Memphis Grizzlies: Best candidates for 2018-19 NBA awards

Defensive Player of the Year: Marc Gasol

Marc Gasol has always been one of the best interior defenders in the game. A massive 7’1” and 255 pounds, it’s proven difficult for even the best of big men to establish position down low, and even harder to get off a quality look.

Despite averaging just 1.4 blocks per game last season, he’s also a tremendous rim protector, with the IQ to use his body as a wall against incoming opponents.

A recipient of the Defensive Player of the Year trophy in 2013, Gasol clearly knows what he’s doing on the defensive end, but among fellow NBA peers, his chances of becoming a two-time DPOY aren’t very high.

Today’s bigs are expected to guard all five positions, a skill Gasol doesn’t exactly possess, and while he protects the rim as well as anyone, such contributions are difficult to measure, thereby making it difficult to give him consideration — especially at age 33.