Week 21 NBA DPOY Ladder Week: 5. Marcus Smart, Boston Celtics
Rank last week: HM
Marcus Smart took to Twitter this past week to talk about the Defensive Player of the Year award, and even mentioned it in one of his postgame press conferences.
He posed the question – “why is it so hard for guards to win the Defensive Player of the Year award?” A guard hasn’t won the award since Gary Payton took it home in 1996, and before that, it was Michael Jordan in 1988.
Smart’s argument is that the guard is often the “first line of defense” and that without guards on the front lines, big men’s lives would be a lot more difficult. And it’s hard to argue.
The veteran point guard has been an elite defender for his entire career and this season is helping lead the Boston Celtics on that end. They’ve climbed all the way up to being the best defense in the NBA.
Opponents shoot only 42.7 percent against Smart this season, which ranks fourth in the NBA amongst players with at least 1250 minutes played on the year.
With how impressive Smart has been as Boston’s point-of-attack defender, he definitely deserves to be in the conversation for this award. And with how well the C’s have looked, he might just have a shot at winning it.