2016-17 NBA Awards Season: Top 10 Defensive Player Of The Year Candidates

1. Draymond Green

Draymond Green is not the rebounder or shot-blocker that Rudy Gobert is. He finished 12th in blocks per game, 20th in block percentage and wasn’t even in the top-20 for rebounds per game. However, there’s more to defense than simple rebounding and block numbers, and that’s where Green’s DPOY case takes the advantage.

Though Gobert (first) finished ahead of Draymond (second) in defensive win shares, Green was second in defensive rating, just ahead of the French Rejection. If we’re sticking with basic stats, Draymond also holds a major edge in steals (2.0 per game), ranking him second in the league in that category.

Green also finished first in Defensive Box Plus-Minus, fourth in steal percentage and 20th in block percentage, while also being the only player in the NBA to average at least 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks per game this season. The fact that he was able to accomplish that as a 6’7″ power forward is truly impressive.

That goes double for his rim protection numbers, which actually compare favorably to even Gobert. Green held opponents to 39.9 percent shooting overall, per NBA.com, which was a 6.3 percent decrease compared to what they’d normally shoot. On shots inside of six feet, however, Green held opponents to 48.2 percent shooting — one percent better than Gobert, and a staggering 13.2 percent worse than those players would normally shoot.

Draymond also deserves praise for keeping the Golden State Warriors‘ elite defense intact when Kevin Durant missed more than a month due to injury. Despite missing their leading rebounder and shot-blocker for those 19 games, the Warriors actually clamped down without him, boasting the best defensive rating in that span — mostly thanks to Green picking up the slack.

Covering for Durant’s absence, when KD was playing at an All-Defensive level this season, is no small feat. Gobert advocates could make a similar case considering how many games were missed by Utah starters due to injury, but Golden State finished the season as the NBA’s second-best defense with rim protector Andrew Bogut gone and KD missing 20 games.

The advantage there goes to Draymond, even if you ignore that he’s a force around the rim at 6’7″, compared to Gobert’s 7’1″ frame. The Warriors are 4.8 points per 100 possessions stingier with Draymond on the floor, which doesn’t come close to Utah’s 6.9-point gap with Gobert on the court, but is still significant nonetheless.

The biggest advantage Draymond Green has in the Defensive Player of the Year race is his versatility, however. While Gobert has improved defending ball handlers in pick and roll situations, pulling him out to the perimeter can sometimes minimize his impact.

Not so with Draymond, who is capable of throwing a wrench into an offense no matter where he is on the floor. There aren’t many players in this league capable of guarding both Blake Griffin and Chris Paul on the same possession, and there are none who do so as effectively as Green.

His helpside defense is exceptional, his rim protection is jaw-dropping and his ability to guard positions 1-5 makes him the centerpiece of a defense that was stingier than Utah’s this year.

It’s been driven into the ground at this point, but because Green can guard anyone on the floor, the Dubs have the freedom to switch pick and rolls and allow their defensive ace to smother ball-handlers on the perimeter. His capacity for recovering to alter shots around the rim, pull down rebounds and ignite fast breaks all by himself is just an added bonus.

Even without factoring in his Game 1 performance that won Golden State its playoff opener (this is a regular season award, and voting for awards closed already anyway), it was just another example of what he’s been doing all season for the Dubs: winning games by making monumental plays on the defensive end in the fourth quarter.

Green is only the ninth player in NBA history to average at least 2.0 steals and 1.4 blocks per game, per Basketball-Reference. He’s the best defender on the NBA’s second-best defense, and to be perfectly honest, he should’ve won this award once already in 2014-15, when he finished with the most first place votes but lost to Kawhi Leonard because he was inexplicably left off several ballots.

Next: NBA Awards Season - Top 10 Sixth Man Of The Year Candidates

Rudy Gobert is the NBA’s best shot-blocker, and as we mentioned before, he’s certainly deserving of this award. But Draymond Green’s versatility makes him impossible to plan against, and as we’ve seen too many times this season, when the Warriors need a stop late in close games, he’s usually the one who provides it. Give this man his first and long-awaited DPOY already.