I think either AK47 or Camby will have it, but I hope both Shane and Deke will make the first defensive team.
Excellent question MA. I wouldn't be surprised to see this question raised in the Chron or some other Houston media (mattj are you there?) at some point. It should be.
i don't tihnk he has a shot. the history of the award leads one to believe that stats mean a great deal to the voters. year - name - rebounds - steals - blocks: 05-06 ben = 11.3 1.8 2.2 04-05 ben = 12.2 1.4 2.4 03-04 ron = 5.3 2.1 0.7 02-03 ben = 15.4 1.4 3.2 01-02 ben = 13.0 1.7 3.5 00-01 deke = 13.5 0.4 2.7 99-00 zo = 9.5 0.5 3.7 98-99 zo = 11.0 0.7 3.9 97-98 deke = 11.4 0.4 3.4 96-97 deke = 11.6 0.6 3.3 95-96 payton = 4.2 2.8 0.2 in the past 11 years only 2 perimeter defenders have won the award. both had more than 2 SPG and a reputation as a "lock down" defender. this year shane isn't even close to any sort of stats that would give him enough votes to win the DPOY award. 06-07 shane = 4.4 1.2 0.8 his stats are similar to another great defender who never won this award, bruce bowen. his best statistical year was probably last year. 05-06 bowen = 3.9 1.0 0.4 playing on great defensive teams like shane and bruce will get your name tossed into the mix, but once people do a little research they see that those are pretty weak stats when compaired to other's competing for this award like: 06-07 DPOY possibles KG 12.4 1.4 1.9 camby 12.2 0.9 3.0 okafor 11.4 0.8 2.9 oneal 10.4 0.7 3.0 wallace 10.1 1.6 2.1 marion 10.1 2.1 1.4 historically (9 out of the past 11 years) stats meant everything. guys who are known as great defenders like kirilenko, bowen, shane, and artest just don't have the stats to back themselves up this season. since shane is a rocket, i hope he does win or get a bunch of votes. shouldn't the best defensive player on the best defensive team get the award or at least finish in the top 3-5 in voting? on the other end of the floor MVP's are usually the best offensive players on the best teams in the league.
Looking at rebounds, steals and blocks - Dream should've won it every year he was in the league. He was always tops in steals and blocks.
appreciate it smoothie thats what I was looking for. and according to the info posted after my last post, I'll have to say I doubt seriously he gets the recognition we all know he so richly deserves. Oh well, Im pretty sure he is happy Rockets fans appreciate him even if the media guys arent as impressed.
If charges drawn were an official stat I think Battier would have a damn near a lock to win. The amount of turnovers he creates based on that alone is huge for the rockets. Most of the time the charges he draws are rotating onto someone elses man which makes him one of the best help defenders in the league. He also has stellar individual defense as he is always guarding and limiting the best player on the other team on a nightly basis. Just based on his defensive IQ and the fact that the Rockets are the number one defensive team in the league has to put his name in the running. The other thing is that alot of the DPOY awards are based on stats which is why tenacious perimeter defenders don't win because they don't rack up the stats as much as they do just giving the superstars a hardtime getting good looks. They don't gamble in the passing lanes for steals because they know theyll likely get burned for it and they dont get off their feet as much for blocks as they do putting a constant hand in the face of Kobes and DWades.
would you rather have the defensive player of the year?? or the defensive team of the year? end of story.
I think Shane is the front-runner, actually, with Camby a close second... the regulars have slipped (Artest, AK47, Bruce, Ben Wallace)...
no problem. i had the day off from work lol. i'll hav eto agree with you here. he doesn't have a shot even though he deserves to at least make a defensive team. as i found, even the mighty bruce bowen (who's been a media fave on defense) has never come close to winning the award because of his weak stats. his career high in SPG for a season is 1.4. his career high for RPG for a season is 3.9. he's never been a shot blocker. with stats like bowens (4rpg, 1spg) how can shane compete with a guy like camby (12.2 0.9 3.0)?
Committing a charge is considered a turnover for the offensive player, so why not reward the defensive player by counting it as a steal? I mean, that's essentially what drawing a charge is -- a steal. Anyone else with me on this? Seriously, Shane draws 2 or 3 a game.
Dennis Rodman won the DPOY award a few times and his "stats" weren't that impresive. He was a tenacious defender and rebounder and he drew his shares of charges, as well as get into people's heads.
I stand corrected, however, I will say that Rodman was a more scarier defender than Battier. Simply because that foo is straight up crazy, I mean come on he was on WCW and dressed up as a bride! Cleary he's kuu-kuu. And on the topic of Dennis Rodman, check out this article I found earlier today. I mentioned it in another thread and would've open up a new thread for it on the NBA dish but I'm still a rookie. I thought it was pretty interesting. http://nba.aolsportsblog.com/2007/01/31/cuban-and-rodman-join-forces-for-freak-show/
Why do you think my post is so absurd? Did you watch how Tmac shuts down the best players of the other teams game in and game out?
I love T-Mac to death, but I'm a realist. He has always been a great defender and does shut down his opponents on OCCASIONS when he chooses to do so (ala Dirk in the 2004 playoffs), but not game in and game out as you so suggested. When it's all said and done, he'll be known as superstar because of his offensive skills. We win games mainly because of his offensive capabilities and TEAM defense. You can't honestly say his defensive presence is on par with the likes of Bowen (when he was in his prime), Artest, etc. And FYI, he doesn't shut down the best players on the other team, because he DOESN'T EVEN guard them. That job goes to Battier. Do you watch the game buddy?
i agree. in order to win, he'd have to average 2 blocks and 2 steals a game. i love the idea of houston's #1 defense getting some love for what battier does for us, but yeah, i doubt it will happen. ak47 would win if healthy. but i think so far this year, emeka okafor might get some serious love for DPOY.
