21 players the NBA repeatedly snubbed for Defensive Player of the Year

Snubbed Defensive Player #14: Jrue Holiday

Milwaukee Bucks All-Star Jrue Holiday has long been considered one of the best defensive guards in the NBA. Despite his reputation, Holiday has never won Defensive Player of the Year. Part of the reason could be that the award often goes to centers. But as the league has become increasingly perimeter-oriented, guards and wings should dominate the award going forward.

While Celtics guard Marcus Smart did win DPOY last season, Ryan Holiday’s defensive contributions have continued to fly relatively under the radar compared to teammates Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo. They are both deserving of praise, but so is Holiday, who has been a consistently strong defender for at least a decade now.

What makes Holiday so good at guarding opponents is his impeccable timing. He is a master at providing timely help, particularly at the top of the key, where he is often able to strip the ball from the ballhandler while still paying close attention to his primary defensive assignment.

In those instances, he’s effectively guarding two players without breaking a sweat. Even better, those forced turnovers often lead to fast-break opportunities for the Bucks.

Holiday can also wreak havoc on the ball and is almost impossible to shake given his ability to fight over screens. His defensive success, while not resulting in any DPOY awards thus far in his career, has resulted in two All-Defensive first-team selections as well as two All-Defensive second-team selections. That is a great start, but he deserves more recognition in the form of some hardware.