2017 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rankings at Start of March
Defense has been largely an afterthought throughout the 2016-17 NBA season. Offenses around the Association are shattering records left and right, with the league on track to set new marks for three-point attempts, effective field-goal percentage and points per 100 possessions.
The individual performances have been just as breathtaking.
Russell Westbrook seems bound to average 30 points and a triple-double, James Harden is aiming to pace his peers in points and assists, and a whopping 35 players are poised to pour in 20 or more points per game—which would be the most in NBA history.
That proliferation of volume scorers, at the apex of small ball and pace-and-space, has allowed the league's few bona fide stoppers to stand out more than ever.
The last six weeks of the current campaign should see further separation between the best and the rest, with the following players—chosen and ranked according to individual defensive prowess and team-wide impact—chief among those on the heels of that coveted bit of hardware.
Honorable Mentions
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Dewayne Dedmon, Center, San Antonio Spurs
If playing time weren't a concern, Dewayne Dedmon would be a serious challenger to a certain teammate's spot atop the DPOY heap.
Since stepping into the San Antonio Spurs' starting lineup at the end of January, Dedmon has held his foes to 40.8 percent shooting around the rim—a mark that would lead the league over the course of the season. Trouble is, the Lancaster, California, native has averaged 25.3 minutes per game during that time and a mere 17.5 minutes overall this season.
Still, that he's San Antonio's top option at center, even with Pau Gasol healthy again, says everything about how bright a future he has ahead of him in the Alamo City.
Hassan Whiteside, Center, Miami Heat
Hassan Whiteside hasn't been quite the same shot-blocking behemoth this season as he was in 2015-16, when he led the league with 3.7 swats per contest. But that doesn't mean he's been any less effective on defense.
He's held opponents to 47.1 percent shooting at the hoop and ripped down an NBA-best 10.5 defensive rebounds per game while serving as the backbone of a Miami Heat defense that ranks sixth in efficiency.
Chris Paul/DeAndre Jordan, Point Guard/Center, Los Angeles Clippers
As the anchors of the Los Angeles Clippers' inconsistent defense, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan both have imperfect fringe cases to make for DPOY.
Paul has been arguably the best and most important defender in L.A. this season. He ranks fifth overall in defensive real plus/minus and sports the most dramatic on/off defensive difference of any Clippers regular. But Paul has missed 21 games to injury so far.
Jordan, on the other hand, has been in the lineup every night, intimidating foes to the tune of 10.1 defensive rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.
Without Paul next to Jordan, though, the Clippers have surrendered an unsightly 112.3 points per 100 possessions. With those two together, L.A. has dominated to the tune of 98.2 points per 100 possessions.
5. Anthony Davis, Power Forward/Center, New Orleans Pelicans
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If the New Orleans Pelicans were just a bit better defensively, Anthony Davis would be a top-three contender for this award. (Not that New Orleans is bad on that end.)
The Pelicans are knocking on the door of the league's 10 most efficient defenses, thanks in no small part to Davis' deterrence inside. He ranks third in blocks (2.4 per game) and fourth in defensive rebounds (9.6), including the fourth-most contested defensive caroms (2.3). All told, he's depressed his opponents' shooting success by 5.2 percent.
But the Brow did the bulk of that exemplary work while playing center. With DeMarcus Cousins now in New Orleans, Davis will have to spend more time at power forward, perhaps to the Pelicans' detriment.
"They've been really good when he's been at the 5 because he has an unbelievable ability to protect the rim," a Western Conference executive told Bleacher Report. "But when you take him out on the perimeter more, as the NBA's evolving and 4-men are further away from the basket, it takes his rim-protecting ability away."
Whatever case Davis might've made for Defensive Player of the Year could take a significant hit if New Orleans' performance on that end declines in accordance with Boogie's arrival.
4. Paul Millsap, Power Forward, Atlanta Hawks
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Pretty much everything about Paul Millsap is unassuming, including his defense. But his demeanor does nothing to diminish the game-changing effect he's had on both ends of the floor.
The four-time All-Star checks in sixth overall and second among power forwards in ESPN's defensive real plus/minus on an Atlanta Hawks squad that ranks fifth in efficiency. The 32-year-old is mobile enough to chase shooters out to the perimeter and strong enough to bang with other bigs on the low post, all while snagging 1.4 steals per game.
Millsap is not the sort to string together a highlight reel of chasedown blocks and smothering defensive possessions. But like the Hawks as a whole, he's as sturdy as they come and does his job exceedingly well within head coach Mike Budenholzer's framework.
That may not be enough of a rousing case to make Millsap the Defensive Player of the Year, but it should be plenty to garner him consideration similar to his fifth-place finish last season.
3. Kawhi Leonard, Small Forward, San Antonio Spurs
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Kawhi Leonard still fits the standard narrative for Defensive Player of the Year better than anyone. He's the best defender on the league's stingiest squad, with an impeccable track record to boot; he's won the NBA's award two years running.
The numbers, though, don't laud Leonard like they used to.
According to ESPN, he barely ranks among the top 25 at his own position—let alone the league—in defensive real plus-minus. Per NBA.com, the Spurs have allowed 8.3 fewer points per 100 possessions when Leonard's sat compared to when he's played.
That disparity is skewed somewhat by San Antonio's superb bench, but the bigger difference may be what Leonard has to give on the other end. His larger load on offense (25.8 points on 17.6 shots with a 31.3-percent usage rate) seems to have taken its toll on his overall defensive impact.
Not that anyone in the league is about to cut Leonard any slack for that.
"When we start calling two-way players, I don't know when that became a big deal," Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers told Bleacher Report when discussing Leonard's MVP candidacy. "But all of a sudden, we're now saying two-way players. It's like, 'Yeah, it's basketball. You don't get a huddle and get out on defense.'"
With or without sympathy, there's little doubt that Leonard remains the Association's premier wing stopper, if not the most feared defender on Earth.
2. Rudy Gobert, Center, Utah Jazz
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Rudy Gobert has had the look of a bona fide DPOY for some time. He led the league in opponent field-goal percentage at the basket (minimum 4.0 attempts per game) during 2014-15 and 2015-16 while finishing among the top-four in blocks per game. But neither time did the Utah Jazz sport the sort of elite defense, nor the win-loss record, for him to finish higher than fifth in voting for the award.
No longer is Gobert dogged by those team-centric concerns. His Jazz have put together the fourth-best record in the West on the strength of the NBA's third-stingiest defense—that he anchors, no less.
Gobert's own bona fides are practically ironclad too.
He's on pace for his first shot-blocking title (2.5 per game), ranks fifth in the Association in defensive rebounding (9.0 per game) and has the highest defensive real plus/minus rating around, per ESPN.
As far as his on/off impact is concerned, the 6.8 point-per-100-possession gap between Utah's defense with and without Gobert only strengthens his case to return the NBA's top defensive honor to its rightful realm among towering rim protectors.
1. Draymond Green, Power Forward/Center, Golden State Warriors
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Had the media voted on postseason awards prior to the All-Star break, Draymond Green would've been named Defensive Player of the Year. That's according to an informal poll of 80 media members with postseason awards ballots conducted by ESPN's Chris Haynes.
By dint of the NBA's voting system—which assigns five points for a first-place vote, three for second place and one for third place—Green would've tallied 295 points, ahead of Rudy Gobert (193) and Kawhi Leonard (185).
Should that constituency hold over the next six weeks, (and when the other 50 voters have their say), Green would become the first player in Golden State Warriors history to win this award. This, after finishing as the runner-up to Leonard in each of the past two campaigns.
"I feel pretty good about what I've done defensively," Green told Haynes. "I think there's some things I can get better at and continue to improve. But overall, I feel like I've been pretty good individually, and I think we've been good as a team."
For once, Green might actually be selling himself short. He ranks second in ESPN's defensive real plus/minus (4.76) and seventh in opponent field-goal percentage (44.3) among volume rim protectors while leading the league in steals and standing among the top 15 in blocks.
Those numbers only begin to quantify Green's value to a Warriors defense that's second only to San Antonio's in points allowed per 100 possessions. At a barefoot 6'5" and 230 pounds, he's able to switch onto quicker perimeter players, fend off heftier bigs and help around the hoop with equal efficacy.
