a) Celtics have a worse record than the Pacers and the Bulls, two teams which over the course of the season have defended better. That gives the edge to Hibbert and Noah. The Knicks also have a better record and Tyson Chandler is still transforming what would otherwise be a terrible defensive team into a quite good one, on a nightly basis.
b) Big men have a more noticeable effect on the box score.
c) Bradley has a truly great defender as a teammate, who happens to be a big man and the anchor of the C's defense -- KG -- who takes the focus of outsiders away from his abilities.
d) Avery missed nearly half the season.
e) In any case, the smart money (i.e. people who do bball stats for a living) is on Larry Sanders as defender making the biggest impact in the league right now.
Even if we're just talking about the time since Bradley returned, I would put Sanders, Noah, and Chandler ahead of Bradley for the award. I'd probably recognize KG ahead of Bradley, too.
Avery is definitely the best defender at guard in the league, though, in my opinion.
Always annoys me when people say the person leading the league in blocks or steals is the best defender in the league. This just isn't the case. Just like Ibaka is not as good of a defender as KG is.
You give far too little credit to perimeter defenders. It's somewhat understandable given that it's become both hard to do legally and a lost art, but that's what makes Avery so special.
The reason he has to be All-NBA and considered a top defender is because of how much better he is relatively than other players who play his position. This is how we have to determine value.
Look, I'm not saying Avery shouldn't get more recognition.
I'm explaining why I think he's not getting it.
Fair enough. You're probably right then. To whoever votes on DPOY, stats are everything when in reality that's a lesser factor in defense.
By I don't understand why he would mention Thabo over Avery.
I love how sefalosha got a mention and bradley didnt.
Paul Pierce made Thabo jump out of his shoes with a single headfake on several occasions. I wasnt impressed with his defense.
I think he's kind of overrated at this point. He's nothing special. I've seen better defense out of Jeff Green this year for sure.
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