It's tough not to factor in the win-loss record of a team when thinking who might be the DPOY, but I also like to factor in the roster and who they are playing with, as defense is a team's sport and nothing effects a center more than having weak POA defenders.
I think the DPOY is coming down to 2 players, Gobert and Wemby. There's no doubting Gobert's impact and he's playing some of the best defense I've seen from him in a while. That said, it's really hard not to discount Wemby, who's really been surging and the teams rating with and without him screams impact.
Grinding out wins has been difficult enough for the Spurs even with Victor Wembanyama trying to lift the team up like a lanky Atlas. Without him, it’s been downright impossible.
The Spurs (13-49) will be without the vitalizing services of the presumptive Rookie of the Year Thursday night when they play at Sacramento as he nurses a right ankle sprain sustained in Tuesday’s 114-101 loss at Houston. It will mark the team’s seventh game without Wembanyama, and they’ll seek to claim a victory for the first time sans the 7-foot-3 marvel.
WEMBY SIDELINED: Spurs to face Sacramento without Victor Wembanyama
The Spurs are 0-6 without Wembanyama and have been outscored by 69 points in losses to New Orleans (121-106), Milwaukee (132-119), Dallas (144-119), Portland (134-128), Chicago (122-116) and Charlotte (124-120). They’ve surrendered an average of 129.5 points in those outings, 5.1 points worse than Washington’s last-place defense has allowed this season.
The Kings (35-26) rank eighth in scoring at 118.2 per game and own a 2-0 record against the Spurs, winning 129-120 on Nov. 17 and 127-122 on Feb. 22. Wembanyama averaged 23.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.5 steals, 2.5 blocks and 2.0 assists in the losses.
Wretched team record aside, the 20-year-old had been on a special kind of tear of late while pocketing consecutive Rookie of the Month awards. He averaged 22.7 points, 10.1 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 3.6 blocks, 1.9 3-pointers and 1.4 steals over 26 games in January and February and kicked off March with an otherworldly 31-point, 12-rebound, six-assist, six-block masterpiece in a 117-105 win over Indiana.
His absence Thursday could create a host of problems for the Spurs. When Wembanyama sits the Spurs' defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) skyrockets from 112.2 to 119.8, and their net rating (point differential per 100) plummets from minus-4.5 to minus -11.9 – some of the league’s most dramatic splits.
https://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/victor-wembanyama-sits-out-spurs-sink-new-lows-18709877.php#:~:text=His%20absence%20Thursday%20could%20create,the%20league's%20most%20dramatic%20splits.
