Need for new guidlines, when deciding the All-Defensive team

Offense scores the points, but Defense wins Championships. In the NBA, its not enough to just put the ball in the basket. With the level of talent most teams possess, that is not a hard thing to do. What separates the Great teams from the good teams, is Defense. The ability to prevent opponents from scoring is just as important as having the ability to score.

Being able to stop opponents from scoring, is easier said then done. The sheer raw talent and athletic ability many young NBA prospects possess when entering the league, seems to be increasing with each draft class. While many of these players will never be able to develop their talents, the natural abilities these players have, is very impressive.

In the modern NBA, Defensive orientated teams are hard to find. Dedicating the time and effort night in and night out, is hard for many of these NBA players to buy into. Sometimes the teams just lack the right personnel to be effective. Other times, its just a matter of if you can get the players to dedicate themselves to the less glorious defensive mindset. However you look at it, its obvious the NBA has become more about the “Flash” of scoring, than the “Grittiness” of defense.

Despite the lack of Great team defense in the NBA, there are still some Elite level defenders in the league, who live for defense. Our very own Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest are considered some of the best perimeter defenders in the league. Yet in looking at last years All-Defensive team, Artest only managed to get an honorable mention. How is that possible?

When looking at Artest’s performance against some of the best SF in the league, Artest held majority of them well below their season averages in Pts, Reb, and Assists. In many cases, he also forced these players into more turn overs. While Artest was not a league leader in steals, blocked shots, and defensive rebounds, he was a monster at the on ball defense.

Below, I have listed some of the top SF in the league, and how they fared against Ron. I listed stats from all the games they played against Ron, and then compared the average of their games, to their Season averages. In many cases, Ron completely owned the player.

1.Lebron James

(9/19=47%, 26pts, 9ass, 4reb, 7to)

(13/25=52% 37pts, 9ass,5reb, 5to)

=avg=49% 31.5pts,9ass,4.5reb,6to)

Season=50.3%,29.7pts,8.6ass,7.3reb,3.4to

2.Carmelo Anthony

(11/20=55% 25PTS, 4REB, 2ass, 3to)

(7/19=36%, 21pts, 1ass,5reb, 8to)

(10/20=50% 31pts, 4ass, 4reb, 1to)

=avg=52.5% 28pts,4reb,3ass,2to)

Season=45.8%,28.2pts,3.2ass,6.6reb,3to

3.Paul Pierce

(4/11=36%, 15pts, 1ass,3reb, 4to)

(4/9=44%, 11pts, 4ass,6rb,1to)

=avg=40%, 13pts, 2.5ass, 4.5reb, 2.5to)

Season=47.2%,18.3pts,3.1ass,4.4reb,2.3to

4.Kevin Durant

(10/24=41%28pts,5ass,4reb,7to)

(8/20=40%19pts,2asss,6reb,3to)

(11/19=57% 30pts,4ass,3reb,6to)

(9/19=47% 26pts,3ass,8reb,3to)

=avg=46.5%, 25.75pts,3.5ass, 5.25reb,5to

Season=47.6%,30.1pts,2.8ass,7.6reb,3.3to

5.Danny Granger

(4/8=50%, 14pts,5ass,2reb,0t0)

(2/9=22% 9pts,5ass,0reb,4to)

=avg=36% 11.5pts, 1reb, 5ass, 2to)

Season=42.8%, 24.1pts,2.8ass,5.5reb,2.5to

6.Caron Butler(7/13=53% 18pts,3ass,8reb,0to)

Season=42.8%,16.3pts,2.1ass,6.2reb,2.2to

7.Andre Iguodala

(3/7=42% 8pts,5ass,7reb,5to)

(5/15=33% 13pts,10ass,9reb,3to)

=avg=37.5% 10.5pts, 7.5ass, 8reb, 4to

Season=44.3% 17.1pts,5.8ass,6.5reb,2.7to

8.Josh Smith

(3/10=30% 7pts,7ass,6reb,6to)

(6/12=50%,12pts,6ass,8reb,4to)

=avg=40% 9.5pts, 6.5ass, 7reb, 5to

Season=50.5%,15.7pts,4.2ass,8.7reb,2.4to

9.Hedo Turkoglu

(1/6=16%,9pts,5ass,2re,3to)

(2/7=28% 6pts,4ass,5reb,4to)

=avg=22% 7.5pts, 4.5ass, 3.5reb, 3.5to

Season=40.9%,11.3pts,4.1ass,4.6reb,1.7to

These players are some of the best we have in the league, at this position. As the stats have shown, Ron was more than just effective against these players . His on ball defense was probably one of the best, if not the best, in the league. That def deserves more than just an honorable mention.

The following is a chart showing how many votes each player got for DPOY:

2009-10 NBA Defensive Player of the Year presented by Kia Motors | Results

PLAYER TEAM 1st Place (5 Pts) 2nd Place (3 Pts) 3rd Place (1 pt) Total Points

Dwight Howard Orlando 110 8 2 576

Josh Smith Atlanta 3 34 19 136

Gerald Wallace Charlotte 1 29 21 113

LeBron James Cleveland 4 11 8 61

Rajon Rondo Boston 1 13 11 55

Ron Artest Los Angeles Lakers - 7 8 29

Andrew Bogut Milwaukee 1 2 12 23

Thabo Sefolosha Oklahoma City 2 1 7 20

Anderson Varejao Cleveland - 5 3 18

Dwyane Wade Miami - 2 7 13

Marcus Camby Portland - 3 4 13

Kobe Bryant Los Angeles Lakers - 1 6 9

Shawn Marion Dallas - 2 2 8

Tim Duncan San Antonio - 2 1 7

Shane Battier Houston - 1 2 5

Andrei Kirilenko Utah - 1 1 4

Arron Afflalo Denver - - 1 1

David Lee New York - - 1 1

Ben Wallace Detroit - - 1 1

Brendan Haywood Dallas - - 1 1

Matt Barnes Orlando - - 1 1

Kendrick Perkins Boston - - 1 1

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute Milwaukee - - 1 1

Kenyon Martin Denver - - 1 1

Despite his stellar on ball defense, Artest only ranked 6th in DPOY ranking. Why is this? The stats show how incredible his defense was, against opposing SF. Many pundits will point out Ron’s lack of stats in steals, defensive rebounds and blocked shots. While it is true, those stats alone don’t make a player a Great defender. LBJ may beat Artest in those categories, but in no way, shape or form, is he as good an on ball defender as Artest.

Defense is not easy to quantify. Yes, we can keep track of steals, blocks and personal fouls (though they could also be offensive). But, in a traditional boxscore, that's about it. Looking at the opponents' side of the boxscore is a better way to determine how well a team or an individual plays defense.

The NBA needs to figure out better guidelines when deciding who will be chosen for the All-Defensive teams. I know its easier said than done, but it’s a shame, when a player of Artest’s abilities can only receive an honorable mention.

As a side note, I would like to make it clear, that I don’t think Ron should have won DPOY. Howard was a beast on the defensive end, and deserved to win. I just believe that Artest deserved atleast a 2nd team spot. He played a lot better than an honorable mention. Kobe didnt even receive an DPOY vote, and still got into first team All-Defense. Josh Smith and Gerald Wallace both finished with more votes than LBJ(Smith was 2nd overall), but Lebron got the nod for 1st team, and Smith was pushed to the 2nd team. How does that even make sense. All 3 of those guys play the same position.

The Lakers were 2, 3, 4 in overall steals in the playoffs with Kobe Fisher and Artest - Rondo was 1st and the others rounding out were all Celtics for the most part. This is why I love the Barnes acquisition. He's a poorman's version of Ariza. Ariza was one of the top ball stealers in the league but he had no help in that team. Again that's just stats.. Artest is supposed to be washed up but he was just not light enough on his feet to be able to defend and get into the defensive teams. He said he wanted to return to all team defensive team (or 2nd) next year.

The NBA has nothing to do with selecting DPOY nor Defensive Team. DPOY, like the MVP, is voted on by members of the media. Defensive Teams are voted on by head coaches. All votes are subjective and do not strictly correspond with any sort of statistics at all. Arguments that these voters only look at the player's stats and not the opponents' are unfounded.

The numbers you've put up are for DPOY voting, which as I've said above is different from Defensive Team voting. Also, Defensive Team voting ignores positions.

Hey Gastank. Thanks for the response. I knew that coaches and the media were involved in the various awards, but i assumed that the NBA was still regulating the process. I thought thr were guidelines given to the coaches and the media, to help with the voting process. If all votes are subjective and dont apply to any sort of statistics, the awards are all meaningless. They just become a popularity contest. That pisses me off. Whats the point of these awards, if players who actually deserve them, are not receiving them.

Thanks for the info on the All-Defensive teams. I was not aware that the voting ignores position. Dam. Why the heck did Artest not make the 2nd team? Do you have any idea what is used to pick the players? I am very confused with this voting system. Not to sound like a homer, but I feel Artest is more deserving to be on that list, thn some of the players that are on it. Thanks again for clarifying some of this for me.

I'm sure there are internal memos and general common sense guidelines, but AFAIK there is nothing even resembling even a semi-official rule of thumb from the NBA. As you've said, these things are difficult, if not impossible, to quantify, and thus subjective voting is really the best way to go about it. There's very little confusion to be had; each voter votes as they feel. Some may look at stats, some may look at highlights, some may try to recall when the player played against their team. It's no different than you or I or anyone on this board voting on players for these awards, except what these voters think garner more weight than us nobody fans.

As a fan of the sport, wouldnt you want some guidelines to be added? Im shocked that the NBA values these awards so little. For the amount of news the All-Offense and All-Defense teams generate, you would think they would want these awards to have more value. Thanks again for the info Gastank. Lol. Ill make sure to do better research, next time I put up one of these blogs.