Kawhi Leonard’s MVP Case: The Problem Of Measuring Defensive Value
By Jack Huntley
San Antonio Spurs reigning Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard is rightly in the MVP conversation, even without a proper consideration of his defensive value.
Kawhi Leonard‘s Most Valuable Player candidacy is fascinating. The MVP is an opaque award, subject to annual head scratching over the definition of value.
The traditional quandary is what type of value to reward. The three most common criteria are, using 2015 as an example, best player on the best team (Stephen Curry), the best player in general (LeBron James), or the most value-added within each player’s team context (James Harden).
There is no standardized measure of “valuable.” Add to this foggy process a player in the San Antonio Spurs‘ Leonard, whose best skill is defending, and the problem only worsens.
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Defensive quantification is the holy grail of a now predominantly analytically judged NBA. In contrast to notions of offensive value, which can be supported by a pick-and-mix of statistical scaffolding, defensive value is still largely immeasurable.
Left to the dreaded, primitive, numerically baron “eye-test,” we turn to comparison and description to express how good a defender Leonard is. Many have called Kawhi the best perimeter defender since Scottie Pippen – high praise – but statistically murky.
There are few mainstream metrics recognizable to the average NBA fan to add depth to this loose observation. There is no fear-induced-decisions-made-when-faced-with-a-defensive-Keyser-Soze-who-wants-what-you-have-Per-Possession statistic, unfortunately.
As San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich recently described Leonard’s defense, “He’s hell on wheels” — an accurate description, but not one that’s going to persuade people you’re the MVP.
This defensive quantification problem could be the cause, or result, of an odd attitude towards the respective value of offense and defense generally. Basketball is about scoring more points than the opposition; and each point, whether a Steph Curry pull-up poem of a three-pointer or a Shawn Marion knuckleball from the corner, is worth the same amount.
Put another way, basketball is about making the opposition score fewer points than you. Whether that’s letting Scottie Pippen sniff out the scent of orange leather and hungrily pursue whoever happens to be unfortunate enough to be dribbling his dinner, or whether it’s giving Charles Oakley discretion over the deployment of his formidable forearms.
Defense is 50 percent of the game. All points, in a vacuum, whether scored or stopped, are created equally. But all points are not treated equally.
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The MVP award is an example of this basic basketball inequality. We have Defensive Player of the Year and MVP, not, notably, Offensive Player of the Year and MVP. Of course, offense is more sexy, entertaining and popular than defense; but there is little on-court value – and value is the key here – in sexy entertainment.
MVP winners are almost always offensively dominant, and there are off-court repercussions to this. Of course kids want to shoot like Steph rather than have Kawhi’s defensive footwork, meaning kids understandably grow up prioritizing offense, and become offensively oriented players.
As a result, the NBA is a scorer’s league. Offensive excellence is relatively abundant, defensive excellence somewhat rare. This is where the offense/defense discussion generally — and Kawhi’s MVP case specifically — comes full circle. Both sides of the ball should be valued equally, but they are not valued (or understood) equally, so they are not rewarded or represented equally.
Leonard is a diamond in a treasure chest full of chunks of gold – and the scarcity of his skill balloons his value. The last two NBA Finals have demonstrated the value of a guy to stop “The Guy.” With Andre Iguodala and one Kawhi Leonard winning Finals MVP’s off the back of defending the then best player on the planet – LeBron James.
Leonard’s defensive ability is so potent not just because of its effectiveness but its versatility. There are players that can (try to) guard Steph Curry, and players that can (try to) guard freakish forwards like LeBron James and Kevin Durant – but only a few can do both. Maybe only Kawhi, Iguodala and Paul George are versatile enough, and Kawhi is the best of this rare bunch.
In a small-ball smitten, increasingly perimeter and wing dominant NBA, there are offensive sharks everywhere. A nightly revolving door of offensive wizardry includes Steph Curry, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and on and on and on.
Having one of, and the best of, three players in 500 who can defend effectively — and with the required versatility — the best 15 players in the league, is arguably more valuable than having one of those 15 players.
Casting the net further into the league, Kawhi is the most effective human on the planet in defending the best player on 25 out of 30 NBA teams. Those five remaining teams: Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans, who all have a dominant big rather than perimeter focal point.
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Teams tend to run their offense through their best players, and having the best defender on the planet guarding the engine of your offense is devastating. In the Spurs’ last game against the Utah Jazz on Dec. 14, this was perfectly demonstrated, as Gordon Hayward had a horrid night against Leonard with only four points and two assists.
Given the murky definitional waters surrounding the MVP, why not consider defensive value as the most valuable type of value, especially in the context of todays offensively loaded and increasingly position-less NBA?
Steph Curry is the best player in the world, and is going to win the MVP. But in some strange parallel NBA universe where the “Valuable” in MVP was less vexing, Kawhi might be within a shout as the guy best equipped to stop Steph, or any other “Guy.”
Next: NBA Power Rankings: Week 8
Leonard is a rare immovable object in a league of unstoppable forces. Oh, and he’s also the best three-point shooter in the league at a scorching 49 percent, the most valuable offensive skill in basketball.