hippesthippo wrote:Gotta be JJJ, right?
If you told me 10 years ago that Brook Lopez of all players would receive a DOPY at like 35 years old I would have laughed you right out of the forum. He's a huge part of what they do, but he's not the key that unlocks the option to put him in his current role. That's Giannis.
This is a common sentiment but it's not something that's held up to much scrutiny. The Bucks with Brook on/Giannis off have been a monster defense all year. It's actually their best defense with a 108.6 Drtg in over 1000 minutes. Giannis without Brook has been good, not great. We also got a whole year of Giannis without Brook last year and it was not great. I think Giannis is an absolute destruction defender but he seems to get this major benefit of the doubt based on the idea of his mobility and length. Brook has been the one anchoring Milwaukee's defense and Giannis has been awesome too. I just don't see a strong argument for Giannis being the "key that unlocks" when the Bucks do just as well with Brook and Bobby Portis and even Brook and Joe Ingles! (ridiculous 102 Drtg in over 500 minutes with Giannis or Bobby).
I think fans get carried away with Giannis. He's a DPOY level player for sure and no one can quite do what he does. But if you watch lots of Giannis footage you do see some meh defensive play. His hips are kind of stiff on the perimeter. He's prone to blow bys against smaller players. He also is not an elite rim protector, he's more: good enough. He covers more ground on defense than anyone, which makes him the most destructive help defender in the league I think. But that's by far his best role. It's a bonus that he can adequately perform other roles too, but I think people start assuming he's elite in those roles and he definitely is not.
For the same reason, I also voted for Mobley over Jarrett Allen. It's really tough to separate the data when teams have two guys in the front court like that, so I just go by what my eyes tell me. Don't crucify me please. I can't watch every game of every team, this is just what I've personally seen.
I don't think you'll get crucified. A lot of Cavs fans and Cavs watchers have shifted to Mobley from Allen over the season. I think Allen is getting a bit forgotten - which is a shame because he's excellent - but Mobley has just reached another gear and is rightfully getting everyone excited. Unlike in Milwaukee, where Brook and Giannis play very different roles, Mobley and Allen are slightly more interchangeable. Allen titls slightly more towards drop and Mobley tilts slightly more towards switch and coming to the level, but the Cavs scheme is more flexible and the two play a lot without each other. The Cavs are still slightly better in Allen's solo minutes, but that's mostly due to some crazy bad shooting luck early in the year. The Cavs have heavily tilted more towards playing Mobley as a solo big in the second half of the season.
I mean we give JJJ all the praise and not Steven Adams in Memphis, so why do we look at the situations in Milwaukee and Cleveland so differently?
Not sure I get what you mean here. JJJ has been holding the fort as the solo big in Memphis for months now and the Grizz defense hasn't dropped off. Adams does not maintain the Grizzlies defense at an elite level as the solo big. His absence has more been felt on offense. The Grizzlies are a good/great offense with Adams on the floor dominating the offensive glass and setting monster screens. It's crazy how important Adams has been offensively in Memphis, but defensively there's nothing to write about here. He's solid but there's no evidence he deserves to mentioned in the same breath as Brook Lopez or Jarrett Allen.
1) JJJ
2) Mobley
3) Giannis
I have JJJ, Mobley, and Brook as my ballot but I still haven't figured out what order. I get excited about any of their candidacies.
Agreed. He could easily replace Jaden or Caruso. I'm having a hard time thinking of any great wing/guard candidates this year. I haven't watched Boston in a while, but Smart is always good and I've heard Derrick White is having a heck of a year out there too. OG Anunoby wouldn't be a bad choice for a top10.
I mentioned some of my thinking for dropping Draymond above. He's obviously deserving but there's only 9 spots on the poll and lots of strong candidates. Draymond's team (like OG earlier this season), has not been good at defense this year. Their road woes are alarming.
I heard someone discussing Lopez's D, and I agree while he is very good at what he does - that just playing drop coverage - and so avoiding a lot of where most difficult defense is played - maybe should impede any serious run at DPOY. I don't remember the metric, but they quoted some advanced number (that I guess includes perimeter d ?) and O.G. had double the impact as Lopez.
