NBA: Top 10 candidates for 2019-20 Defensive Player of the Year

Remember what we referred to earlier about defensive reputation being a thing? Jimmy Butler, now with the Miami Heat, became a walking example of that when he first was identified as a top-tier defender on the perimeter.

Butler broke into the All-Defensive selections in 2013-14 and was named second team in four of the next five seasons, except for 2016-17 — when he was All-NBA third team.

His 2.4 percent steal rate is currently 13th among active players and he was still a top-40 player in terms of ESPN’s Defensive Real Plus/Minus at plus-2.16 last season, split between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers.

But you can see how his ranking has been trending in the defensive metric introduced for the 2013-14 season, coincidentally the same season Butler earned his first All-Defensive honor:

• 2013-14: plus-1.23 (109th in NBA)
• 2014-15: plus-0.43 (151st in NBA)
• 2015-16: plus-0.89 (116th in NBA)
• 2016-17: plus-1.80 (58th in NBA)
• 2017-18: plus-2.78 (22nd in NBA)
• 2018-19: plus-2.16 (40th in NBA)

So he ranked higher last season in DRPM than he did in three of the four seasons he was named All-Defensive … but he wasn’t named All-Defensive last season.

Miami will need Butler to keep the heat turned up defensively this season, even as he will be expected to shoulder much of the offensive load. Bam Adebayo is a talented, but unproven, defensive presence inside and Miami won’t have the rim protection of Hassan Whiteside this season.

Butler plays with an edge and while his 6-foot-8 wingspan is not extraordinary for a 6-foot-8 player, he brings his bulk to bear and can body up to his matchup, something not a lot of perimeter players are particularly fond of dealing with.