Isaac
Years ago

Gobert wins NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Simmons second

Rudy Gobert with 84/100 first place votes. Ben Simmons got 15 of the remainder.

Maybe defensive prowess/focus is something of a safe place for someone scared of shooting, but still, to be judged second best in the toughest league on the planet is superb. Especially where Simmons defends multiple positions and faces down some of the elite and most versatile all-time scoring talent.

Ranking went:
Gobert
Simmons (15 first place votes, 67 second, 11 third)
Draymond
Bam
Giannis
Capela
Embiid
Holiday
Turner
Butler
Caldwell-Pope
Thybulle (one third place vote)

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Cram
Years ago

Its definitely an award that favours bigs given how important rim protection is in a team's overall defensive scheme.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Would prefer it if it was more versatile form of defending. Big's obviously get more blocks, but Simmons can guard nearly every position, especially small ball centres. Even Bam has the ability to switch out onto smaller players. But Gobert does alter the game defensively just on sheer length. And I'll get in early and say he was even responsible for shutting down the whole league last year.

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Cram
Years ago

Its more than just getting blocks though. Its detering guys from going to the rim which is the highest percentage play. It doesnt have to be wit blocks (though they help) but also just good positional D in the middle.

A wing, on the other hand, can defend one guy really well, but most teams have more than one guy that can score so while you may lessen the impact of that one scorer, it doesnt necessarily has big of an impact on the team as a whole.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Sorry, didn't mean to just mention blocks, but also altered shots etc. But is being really long enough to be a great overall defender. Takes more skill IMO to shut down a good perimeter offensive player rather than a big that just stays in key and rotates over a couple of metres to contest a shot.

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Anonymous
Years ago

They got it right, the nba is a different beast, with different rules.

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Gobert wins NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Simmons second

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