Dwyane Wade Joins the MVP Race In The NBA Awards Watch
By Ben Nadeau
Defensive Player of the Year
1, Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs (Last Week: 1, –)
What is there to say about Kawhi Leonard anymore? Everybody joked that Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs would turn Leonard into an NBA star simply on franchise merit alone, but, not unexpectedly, those notions have come to fruition in just a few years. If he hadn’t arrived after winning Finals MVP two seasons ago, he has officially arrived this season as one of the league’s best man-to-man defenders.
Perhaps, somehow, he is just a cog in the spinning, spry Spurs machine — the same one that has lost just twice in the last month — but he’s undeniably the piece that makes it all work. Now, legends like Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Tim Duncan take a back seat to the maestro and that alone is a sentence worth reading a few times.
Leonard’s Line of the Week: 12/3 vs. MEM — 27 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 9-13 FG%
Week Grade: B+
2. Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors (Last Week: 2, –)
Is Draymond Green the first forward to be a walking triple-double waiting to happen since Andrei Kirilenko in his Utah Jazz prime? Jerry West recently made waves by speculating that Green was in the league’s top ten best players and while that might be slightly too high, I think he deserves some more respect for the Warriors’ success. While Curry and Thompson are obviously gifted scorers, it is Green (and Iguodala) that take the pressure off defensively and allow Golden State copious opportunities to get out and run in transition, an opposing team’s absolute worst nightmare. Although he had trouble with Brooklyn’s Thaddeus Young, a long, tall, and quick athlete, on Sunday, it’s Green’s general fluidity as a defender that allows him to be such an important mainstay on this list.
Green’s Line of the Week: 12/6 vs. BKN — 22 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 7-10 FG%, 2-2 3PT%
Week Grade: B+
3. Jimmy Butler, Chicago Bulls (Last Week: –, Up 1)
Another week, another crippling injury to another bright, young defender. Although it looks like Gobert will avoid surgery for now, there’s no timetable for his return and the Jazz are unlikely to rush their French star back before he’s fully healed. So, sadly, out goes Gobert, in comes Jimmy Butler.
This is, perhaps, a bit overdue as the Chicago Bulls sit at 11-7, tied in the loss column for first in the conference, and doing it all with a gimpy Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose. That, of course, is mostly thanks to Butler’s ascendence into stardom. Although he’s a bit overshadowed by Curry and the Warriors, Paul George, and Eric Bledsoe’s great seasons, Butler has left an early mark on this 2015-2016 season. Don’t forget, for as much as Tom Thibodeau’s defensive skills were lauded over his tenure in Chicago, Fred Hoiberg’s new and improved version (that somehow boasts Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic, and Doug McDermott in important defensive situations) has an efficiency rating of 97.1, anchored by Butler’s ferocious man-to-man defense and good for fourth in the league, a massive improvement over last year’s 101.5 and 11th place ranking.
Butler’s Line of the Week: 12/2 vs. DEN — 19 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 5-16 FG%
Week Grade: B
Dropped Out: Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz
Honorable Mentions: Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons; Hassan Whiteside, Miami Heat; Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans; Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City Thunder; DeAndre Jordan, Los Angeles Clippers; Nerlens Noel, Philadelphia 76ers.
Week 1: Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans
Week 2: Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
Week 3: Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
Week 4: Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
Week 5: Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
Week 6: Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
Week 7: Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
Next: Interim What?