[SkyscraperParticipant]

 Just about everybody and their mom is giving  Roy Hibbert the Defensive Player of the Year hands down. It is starting to bother me that Anthony Davis is getting no love. The "experts" at ESPN recently voted him like 6th place in their awards forecast. Now I understand that Hib plays on an elite defensive team and Ant on a trashy defensive team but I would argue Ant has more responsibility. Roy plays with 3 arguably lock down guys in Lance, PG and George Hill. Anthony Davis has to cover for the mistakes of Brian Roberts, Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson when healthy. On top of this Anthony Davis averages more steals, blocks, and defensive rebounds. Now I’m not saying he should win. I just wish he’d get his just due.

[he_gets_bucketsParticipant]

 I think Hibbert is a good defender but I dont think he is the amazing center that all the ESPN guys always say he is. They always talk about how he needs to be shut down for teams to beat Indiana, when he has an incredibly mechanical offensive game so that shouldnt even be talked about as a strength of his. Then his defense is only put into the elite category because Indiana as a team are so good. If you take away PG, Lance and George Hill from that rotation, Hibbert would be getting burnt so often because he has such slow feet. Anthony Davis is much more deserving and I feel like he doesnt get nearly as much love as he should for averaging video game like defensive stats.

[he_gets_bucketsParticipant]

 I think Hibbert is a good defender but I dont think he is the amazing center that all the ESPN guys always say he is. They always talk about how he needs to be shut down for teams to beat Indiana, when he has an incredibly mechanical offensive game so that shouldnt even be talked about as a strength of his. Then his defense is only put into the elite category because Indiana as a team are so good. If you take away PG, Lance and George Hill from that rotation, Hibbert would be getting burnt so often because he has such slow feet. Anthony Davis is much more deserving and I feel like he doesnt get nearly as much love as he should for averaging video game like defensive stats.

[IknoBall12Participant]

 But it’s funny to me how lebron never gets any credit for defensive player of the year. Don’t get me wrong AD is a hell if a player but lebron does do a good job clamping down on his guy while not fouling very much

[IknoBall12Participant]

 But it’s funny to me how lebron never gets any credit for defensive player of the year. Don’t get me wrong AD is a hell if a player but lebron does do a good job clamping down on his guy while not fouling very much

[Chilbert arenasParticipant]

I personally would love to see a non-center win the award and with Tony Allen and the Griz not getting as much media coverage Lebron is the only other candidate I can think of.

Deandre Jordan needs to at least be in the conversation. His league leading 14 rebs a game and 2.5 blocks per game give him the stats necessary, but he’s finally anchoring their defensively by calling out all assignments.

[Chilbert arenasParticipant]

I personally would love to see a non-center win the award and with Tony Allen and the Griz not getting as much media coverage Lebron is the only other candidate I can think of.

Deandre Jordan needs to at least be in the conversation. His league leading 14 rebs a game and 2.5 blocks per game give him the stats necessary, but he’s finally anchoring their defensively by calling out all assignments.

[Bmore_DCParticipant]

 If Hibbert played in the 90’s he would be just decent. 

[XYRYXParticipant]

 If Marc Gasol played in the 90s he wouldn’t even sniff an All Defensive Team. 

You can make this argument for Tyson Chandler too who is a top defender but in the 90s he would have problems guarding most of the guys down low. 

[XYRYXParticipant]

 If Marc Gasol played in the 90s he wouldn’t even sniff an All Defensive Team. 

You can make this argument for Tyson Chandler too who is a top defender but in the 90s he would have problems guarding most of the guys down low. 

[Bmore_DCParticipant]

 If Hibbert played in the 90’s he would be just decent. 

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

I think Davis will have PLENTY of opportunities to win it down the road but right now, Hibbert is better because of his team’s record as well as the overall defense.

Of course, that may be unfair because the Pelicans don’t have nearly as many quality defender as Indiana does but that’s how this award is handed out.

I wouldn’t doubt it if Davis ended up with 5 DPOY by the time his career is over.

Right now, I think the only true candidates are LeBron, Hibbert, DeAndre, Joakim, Davis, and maybe Stephenson as the dark horse.

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

I think Davis will have PLENTY of opportunities to win it down the road but right now, Hibbert is better because of his team’s record as well as the overall defense.

Of course, that may be unfair because the Pelicans don’t have nearly as many quality defender as Indiana does but that’s how this award is handed out.

I wouldn’t doubt it if Davis ended up with 5 DPOY by the time his career is over.

Right now, I think the only true candidates are LeBron, Hibbert, DeAndre, Joakim, Davis, and maybe Stephenson as the dark horse.

[Forte IVParticipant]

 Even though there is homerism in me as I type this it makes me slightly mad people aren’t more serious about DeAndre Jordan as candidate for dpoy. While he might not be the best off ball defender he has been amazing as an on-ball defender. His blocks 90% of the time stay in bounds, he always plays tight defense on his assignments and almost always makes the defender change their shot mid air. Plus his blocked shots are usually when he’s playing on-ball defense. He’s improved tremendously as a defender and has been more then just stats this year.

[Forte IVParticipant]

 Even though there is homerism in me as I type this it makes me slightly mad people aren’t more serious about DeAndre Jordan as candidate for dpoy. While he might not be the best off ball defender he has been amazing as an on-ball defender. His blocks 90% of the time stay in bounds, he always plays tight defense on his assignments and almost always makes the defender change their shot mid air. Plus his blocked shots are usually when he’s playing on-ball defense. He’s improved tremendously as a defender and has been more then just stats this year.

[Forte IVParticipant]

double-post

[Forte IVParticipant]

double-post

[Jester87Participant]

Nah, Hibbert is so much better right now. It’s true, he plays with some great defenders, all of the guys in their starting lineup is above average at his position on D, but that’s the reason why they are the league’s best defense by such a large margin (I mean, their Drtg is 93.8, the second best team, the Bulls, have a 98.1 Drtg! 4.3 points per 100 possessions are pretty much the difference between a top 5 defense and an average one). But Hibbert is a game changer on that side. It’s not only the shot he blocks, it’s his timing on rotations, how he contest shots even when he’s not trying to block them. He goes up with a perfect vertical stance and he’s so big, wide and long he makes it so tough for opposing players to score close to the rim. He masters perfectly Vogel’s schemes on the pick and roll. He’s a real game changer, you can build a solid defense only because he’s playing for you, no matter how good are the others. When he’s on the court the Pacers allow only 92.5 points per 100 possessions, opponents shoots only 41% at the rim against him (obviously nobody does better).

I like the Brow a lot, and I think he has the potential to become one of the league’s top 5 defender for the next 10 years at least, but he’s not there yet. I don’t care how many shots he blocks or how many steals he collects, Josh Smith usually has more steals and blocks than LeBron but I don’t think anyone could even doubt James is a better defender. Also, while the Pelicans are a bad defensive team, it’s not like he’s been playing with so many weak defender. Jrue Holiday is an above average defender, so are Gordon and Aminu. Tyreke’s not always focused, but he’s also a competent defensive player. Jason Smith struggles against bigger guys as a one on one low post defender, but he’s decent in every other aspect. Ryan Anderson is a clear liability, but he’s the only one. Of course some of their struggles are due to Monty Williams schemes and it’s not easy to hide Ryan Anderson’s limitations on D, but the Magic for example were able to play a solid defense even when he was on the floor. They had Dwight Howard. I think Davis isn’t yet a game changer on D, while Hibbert clearly is. He has the potential to become one, and that’s one of the reason I think NO shouldn’t give up on this team, their already a great team on offense, if they manage to become at least average on D they could make some noise in the next year, they’re still very young.

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

You killed it… Great post. I agree with everything 100%.

 

 

 

 

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

You killed it… Great post. I agree with everything 100%.

 

 

 

 

[Jester87Participant]

Nah, Hibbert is so much better right now. It’s true, he plays with some great defenders, all of the guys in their starting lineup is above average at his position on D, but that’s the reason why they are the league’s best defense by such a large margin (I mean, their Drtg is 93.8, the second best team, the Bulls, have a 98.1 Drtg! 4.3 points per 100 possessions are pretty much the difference between a top 5 defense and an average one). But Hibbert is a game changer on that side. It’s not only the shot he blocks, it’s his timing on rotations, how he contest shots even when he’s not trying to block them. He goes up with a perfect vertical stance and he’s so big, wide and long he makes it so tough for opposing players to score close to the rim. He masters perfectly Vogel’s schemes on the pick and roll. He’s a real game changer, you can build a solid defense only because he’s playing for you, no matter how good are the others. When he’s on the court the Pacers allow only 92.5 points per 100 possessions, opponents shoots only 41% at the rim against him (obviously nobody does better).

I like the Brow a lot, and I think he has the potential to become one of the league’s top 5 defender for the next 10 years at least, but he’s not there yet. I don’t care how many shots he blocks or how many steals he collects, Josh Smith usually has more steals and blocks than LeBron but I don’t think anyone could even doubt James is a better defender. Also, while the Pelicans are a bad defensive team, it’s not like he’s been playing with so many weak defender. Jrue Holiday is an above average defender, so are Gordon and Aminu. Tyreke’s not always focused, but he’s also a competent defensive player. Jason Smith struggles against bigger guys as a one on one low post defender, but he’s decent in every other aspect. Ryan Anderson is a clear liability, but he’s the only one. Of course some of their struggles are due to Monty Williams schemes and it’s not easy to hide Ryan Anderson’s limitations on D, but the Magic for example were able to play a solid defense even when he was on the floor. They had Dwight Howard. I think Davis isn’t yet a game changer on D, while Hibbert clearly is. He has the potential to become one, and that’s one of the reason I think NO shouldn’t give up on this team, their already a great team on offense, if they manage to become at least average on D they could make some noise in the next year, they’re still very young.

[Author]

Posts