http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/20...0614_1_deandre-jordan-lebron-james-miami-heat This is the worst year for him to lobby for DPOY. Paul George and Roy Hibbert alone are likely better candidates. Going by some advanced stats, Kevin Durant is actually having a better year individually on defense.
They usually put durant on the worst offensive player. So I think that whole thing is kind of skewed because the advanced defensive stats don't tell you who exactly they are guarding.
Never thought about that, I haven't watched the Thunder too much this year anyway so I don't really know who KD has been guarding. I have watched the Pacers enough this year though, George usually seems to be on the best opposing offensive player. At the end of the day, I still find it hard to believe they'd give it to anyone other than a big man. The history of the award speaks for itself -- it's difficult for wing players to win it.
Gasol can't guard 5 players at the same time what's your point? I'm not sure why you think LBJ has to guard KD and Melo for 48 mins when Marc Gasol isn't guarding any of those guys at all. I guess you don't understand it but versatility actually allows him to be impactful defensively, because the team can then do switching plays to prevent opponents doing PNRs and screens to get an easy shot off. If you have a guy that can guard the opponent pg all the way to the opponent C then defense becomes a lot easier.
The holding 1-5 is overrated imo. LeBron isn't holding 5s that actually have half decent post games and he's not holding 4s with good ones either.
The MVP, DPOY, etc. are only slightly more meaningful than all-star voting. I never really put much stock in those things. There are no objective ways to define who should get those awards.
Um, what? Most of the criticizers here have no idea how big LBJ really is, he's basically the same body type as Karl Malone. Sure plodding centers like Hibbert won't really have any trouble but the NBA is weaksauce right now so there isn't a guy like Shaq anymore. Instead, you have undersized guys like ZBO and Al Jefferson as the premier post threat, and LBJ can handle those guys just fine. Also, let me just say you should stop comparing LBJ to some mythical lockdown defender out there, his opponent was Marc Gasol. When was the last time Marc Gasol dominated a superstar, he couldn't even stop Dwight offensively. In general, yes, a big man is better defensively than a wing guy, but if you have someone like LBJ who can lock down even the most explosive scorers in the league like D Rose then I think he's more impactful than a normal dude who protects the paint. Maybe if you had a legendary defender like Hakeem or Tim Duncan in his prime I'd give it to those guys but Marc Gasol is just above average on defense, IMHO prime Dwight or even Larry Sanders last year leaves him in the dust defensively.
the fact that the heat have been a top defensive team over the years despite the fact that they have NO DEFENSIVE ANCHOR is a testament to lebron's greatness as a defender.
