Those lists are all worthless, the only thing that counts is the All-Intangibles team, and Shane reigns supreme on that one.
If he doesn't they need to revisit how they vote for these things. I feel only coaches should be allowed to vote for defensive related honors. They are the only ones that see the impact of a good defensive player 2-4 times a year. The average media guy looks at stats, they have to spend their time covering other sports equally half-assed.
Shane was robbed again this year. Why? They had to give KG something to make his impact on the Celtics more dramatic. Seriously, Battier has been candidate for too long to not win it. He plays smart, hard basketball and is a great guy off the court. He isn't a regular COTY candidate like sloan who cheaps his way through things. So in my opinion, unless some big crap happens next year, if Battier continues the way he is he will win the award.
Battier is slightly over rated by us Rocket's fans and not seen in the same light in the national sceen.
battier will make it for sure. i remember seeing on a laker message board about who they would rather face in 2nd round, the laker fans chose utah over us because shane battier did too good of a job on kobe during previous games
Battier will make 1st team; he was third place in voting behind Garnett and Camby, very much ahead of Bowen's 4th. They had to respect the success of the Rockets' defense at some point through these defensive teams. It better happen in some form this year. Here's why Garnett deserves the DPOY award. He is literally their defensive coach, the reason their entire team is so good. He created Boston's defense. Doc Rivers? No. Garnett is the fire and the brains behind what they've become on that end of the floor. That's such a huge accomplishment, such a big thing to do, to single-handedly turn an entire team into one of the best defensive teams in the NBA. Plus he's a beast with his individual defense. Camby is a good defender, but by no means THAT good. The only reason he gets all those blocks is that the rest of his team lets EVERYONE go into the paint, so he has about double the opportunities as any other guy. It doesn't mean he's better than Duncan. Maybe Camby would still be good on a different team, but we can't know that. So I like Garnett being first, and Battier being up there as well. But drop Camby.
are you serious? i know garnett is good, but to say he is the brain's behind the celtics' defense is slightly insane...tom thibbedeau, the assistant coach under van gundy and now under rivers, has been widely credited with organizing and creating the cetics' new and improved defense...
To me Camby is overrated as defender, I believe Diop, Thomas, and even Yao are better defenders than Camby at this point. I've seen some Denver games and he doesn't really stop anybody, like he was getting lit up by Pau Gasol in the playoffs and it seems that in playoffs he can't really stop anyone when he has to. I think he is more above average than he is good. The reason why I would say choose the players above over Camby is that those players man the paint much better than Camby. Everyone likes to point Yao and say that he is slow and unathletic, but the things that Yao has over Camby is what I think makes a better defender. Effort (which is a big part of defense), great one-on-one defense, controlling the paint, and better team defender (he rotates well, even though he is little slow)..... and he never gives up on defense. You don't have to be a great athlete to be great defender.
I like Shane, but I would not hesitate to trade him for a better offensive and more athletic wing player or a good PG...like Travis Outlaw or Jose Calderon. As for the topic, sure he could make it. DD
Who cares? He is a great defensive player those lists mean crap he doesn't need them to dictate how good of a player he is
He will be there, I'm sure Just look at the job he has done on opponent's best scorer during winning streak and not only winning streak. Shane deserves it
he should have made DPoY. bostons D is top notch, but all the credit should not be given to KG. If anything I think our former assistant coach had a larger role in their defensive success.
They should divide those lists by position. Is Battier the best defensive player at the 3 or 2? Who among the 2 or 3's would be the top defensive players?
it'll be typical nba bias if he doesn't. the fact that the fans around the league get a vote makes this BS, he's not a trash talker or flashy. so automatically ppl don't think of him right away...and no one likes houston.
I give props to Doug Collins. He was the first to point out Shane never being on an All-Defense team mid-season. Then Shane put the clamps on Kobe to give us our 22nd straight win, and the media bandwagon started rolling just enough for him to get legitimate consideration for DPOY.
