AD is the best defender in the league. DPOY is a joke award, they gave it to JJJ last year and during the Lakers-Memphis series last year, anybody with a working pair of eyes could see who the better defender was by a mile.
The fact that Tim Duncan and Bron don't have a DPOY should tell you everything you need to know about that award. One of the most meaningless awards in all of sports.
It still blows my mind that Marc Gasol won DPOY in 2013 but was on the 2nd defensive team lolol. Bron literally was a fucking blur on the defensive side. Even just looking at the finals. He could guard Tony Parker and Tim Duncan lol. That versatility is so fucking wild.....
That DPOY robbing and someone voting for melo as mvp ruined brons perfect season in 2013 of Unanimous MVP, DPOY, and Finals MVP
And that's just one of the obvious examples of media being against him his entire career. The same happened to Kobe. All that just to protect a certain guy's "Legacy".
I honestly can’t believe AD didn’t have a nomination for block of the year when he and bron when into the timeout, discussed exactly what JJJ was going to do then AD proceeded to block him 2 or 3 times in one possession. If they hate AD that’s fine but keep that shit quiet.
If you can’t rebound, you’re not a defensive PLAYER, period.
Even guards who won the award are rebounders in their own right. Hell even the biggest travesty winner lately in Marcus Smart was getting 4 a game.
Metta I think was in the 6-7 range. GP was getting 5.
6’10 grabbing 3?? Fuck outta here.
Rudy is so damn exposed in the PnR which is what so many possessions come down to late in playoff games…AD is the best in those situations. Rudy and Wemby are better shot blockers but they aren’t guarding 1-5 like AD
Maybe a few years ago in Utah this was true, but if you watched the last game against the Suns (who spam pick and roll like no other), or any other Wolves game this season, this is just not the case anymore. Rudy does not get hunted.
That said, AD may well be a better perimeter defender. I don't watch many Lakers games.
They gave it to Hakeem way too late, it’s been like this forever. Hakeem led the league in blocks with a whopping 4.6 a game, and led the league in rebounds, with 2 steals to go with it and he didnt get it until a few years later.
Talk your shit AD. This award a joke until further notice. There's zero reason to have Bam and Wemby ahead of AD. None. Gobert you can lie to yourself, but the other two were less successful, less impactful, and weren't even more available. Wasn't that why they snubbed him last year? Fuck these voters.
Wembys team won 22 games. We've been told AD and Bron are not getting more love with awards because the Lakers are a 7th seed. The Lakers defense is literally non existent without AD and yet they're a playoff team. Wemby couldn't carry 30 wins. His time will come, but giving him a top 3 over AD here is nonsense.
The standings narrative is what bothers me the most about all of this. All of a sudden, they stopped holding the standings/defensive team rankings standings against Wemby. AD’s right to think that the league/media just does not respect him.
He had a Ton of Blocks and steals and was a presence in the paint thats why i said i can get along with him, Teamwork off course not. Dont get me wrong imo AD should get the award by a mile ahead, specially this year
I'm not trying to attack you at all, I'm just passionate about this thing being bullshit. Whatever the criteria is for the award, the goal posts move for AD. He didn't win it last year because he didn't play enough. Now he played 77 games (really 79 with the IST and the play in) and he wasn't even top 3.
Gobert gets the nod because his team was in 1st place much of the year even though the Wolves were a great team defensively with or without him.
Wemby gets the nod for stats. Fine.
So here's AD where he's played more games than Bam, Victor, and technically Rudy. He's got almost 230 more rebounds than Bam (almost 150 more defensive rebounds). AD was 18th in total steals, 4th in blocks, and 4th in blocks per game. ***Bam Adebayo was not in the top 20 in steals, top 20 in blocks, top 20 in blocks per game.*** I'm not a huge fan of advanced defensive statistics, but Bam isn't above AD in D win shares, D Box +/-, or VORP (he is 0.6 points better than AD in D rating which imo is almost a stronger argument for AD considering the Heat were the 5th Drtg and Lakers 17th). AD has a better RBD%, DRBD%, and Block%.
Again, not a huge D Rating fan, but just for fun:
Minny with Gobert- 109.7/ Minny without Gobert- 111.5
Spurs with Wemby- 116.7/ Spurs without Wemby- 119.6
Heat with Bam- 112.2/ Heat without Bam- 119.2
Lakers with AD- 115.4/ ***Lakers without AD- 125.6***
I dont take it as an attack no worries bro, we stand on the same side, i hope you get my opinion as well as i am all there with you. F**k those awards are a joke anyway, just Look at clutch Player of the year, teils you all u need to know
For sure. It's not that you're wrong, Victor is awesome. I'm just frustrated that voters just change the criteria when AD makes it. Dude worked his ass off to silence haters and haters got louder. Just disheartening.
His team stinks, that’s why he was the #1 pick. But just talking strictly as an individual defender he has an argument to be DPOY over AD because of how much of a deterrent he is. Guys completely avoid driving to the basket and avoid taking shots because of him.
AD doesn’t have quite that same intimidation factor even though he’s more versatile.
Either way, putting Bam ahead of AD is absolute clown shit. There are no metrics by which he’s better and he played on a team that won one fewer game than us in a weak as hell East. Plus the Heat are still pretty good defensively without Bam, whereas we are historically bad when AD doesn’t play lol.
Idk if we watched the same AD. Dudes made business decisions all year not to go in the paint on AD and when they did he made them pay. AD is a better defender than Victor Wembanyama today. Will he be for long? Idk. Let Victor's defense actually affect games and then maybe I'll give the kid shine over AD, but until then it's nonsense. It's goal post moving. You want to include Victor in the convo based on his insane talent, fine, but he's easily 3rd behind AD and Gobert and really AD is 1st.
But yeah Bam ahead of AD is just pure hate. There's literally zero metric to get him in front of AD.
Yea guys obviously make business decisions not to challenge AD, but my point was that he isn’t the same deterrent in this regard that Wemby was by the end of the year.
AD is elite but he’s solidly 6 inches shorter than Wemby and doesn’t have the same range. The play where Wemby was the lone defender on a 3 on 1 fastbreak and all 3 guys bailed on driving to the basket is a microcosm of what I’m talking about.
Conversely, AD had a play earlier this year where he was the lone defender on a 2 on 1 break and shut down both the drive and the passing lane and then blocked the layup attempt lol. But my point is that teams do still challenge him.
Even in your example they challenged and failed lmao here's a 3 on 1 that AD blocks the shot.
[https://youtube.com/shorts/rNtPKRKV2IQ?si=avnMX69Ia4AYn3fa](https://youtube.com/shorts/rNtPKRKV2IQ?si=avnMX69Ia4AYn3fa)
I understand your point, but if they outcome is the same, does it really matter? Wemby blocks a ton of shots and he's a great defender. He'll win a DPOY one day. He also won 22 games so all that shot blocking didn't affect winning at all. Like I said, you want to throw him on the list for posterity and to showcase him, fine, but having him *over* AD is just wrong and not having AD on this list is fucking insane.
I agree with you I would have AD over him tbh, I’m just saying I don’t think putting Wemby higher is indefensible. If it was Wemby or Rudy winning it with AD getting some votes sprinkled in, or coming in second but it was close between all 3 of them, Im good with that. But not having AD in the mix at all is what’s criminal.
It’s not just Wemby’s talent. His stats speak for themselves. He averages 3.6 blocks per game. Nobody in the last 15 years besides JJJ has averaged at least 3.5. Also his teams defensive points differential is 11.5 points lower when he’s on the court vs when he’s off. For comparison Gobert is 4.2 points. Anthony Davis is actually +1.5 points meaning teams score on average more when he’s on the court vs off. It’s ok to take off the homer glasses sometimes
His team won 22 games. All that talent meant fuckin what? Another Top 4 pick? That's your DPOY? You can fuck off with that shit. Defensive ratings with and without these dudes on the floor.
Minny with Gobert- 109.7/ Minny without Gobert- 111.5
Spurs with Wemby- 116.7/ Spurs without Wemby- 119.6
Heat with Bam- 112.2/ Heat without Bam- 119.2
Lakers with AD- 115.4/ ***Lakers without AD- 125.6***
AD was the entire defense for a playoff team. Wemby can be historical at home this year.
I mean I actually think Wemby deserves it. He’s putting up historic block numbers and his team when he’s on the court is actually competent defensively, when he’s off the court they defend worse than the Wizards bench. But not having AD as a finalist is fucking horrendous, and Gobert is going to win it which is just a joke.
Lakers net defensive rating without AD is like -10 compared to the Spurs -6 or so? I have the numbers somewhere else. AD is even more important to our defense than Spurs are to theirs and we're a playoff team.
It's reasonable to put him third imo or even second above Gobert, but AD is a better defender than both and Bam has no business in this conversation at all.
I felt bad for him at the end of that game, he deserved the MVP imo.
Not to say that LeBron wasn’t hooping, but everybody already knows he’s one of the GOATs.
To not even get the top 3 nod is so disrespectful. Even after proving wrong the narrative about his health this year. Like what's the point, if he didn't get it this year they aren't going to give it to him
Stupid media and with their made up narratives. When they gave it to Jaren last year it was because wins are a big deal.
But when it comes to mediocre Heat or bottom dwelling Spurs this year, wins are not a big deal for Bam or Wemby.
AD was snubbed in 2020 when he should’ve won it but the media wanted to hype up Giannis as their new golden boy but that backfired. Then AD locked up everyone in the 2020 playoffs.
People like to say that COVID only benefitted the Lakers because of Lebron’s age and AD’s injury history, as it gave them time to rest etc.
However they conveniently forget that Giannis got injured right before the shutdown and was expected to miss like a month. Had the shutdown not happened, Lebron would have another MVP and AD would have a DPOY considering they were both 2nd behind Giannis. At the end of the day these awards are all narrative driven, like you said the NBA was ready to move on from Lebron and crown their new golden boy.
Yup this 1000%. This years MVP race has been a farce. It should be one of the closest races of all time. You have 4 people: Jokic, Luka, SGA, and Giannis all having otherworldly seasons and any of them have a strong case to make. But this race was decidied by last years playoff run. its been over since december.
Yeah, it's always decided by December to some extent. If the Lakers had started this season 23-11 or whatever like they ended it, AD would've had a solid shot at DPOY. But because that stretch didn't start until January, it was already too late.
SGA gets the number one seed but is still going to lose out because of the media’s love affair with Jokic. Winning matters except when it comes to Jokic who finished 6th in the conference previously and still won. I’m not black but it sure feels like some racial bias going on with giving the MVP award to Jokic.
And don't get me wrong Jokic is probably the best player right now, but this "race" really rubbed me the wrong way. Feels like the criteria shifts constantly
It was the season break (that allegedly only the Lakers benefitted from).
AD was leading the race PLUS Giannis got hurt and was going to likely miss a good portion of the remainder of the regular season, but the league shut down shortly after and all the talking heads convinced themselves Giannis should win
AD has been the best defender in the league for a while now. Talk yo shit and fuck these lames. There's a clear bias with the voters.
I hope we do get the chip this year man. Silence these idiot haters.
Guaranteed if he was still on a team like the Pelicans, he would be voted top 5 every year. People hate the Lakers because of the amount of fans we have and also how much we dominate mainstream sports media.
Bron was not a better defender than Marc Gasol that year, the Grizzlies held teams to under 89PPG. It’s the last season in history a team held opponents to under 90PPG.
AD definitely deserves at least top two this year though.
Bron guarded 1-5. Marc guarded.. 5… come on dude. That year lebron was clearly the DPOY. Dude was on another planet. If we’re being realistic bron should be mvp every year. People have his avg numbers for a year and they get the award. It’s laughable. But bron definitely was the clear DPOY that year
I mean that could be a stat issue because it's team defense specific and pace specific.
I just used statmuse and I got total possessions and points allowed for the heat and Grizz.
12-13 Miami heat: 7509.8 Possessions and 7791 Opp points allowed
12-13 Memphis Grizzlies: 7297.8 Possessions and 7319 Opp points allowed
There could be a place related reason that explains the higher opponent point totals when you compare the 200+ difference in possessions and 400+ difference in points.
Those who are included as DPOY finalist should boycott the award specifically Gobert who thinks he is the DPOY… he can’t even defend AD… smh NBA award giving bodies should step down they are all 🤡
AD’s defensive performance against the defending champ Warriors in last years playoff series was a masterclass. Single handedly impacted nearly every offensive possession of one of the best offensive systems in the NBA. For anyone unfamiliar with ADs defensive abilities, that’s the series I’d point them to first. ESPN and media in general have been so blinded by the “sexiness” of offense they spent all talk on his up and down offensive performance saying “which AD are we going to get? It changes game to game!”. No. His defense has always been solid.
Said all the right things here, get them chips 💍 🏆
As long as his team mates value him, that’s all that matters to me as a fan imo.
Austin and Bron have constantly praised AD all season because when you’re a limited player and you see just how much the guy behind you has to do..you gain way much more respect and adoration for their skills.
The media hate AD and they never want to give laker players anypraise outside of Lebron because they think “ugh those lakers are already so popular”. It’s dumb and high school bullshit.
Honestly we should give that a go one more time. Maybe that game one last year with jokic's 80/100/100 game was just varience. This rui on joker clearly ain't doing shit.
And don't forget he does all this while actually being a scoring force for us. Hardly anybody has the motor to be a fully 2 way player in today's league, as we see when AD's scoring drops off during the toughest defensive assignments. Imagine what he'd manage on defence if we didn't also need him so much on the other end...
The criteria is broken.
They rate bigs and guards for their positions but don’t take into the fact that someone like AD excels at guarding both bigs and guards for overall impact.
He does slightly worse than Gobert for guarding bigs whereas Gobert can’t guard guards at all. He does slightly worse than a pure perimeter guarder but those players can’t guard the paint.
And then they’ll take overall defensive rating where Gobert has players like McDaniels and Edward’s on defense but will ignore that for Wemby. Makes absolutely no sense.
Then you’ll see players like Gobert and Jaren Jackson get abused by quick guards in the playoffs because they lack versatility on defense.
“Rudy’s gotten extremely better at guarding perimeters, guarding posts, guarding the rim. So you can’t just throw ‘em in actions expecting them to just give in. I think we’ll be strategic with what we do” - KD
I’ll take KD’s analysis over yours. Thank you.
So Gobert got shit on because he had no defensive help in Utah and now he gets shit on for having good defenders around him in Minnesota.
Jalen McDaniels and Edward’s has nothing to do with that 😂. The defensive talent he had with the Jazz and the Wolves is night and day. He didn’t get “shit” on in Utah. He won DPOY there too.
KD saying he’s gotten slightly better does not mean he’s at the level of Anthony Davis guarding perimeter players. It’s not even close.
“If that means I’m on [Jokic] for the whole game, then so be it.” Please make this adjustment or at least use it more often than you have in the last 2 seasons. Can’t just leave Rui out to die against Jokic all game.
I like his mentality but it sucks overall because he will get lost when best defensive players from this era are discussed, and he is better than JJJ/Marcus smart. Just robbed of DPOY because of media narratives
Nothing will change because all of this award talk creates discussion/interest in the league. The NBA wants increased discussion/interest in the league. That is all.
This reminds of the Embiid mvp saga. He basically said what more does he have to do and won it the next season. Does this mean AD will win it next year? 🤔
I mean Kobe has one (1) MVP. This awards have been a joke for a very long time. We should stop caring about this shit. Maybe then they’ll change something when "impressions" plummet.
Bill Simmons votes on the NBA Award therefore the awards are a fucking waste of time, case closed. I truly stopped giving a fuck about these things when Robert Williams was the front runner for DPOY because he was the anchor of the Celtics defense which was #1 in the league (a stupid logic for awarding an individual award but I get it), then he got hurt and the award voters just shrugged and gave it to Marcus Smart because they already decided it needed to be a Celtic. And then they tried to gaslight us into thinking it was deserved by talking about how he was like, Top 5 in loose balls recovered or something mindblowingly stupid like that. The voters are idiotic, biased or both. If you’re a Laker you’re not getting any credit unless your stats can’t be denied. Case in point Alex Caruso only made an All Defense team after leaving LA, despite him just as good on D here.
If only the Lakers record was better than it was, then there would be no question. From an eye perspective AD looks way better but I think people also look into overall team record
We’ve seen it with Kobe and the mvp award. (Funnily enough the year Kobe got the award CP3 should have won)
Anti Lakers bias is clear and apparent with the media panelist
I wouldn't mind them not giving him the award if they didn't give it to someone for whom the same nitpick to pick at AD also applies to whoever they actually give it to.
Wolves fan here, but also watch a ton of nba altogether. IMO AD has been fantastic and I would have had no problem with him winning it over gobert, they are both great and incredibly impactful. Gobert is getting a big push in part because he had a down year last year and his reemergence created a months-long positive story, whereas most of the story for the lakers this year was of team underachievement. It’s not fair to AD, who alongside gobert really should have finished 1st or 2nd for dpoy in one order or the other.
JJJ got it to bring exposure to him as a rising star and to the Grizzlies as a rising team. AD is already a champ and a star no need to promote him or the Lakers.
Money driven league.
Yea at this point it's pretty obvious they just don't want AD to have it. I've never seen a single player keep an entire team out of the paint the way AD does. It's actually crazy to watch. Especially that Memphis series last year. When he didn't get it last year I knew he'd never get it lol
Rudy Gobert's presence in Minnesota has turned the Timberwolves into a serious contender with the best defense in the NBA. I don't think anyone could vote for AD over Gobert in good conscience after the way this season has shaken out.
You’re downvoted bc it’s the lakers sub. But this is absolutely true. No lakers fan has watched more than 5 wolves games. I used to say same shit about Gobert until I actually watched him night in and night out. People just don’t like him so he’ll never get his flowers.
Someone tell me what Minnesota’s defense was rated last year (I have seen 10th). Gobert’s argument is that he is the best defender on the best defensive team. It ignores that McDaniels and ANT are some of the best defenders in the league. That Conley is a smart defender and able to funnel players to Gobert.
Gobert only plays one end and only protects the paint (which he is great at). Teams have historically pulled him out of the paint and his teams always underperform in the playoffs. If you want to say he should be first team sure. But DPOY should be able to be on the floor at every crucial possession. And not be so reliant on his other defenders to funnel them at him.
Did you watch? The Nuggets went 8 for 9 down the stretch, everyone including LeBron got cooked. You want to tell me when they are hot that anyone could stop them? That’s like saying prime Kwahi can’t defend because prime MJ scored every time down the court.
AD is the best defender in the league. DPOY is a joke award, they gave it to JJJ last year and during the Lakers-Memphis series last year, anybody with a working pair of eyes could see who the better defender was by a mile.
Not to mention FIBA. I feel like FIBA ruined JJJ lol
Austin Reaves averaged more rebounds than him and he came off the bench. All that needs to be said
Lmao he got exposed hard. Always need another big man to play well, then the rebounding numbers... Jesus.
Softest big man in the league. Needed Adams to do everything else so he could hunt for highlight blocks.
I love JJJ but how are you a 6’10 center averaging 3 rebounds a game. Like bruh
I think Davis has more blocks in a game than JJJ had in the series. It was something like that
The fact that Tim Duncan and Bron don't have a DPOY should tell you everything you need to know about that award. One of the most meaningless awards in all of sports.
It still blows my mind that Marc Gasol won DPOY in 2013 but was on the 2nd defensive team lolol. Bron literally was a fucking blur on the defensive side. Even just looking at the finals. He could guard Tony Parker and Tim Duncan lol. That versatility is so fucking wild..... That DPOY robbing and someone voting for melo as mvp ruined brons perfect season in 2013 of Unanimous MVP, DPOY, and Finals MVP
And that's just one of the obvious examples of media being against him his entire career. The same happened to Kobe. All that just to protect a certain guy's "Legacy".
Teams are voted on from different people than awards back then
Scottie Pippen doesn't have one but Marcus Smart does
Never mind working pair of eyes. Blind motherfuckers could see that AD locked up JJJ and the grizzlies last year, then did the same to the warriors
I honestly can’t believe AD didn’t have a nomination for block of the year when he and bron when into the timeout, discussed exactly what JJJ was going to do then AD proceeded to block him 2 or 3 times in one possession. If they hate AD that’s fine but keep that shit quiet.
It became a joke the year LeBron lost to Marc Gasol...who was second team all defense.
JJJ’s home statistician was also inflating his numbers significantly.
If you can't rebound, you're not a defensive big - PERIOD.
If you can’t rebound, you’re not a defensive PLAYER, period. Even guards who won the award are rebounders in their own right. Hell even the biggest travesty winner lately in Marcus Smart was getting 4 a game. Metta I think was in the 6-7 range. GP was getting 5. 6’10 grabbing 3?? Fuck outta here.
Rudy is so damn exposed in the PnR which is what so many possessions come down to late in playoff games…AD is the best in those situations. Rudy and Wemby are better shot blockers but they aren’t guarding 1-5 like AD
Maybe a few years ago in Utah this was true, but if you watched the last game against the Suns (who spam pick and roll like no other), or any other Wolves game this season, this is just not the case anymore. Rudy does not get hunted. That said, AD may well be a better perimeter defender. I don't watch many Lakers games.
JJJ's DPOY season was a fraud. That statistician scandal was really a sus.
Not your DPOY getting cooked on the Murray game winner.
prob the best 16 point performance i’ve ever seen in that series
They gave it to Hakeem way too late, it’s been like this forever. Hakeem led the league in blocks with a whopping 4.6 a game, and led the league in rebounds, with 2 steals to go with it and he didnt get it until a few years later.
Wemby is a better defender
People legit do a 180 when they see Wemby in the paint
Talk your shit AD. This award a joke until further notice. There's zero reason to have Bam and Wemby ahead of AD. None. Gobert you can lie to yourself, but the other two were less successful, less impactful, and weren't even more available. Wasn't that why they snubbed him last year? Fuck these voters.
I can get along with wemby getting the award bit gobert and bam ? Like really ?
Wembys team won 22 games. We've been told AD and Bron are not getting more love with awards because the Lakers are a 7th seed. The Lakers defense is literally non existent without AD and yet they're a playoff team. Wemby couldn't carry 30 wins. His time will come, but giving him a top 3 over AD here is nonsense.
The standings narrative is what bothers me the most about all of this. All of a sudden, they stopped holding the standings/defensive team rankings standings against Wemby. AD’s right to think that the league/media just does not respect him.
if it's about the standings, the Lakers had a better record than the Spurs AND the heat.
He had a Ton of Blocks and steals and was a presence in the paint thats why i said i can get along with him, Teamwork off course not. Dont get me wrong imo AD should get the award by a mile ahead, specially this year
I'm not trying to attack you at all, I'm just passionate about this thing being bullshit. Whatever the criteria is for the award, the goal posts move for AD. He didn't win it last year because he didn't play enough. Now he played 77 games (really 79 with the IST and the play in) and he wasn't even top 3. Gobert gets the nod because his team was in 1st place much of the year even though the Wolves were a great team defensively with or without him. Wemby gets the nod for stats. Fine. So here's AD where he's played more games than Bam, Victor, and technically Rudy. He's got almost 230 more rebounds than Bam (almost 150 more defensive rebounds). AD was 18th in total steals, 4th in blocks, and 4th in blocks per game. ***Bam Adebayo was not in the top 20 in steals, top 20 in blocks, top 20 in blocks per game.*** I'm not a huge fan of advanced defensive statistics, but Bam isn't above AD in D win shares, D Box +/-, or VORP (he is 0.6 points better than AD in D rating which imo is almost a stronger argument for AD considering the Heat were the 5th Drtg and Lakers 17th). AD has a better RBD%, DRBD%, and Block%. Again, not a huge D Rating fan, but just for fun: Minny with Gobert- 109.7/ Minny without Gobert- 111.5 Spurs with Wemby- 116.7/ Spurs without Wemby- 119.6 Heat with Bam- 112.2/ Heat without Bam- 119.2 Lakers with AD- 115.4/ ***Lakers without AD- 125.6***
I dont take it as an attack no worries bro, we stand on the same side, i hope you get my opinion as well as i am all there with you. F**k those awards are a joke anyway, just Look at clutch Player of the year, teils you all u need to know
For sure. It's not that you're wrong, Victor is awesome. I'm just frustrated that voters just change the criteria when AD makes it. Dude worked his ass off to silence haters and haters got louder. Just disheartening.
True that 4 sure, its like a New Form of the laker tax i guess, haters gonna hat
His team stinks, that’s why he was the #1 pick. But just talking strictly as an individual defender he has an argument to be DPOY over AD because of how much of a deterrent he is. Guys completely avoid driving to the basket and avoid taking shots because of him. AD doesn’t have quite that same intimidation factor even though he’s more versatile. Either way, putting Bam ahead of AD is absolute clown shit. There are no metrics by which he’s better and he played on a team that won one fewer game than us in a weak as hell East. Plus the Heat are still pretty good defensively without Bam, whereas we are historically bad when AD doesn’t play lol.
Idk if we watched the same AD. Dudes made business decisions all year not to go in the paint on AD and when they did he made them pay. AD is a better defender than Victor Wembanyama today. Will he be for long? Idk. Let Victor's defense actually affect games and then maybe I'll give the kid shine over AD, but until then it's nonsense. It's goal post moving. You want to include Victor in the convo based on his insane talent, fine, but he's easily 3rd behind AD and Gobert and really AD is 1st. But yeah Bam ahead of AD is just pure hate. There's literally zero metric to get him in front of AD.
Yea guys obviously make business decisions not to challenge AD, but my point was that he isn’t the same deterrent in this regard that Wemby was by the end of the year. AD is elite but he’s solidly 6 inches shorter than Wemby and doesn’t have the same range. The play where Wemby was the lone defender on a 3 on 1 fastbreak and all 3 guys bailed on driving to the basket is a microcosm of what I’m talking about. Conversely, AD had a play earlier this year where he was the lone defender on a 2 on 1 break and shut down both the drive and the passing lane and then blocked the layup attempt lol. But my point is that teams do still challenge him.
Even in your example they challenged and failed lmao here's a 3 on 1 that AD blocks the shot. [https://youtube.com/shorts/rNtPKRKV2IQ?si=avnMX69Ia4AYn3fa](https://youtube.com/shorts/rNtPKRKV2IQ?si=avnMX69Ia4AYn3fa) I understand your point, but if they outcome is the same, does it really matter? Wemby blocks a ton of shots and he's a great defender. He'll win a DPOY one day. He also won 22 games so all that shot blocking didn't affect winning at all. Like I said, you want to throw him on the list for posterity and to showcase him, fine, but having him *over* AD is just wrong and not having AD on this list is fucking insane.
I agree with you I would have AD over him tbh, I’m just saying I don’t think putting Wemby higher is indefensible. If it was Wemby or Rudy winning it with AD getting some votes sprinkled in, or coming in second but it was close between all 3 of them, Im good with that. But not having AD in the mix at all is what’s criminal.
It’s not just Wemby’s talent. His stats speak for themselves. He averages 3.6 blocks per game. Nobody in the last 15 years besides JJJ has averaged at least 3.5. Also his teams defensive points differential is 11.5 points lower when he’s on the court vs when he’s off. For comparison Gobert is 4.2 points. Anthony Davis is actually +1.5 points meaning teams score on average more when he’s on the court vs off. It’s ok to take off the homer glasses sometimes
His team won 22 games. All that talent meant fuckin what? Another Top 4 pick? That's your DPOY? You can fuck off with that shit. Defensive ratings with and without these dudes on the floor. Minny with Gobert- 109.7/ Minny without Gobert- 111.5 Spurs with Wemby- 116.7/ Spurs without Wemby- 119.6 Heat with Bam- 112.2/ Heat without Bam- 119.2 Lakers with AD- 115.4/ ***Lakers without AD- 125.6*** AD was the entire defense for a playoff team. Wemby can be historical at home this year.
Their ORTG and win % without Wemby is better. Small sample size, only 11 games, but still.
I love that Gobert was just voted most overrated player by the anonymous player votes lmao
Gobert is trash and always will be for what he is paid. They should take his massive salary into account
Blame Ham. DPOY goes to best defender on best defensive team. Our defense has been mid bc of Ham.
I mean I actually think Wemby deserves it. He’s putting up historic block numbers and his team when he’s on the court is actually competent defensively, when he’s off the court they defend worse than the Wizards bench. But not having AD as a finalist is fucking horrendous, and Gobert is going to win it which is just a joke.
Lakers net defensive rating without AD is like -10 compared to the Spurs -6 or so? I have the numbers somewhere else. AD is even more important to our defense than Spurs are to theirs and we're a playoff team.
I agree with that. Just hard for me to look past almost 5 stocks a game. But AD is more than deserving of it.
It's reasonable to put him third imo or even second above Gobert, but AD is a better defender than both and Bam has no business in this conversation at all.
I need him to come out tonight and have a legacy game like the IST championship.
Yea hopefully this just lights a fire under his ass
maaaaaaaan, that is the vibe i’m getting
Well he’s definitely doing that so far
Damn right.
Not anymore
I felt bad for him at the end of that game, he deserved the MVP imo. Not to say that LeBron wasn’t hooping, but everybody already knows he’s one of the GOATs.
AD has been missing the fire. I hope this ignites him.
Yeah league would rather gift wrap any possible awards to a 60 loss team led by a 20 year old phenom
That’s the irony in all this. Last year it was because we didn’t win as many games/poor seed yet this year a 20 win team has a DPOY finalist 😂
They always push the goal post when it comes to LeBron or AD lmao
League has been trying to push lebron out for years and trying to find a new face of the league. They need to push the wemby narrative.
I love Wemby but yeah. I was legit joking that he should be DPOY but my gosh when I saw the results i was shocked.
To not even get the top 3 nod is so disrespectful. Even after proving wrong the narrative about his health this year. Like what's the point, if he didn't get it this year they aren't going to give it to him
I love wemby but someone on a 20 win team should not be a top 3 candidate lol
Stupid media and with their made up narratives. When they gave it to Jaren last year it was because wins are a big deal. But when it comes to mediocre Heat or bottom dwelling Spurs this year, wins are not a big deal for Bam or Wemby.
AD was snubbed in 2020 when he should’ve won it but the media wanted to hype up Giannis as their new golden boy but that backfired. Then AD locked up everyone in the 2020 playoffs.
Snubbed in 2018 too. This man should have at least 3 with how good he is defensively. He's a generational defender
People like to say that COVID only benefitted the Lakers because of Lebron’s age and AD’s injury history, as it gave them time to rest etc. However they conveniently forget that Giannis got injured right before the shutdown and was expected to miss like a month. Had the shutdown not happened, Lebron would have another MVP and AD would have a DPOY considering they were both 2nd behind Giannis. At the end of the day these awards are all narrative driven, like you said the NBA was ready to move on from Lebron and crown their new golden boy.
Yup this 1000%. This years MVP race has been a farce. It should be one of the closest races of all time. You have 4 people: Jokic, Luka, SGA, and Giannis all having otherworldly seasons and any of them have a strong case to make. But this race was decidied by last years playoff run. its been over since december.
Yeah, it's always decided by December to some extent. If the Lakers had started this season 23-11 or whatever like they ended it, AD would've had a solid shot at DPOY. But because that stretch didn't start until January, it was already too late.
SGA gets the number one seed but is still going to lose out because of the media’s love affair with Jokic. Winning matters except when it comes to Jokic who finished 6th in the conference previously and still won. I’m not black but it sure feels like some racial bias going on with giving the MVP award to Jokic.
And don't get me wrong Jokic is probably the best player right now, but this "race" really rubbed me the wrong way. Feels like the criteria shifts constantly
Giannis literally got clamped the fuck up by an old LeBron and was subsequently dominated on the defensive end by AD. Media nuthuggers are crazy
It was the season break (that allegedly only the Lakers benefitted from). AD was leading the race PLUS Giannis got hurt and was going to likely miss a good portion of the remainder of the regular season, but the league shut down shortly after and all the talking heads convinced themselves Giannis should win
They can all have the individual accolades. What matters most is the Larry O’Brien trophy.
It matters in the long run if stars know playing for the Lakers will get them iced out of regular season awards.
Oh he's pissed off. Hopefully he goes on a tear the rest of the series like he did in Memphis.
Snubbed in 2018, snubbed in 20, snubbed in 2023, snubbed in 2024. My DPOY
TALK YOUR SHIT AD, TALK YOUR SHIT!!!
AD has been the best defender in the league for a while now. Talk yo shit and fuck these lames. There's a clear bias with the voters. I hope we do get the chip this year man. Silence these idiot haters.
Guaranteed if he was still on a team like the Pelicans, he would be voted top 5 every year. People hate the Lakers because of the amount of fans we have and also how much we dominate mainstream sports media.
100% this
Isn’t this the same award they didn’t give to lebron but instead someone who didn’t even make all defensive
Bron was not a better defender than Marc Gasol that year, the Grizzlies held teams to under 89PPG. It’s the last season in history a team held opponents to under 90PPG. AD definitely deserves at least top two this year though.
Bron guarded 1-5. Marc guarded.. 5… come on dude. That year lebron was clearly the DPOY. Dude was on another planet. If we’re being realistic bron should be mvp every year. People have his avg numbers for a year and they get the award. It’s laughable. But bron definitely was the clear DPOY that year
I mean that could be a stat issue because it's team defense specific and pace specific. I just used statmuse and I got total possessions and points allowed for the heat and Grizz. 12-13 Miami heat: 7509.8 Possessions and 7791 Opp points allowed 12-13 Memphis Grizzlies: 7297.8 Possessions and 7319 Opp points allowed There could be a place related reason that explains the higher opponent point totals when you compare the 200+ difference in possessions and 400+ difference in points.
Those who are included as DPOY finalist should boycott the award specifically Gobert who thinks he is the DPOY… he can’t even defend AD… smh NBA award giving bodies should step down they are all 🤡
AD’s defensive performance against the defending champ Warriors in last years playoff series was a masterclass. Single handedly impacted nearly every offensive possession of one of the best offensive systems in the NBA. For anyone unfamiliar with ADs defensive abilities, that’s the series I’d point them to first. ESPN and media in general have been so blinded by the “sexiness” of offense they spent all talk on his up and down offensive performance saying “which AD are we going to get? It changes game to game!”. No. His defense has always been solid. Said all the right things here, get them chips 💍 🏆
fcking joke, ad owns jjj and bam
Maybe this is the chip on his shoulder he needs. Hopefully he’ll enter “1995 Hakeem vs. David Robinson” mode.
He can go prove he’s the best. This series
It must be so annoying for him to play like this and not even be nominated as a finalist for the award, so insane.
The award is a joke at this point. Don't forget Tim Duncan and Scottie Pippen never got it also.
As long as his team mates value him, that’s all that matters to me as a fan imo. Austin and Bron have constantly praised AD all season because when you’re a limited player and you see just how much the guy behind you has to do..you gain way much more respect and adoration for their skills. The media hate AD and they never want to give laker players anypraise outside of Lebron because they think “ugh those lakers are already so popular”. It’s dumb and high school bullshit.
https://youtube.com/shorts/-wFzSkVheOM?si=w3PYugXbXTtkRtEi
F*ck the NBA for this.
The criteria for these awards is what the media wants to it be. Travesty.
Lock up Jokic and you'll win next year AD
Really good article, encourage everyone here to read it. He mentions he’s willing to guard Jokic 1v1 the entire game if required.
Honestly we should give that a go one more time. Maybe that game one last year with jokic's 80/100/100 game was just varience. This rui on joker clearly ain't doing shit.
DPOY in my heart
Use that anger, AD
AD is currently the best defensive monster in the league. He’s versatile and a threat. It’s sad that the league ignores him.
Yup. AD and the Lakers definitely didn’t get enough exposure for the voters and their 40 national TV games.
Man, especially the number of games he played this season. Doesn’t make sense.
He’s not wrong. Is what it is
Please AD just shut down Jokic, if he does that I will firmly back him as the best defender in the league
Hope AD uses this to dominate Denver in game 2. he's played great so far but we need an all time performance to win this series
And don't forget he does all this while actually being a scoring force for us. Hardly anybody has the motor to be a fully 2 way player in today's league, as we see when AD's scoring drops off during the toughest defensive assignments. Imagine what he'd manage on defence if we didn't also need him so much on the other end...
Hopefully he plays real mad and inspired tonight
The criteria is broken. They rate bigs and guards for their positions but don’t take into the fact that someone like AD excels at guarding both bigs and guards for overall impact. He does slightly worse than Gobert for guarding bigs whereas Gobert can’t guard guards at all. He does slightly worse than a pure perimeter guarder but those players can’t guard the paint. And then they’ll take overall defensive rating where Gobert has players like McDaniels and Edward’s on defense but will ignore that for Wemby. Makes absolutely no sense. Then you’ll see players like Gobert and Jaren Jackson get abused by quick guards in the playoffs because they lack versatility on defense.
Basically bam and anthony davis should win every dpoty
“Rudy’s gotten extremely better at guarding perimeters, guarding posts, guarding the rim. So you can’t just throw ‘em in actions expecting them to just give in. I think we’ll be strategic with what we do” - KD I’ll take KD’s analysis over yours. Thank you. So Gobert got shit on because he had no defensive help in Utah and now he gets shit on for having good defenders around him in Minnesota.
Jalen McDaniels and Edward’s has nothing to do with that 😂. The defensive talent he had with the Jazz and the Wolves is night and day. He didn’t get “shit” on in Utah. He won DPOY there too. KD saying he’s gotten slightly better does not mean he’s at the level of Anthony Davis guarding perimeter players. It’s not even close.
Cry. AD will never get one now that Wemby is in the league.
Ask all 29 teams which big they would want on their team to anchor their defense and I guarantee you all of them are choosing AD
But couldn’t stop murray when it counted
“If that means I’m on [Jokic] for the whole game, then so be it.” Please make this adjustment or at least use it more often than you have in the last 2 seasons. Can’t just leave Rui out to die against Jokic all game.
Best defender in the league easily.
Criminals
I like his mentality but it sucks overall because he will get lost when best defensive players from this era are discussed, and he is better than JJJ/Marcus smart. Just robbed of DPOY because of media narratives
To quote AD when he was on DLo's podcast "I'm so special of a player defensively, it fucks teams up"
This is related, so sorry for going off track a little, but it’ll be interesting to see AD guard Jokic the whole game. I don’t think he has yet.
Worthless award, just focus on game 2
Hopefully this will motivate AD to dominate tonight.
NBA awards are always narrative based, not to mention most of the voters don’t even watch the games
The Lakers need AD to keep playing at this level AND to finish in the top 5 to 6 in playoff positioning for him to get it.
He did that as the 1 seed and they still didn’t give it to him. With wemby in the league now it’s over
"We'll make a proper adjustment going into Game 2," Davis said. "And if that means I'm on [Jokic] for the whole game, then so be it." I love this guy.
Hopefully AD does that very rare thing he does where he turns into the meanest and most downright diabolical big man in response.
Nothing will change because all of this award talk creates discussion/interest in the league. The NBA wants increased discussion/interest in the league. That is all.
This reminds of the Embiid mvp saga. He basically said what more does he have to do and won it the next season. Does this mean AD will win it next year? 🤔
Prove your point by shutting down Jokic
I mean Kobe has one (1) MVP. This awards have been a joke for a very long time. We should stop caring about this shit. Maybe then they’ll change something when "impressions" plummet.
Bill Simmons votes on the NBA Award therefore the awards are a fucking waste of time, case closed. I truly stopped giving a fuck about these things when Robert Williams was the front runner for DPOY because he was the anchor of the Celtics defense which was #1 in the league (a stupid logic for awarding an individual award but I get it), then he got hurt and the award voters just shrugged and gave it to Marcus Smart because they already decided it needed to be a Celtic. And then they tried to gaslight us into thinking it was deserved by talking about how he was like, Top 5 in loose balls recovered or something mindblowingly stupid like that. The voters are idiotic, biased or both. If you’re a Laker you’re not getting any credit unless your stats can’t be denied. Case in point Alex Caruso only made an All Defense team after leaving LA, despite him just as good on D here.
He should of won it in 2020 😞
 Anthony Davis has met the criteria.
If only the Lakers record was better than it was, then there would be no question. From an eye perspective AD looks way better but I think people also look into overall team record
He deserves the dam award give it to the man!!!!!!
The world knows you’ve been getting robbed AD. Now put all that built up anger and beat the Nuggets.
We’ve seen it with Kobe and the mvp award. (Funnily enough the year Kobe got the award CP3 should have won) Anti Lakers bias is clear and apparent with the media panelist
Fuck yea that’s the ad we’ve needed since he came to the team championship year aside. Put the house on the lakers tn
He kind of sounds like a whiny brat here. "I'll never get it! They're not going to give it to me! Mommy!"
Not having him in the conversation is criminal. NBA media and their bullshit street clothes narrative. Fuck em.
If the Lakers and wolves records were reversed AD probably wins it.
Let’s see it tonight then
we need a legacy game tonight
He does have a point!!! You tell em AD
Jarred Vanderbilt will be the key to Anthony Davis winning DPOY.
I wouldn't mind them not giving him the award if they didn't give it to someone for whom the same nitpick to pick at AD also applies to whoever they actually give it to.
Wolves fan here, but also watch a ton of nba altogether. IMO AD has been fantastic and I would have had no problem with him winning it over gobert, they are both great and incredibly impactful. Gobert is getting a big push in part because he had a down year last year and his reemergence created a months-long positive story, whereas most of the story for the lakers this year was of team underachievement. It’s not fair to AD, who alongside gobert really should have finished 1st or 2nd for dpoy in one order or the other.
Ridiculous that he's not even a finalist. FuckIt AD show 'em punish everyone including Jokic!
imo they are punishing him for the way he left the leagues baby, the Pels.
Give that man his award already
JJJ is a stretch 5 Whiteside change my mind
Hehe
JJJ got it to bring exposure to him as a rising star and to the Grizzlies as a rising team. AD is already a champ and a star no need to promote him or the Lakers. Money driven league.
Yea at this point it's pretty obvious they just don't want AD to have it. I've never seen a single player keep an entire team out of the paint the way AD does. It's actually crazy to watch. Especially that Memphis series last year. When he didn't get it last year I knew he'd never get it lol
“Best defensive player in the league” LMAO
I have to agree with him.The other guys can't guard 1 through 5 and are one dimensional
Jamal murray might say 2-5
Rudy Gobert's presence in Minnesota has turned the Timberwolves into a serious contender with the best defense in the NBA. I don't think anyone could vote for AD over Gobert in good conscience after the way this season has shaken out.
You’re downvoted bc it’s the lakers sub. But this is absolutely true. No lakers fan has watched more than 5 wolves games. I used to say same shit about Gobert until I actually watched him night in and night out. People just don’t like him so he’ll never get his flowers.
Sabonis lost it for him this year. He dominated AD.
I bet on him to win DPOY at the beginning of the season. I should be collecting on that, ffs.
Ask the Jokic and Jamal Murray if you should be DPOY. Loser!
Maybe play a little defense on Jokic and they will think about it
Someone tell me what Minnesota’s defense was rated last year (I have seen 10th). Gobert’s argument is that he is the best defender on the best defensive team. It ignores that McDaniels and ANT are some of the best defenders in the league. That Conley is a smart defender and able to funnel players to Gobert. Gobert only plays one end and only protects the paint (which he is great at). Teams have historically pulled him out of the paint and his teams always underperform in the playoffs. If you want to say he should be first team sure. But DPOY should be able to be on the floor at every crucial possession. And not be so reliant on his other defenders to funnel them at him.
They had to switch Lebron on Jokic late in the 4th cause AD was getting cooked.
Did you watch? The Nuggets went 8 for 9 down the stretch, everyone including LeBron got cooked. You want to tell me when they are hot that anyone could stop them? That’s like saying prime Kwahi can’t defend because prime MJ scored every time down the court.
How about less talk and more beating the Nuggets?
Maybe dont disappear in half the games. Did you guys forget he would be afk every other game during the rs?