Dwight Howard ever let anyone else win the Defensive Player of the Year award? Probably not, at least not in the near future. Howard remains the most dominating, intimidating defensive presence in the League, and considering he is only 25 years young, opponents still have plenty more years of being terrorized by the new Superman. And while the stats show what a dominating defender Howard is – league-leader in defensive rebounds, top 20 in steals, third in blocks, first in defensive rating and defensive Win Shares – it doesn’t reflect the innumerable instances that Howard’s sheer presence in the paint makes opponents miss shots (or not even take them in the first place), nor does it show how his teammates can gamble on defense because they know Howard has got their backs. Any claim that Howard isn’t the NBA’s best defender is just plain, well, indefensible.
Others receiving votes: Kevin Garnett
Bloguin’s NBA All-Defensive Team
Guard – Rajon Rondo – Boston Celtics
4.4 rpg, 2.3 spg, 0.2 bpg
Guard – Russell Westbrook – Oklahoma City Thunder
4.6 rpg, 1.9 spg, 0.4 bpg
Forward – LeBron James – Miami Heat
7.5 rpg, 1.6 spg, 0.6 bpg
Forward – Kevin Garnett – Boston Celtics
8.9 rpg, 1.3 spg, 0.8 bpg
Center – Dwight Howard – Orlando Magic
14.1 rpg, 2.4 bpg, 1.4 spg
Next up: MVP & All-NBA Teams
Previous awards: Most Improved Player, Coach of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Rookie of the Year & All-Rookie Team
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