Will we ever see another defense-first player win MVP?

[ceiling raiser]

In honor of Bill Russell, decided to create this thread.

Only a handful of players who have clearly had more of an impact on the defensive end have won MVP in the past:

Russell 58,61,62,63,65
Olajuwon 94
Robinson 95
Duncan 02,03
Garnett 04

There are some other players, particularly big men, who were close to 50/50, but this seems to be pretty inclusive of guys who were clearly defense-first. Most recent such case was 18 years ago. Giannis I think *might* qualify, but I lean no since his offense is still where he has most of his impact.

Only player really in recent memory was who, maybe Dwight in 2011?

Can we see another defense-first player win MVP? If so, who is the likeliest candidate?

[eminence]

Rudy Gobert for MVP '22, I'm starting the campaign here and now.

I'd say KG '04 had more impact on offense.

[70sFan]

I hope so...

[falcolombardi]

You could argue giannis mvps fit the bill

[Cavsfansince84]

It's hard because once you get close to 45-55 or 55-45 it becomes very subjective which side of the court a guy is having more impact on. I think you also left off Wilt in 68, Unseld in 70, Cowens in 73 and Walton in 78. Its definitely harder now not only because the league is more offense/perimeter oriented but because most metrics do a better job of measuring offense than defense. So there's no single stat a guy in the media can use to promote a guy that everyone else can be like 'o wow, his impact is huge' other than team defense.

[falcolombardi]

Another issue is that defense doesnt gain anyone sneakers deals nor does it generate much hype

2021 gobert was a mvp worthy season but people were morr likely to promote mitchell for mvp

Even second or third rate offensive stars have more creed than first rate defensive stars like draymond or gobert

[TheLand13]

Evan Mobley is the only one I can think of who is currently in the NBA. But he would, at the very least, have to develop into a 25 PPG scorer (which I think he has a decent chance of doing).

[Jaivl]

No

[HeartBreakKid]

Ever? Yes. If anything it would be done for the novelty of it.

The best defenders tend to be centers and they're harder to market though.

[MyUniBroDavis]

In honor of Bill Russell, decided to create this thread.

Only a handful of players who have clearly had more of an impact on the defensive end have won MVP in the past:

Russell 58,61,62,63,65
Olajuwon 94
Robinson 95
Duncan 02,03
Garnett 04

There are some other players, particularly big men, who were close to 50/50, but this seems to be pretty inclusive of guys who were clearly defense-first. Most recent such case was 18 years ago. Giannis I think *might* qualify, but I lean no since his offense is still where he has most of his impact.

Only player really in recent memory was who, maybe Dwight in 2011?

Can we see another defense-first player win MVP? If so, who is the likeliest candidate?

You could make a fairly convincing case 2020 Giannis was more impactful defensively than offensively, but I don’t think that means he was a defense first player, but that probably applies to some of the guys listed too

[penbeast0]

I think it is more likely rather than less as impact stats get better and more widely accepted, but it will take a great team of shared offensive responsibility with one great defensive anchor for it to happen in terms of narrative.

[Godymas]

Gobert is the most likely guy in the modern era to pull it off. If after the addition of Gobert Minnesota proceeds to be a 60+ win team the arguments really start to bubble up that Gobert is their MVP.

Also OP forgot to mention Wes Unseld who won the MVP in 1969.

He joined the Bullets as a rookie, the previous season the Bullets had the 7th best offense, and 6th best defense (of 12 teams). Won 36 games.

Next season with the rookie Wes Unseld the Bullets proceed to win 57 games and have the 2nd best defense. Unseld's numbers were 13.8 ppg and 18.2 rbds to get the MVP. Btw he was 6'7 and played center.

[RCM88x]

Of all those guys I honestly think Russell is the only guy who is clearly "defense first". Even so, popular opinion at the time probably pegged all those guys post-Russell as having bigger offensive roles than defensive, even if that wasn't necessarily the case.

I don't think it'll ever happen again unless there is a big shift in the game or some insane outlier MVP candidate type player that changes the public opinion on the game enough to convince people that defense can actually be more valuable than offense.

[Cavsfansince84]

Evan Mobley is the only one I can think of who is currently in the NBA. But he would, at the very least, have to develop into a 25 PPG scorer (which I think he has a decent chance of doing).

Agree on Mobley though I think 21-23ppg could easily be enough. We almost saw KG get mvp at 19pgg in 2008.

[Doctor MJ]

You could argue giannis mvps fit the bill

Agree. Clearly defense-first to me.

[Doctor MJ]

In honor of Bill Russell, decided to create this thread.

Only a handful of players who have clearly had more of an impact on the defensive end have won MVP in the past:

Russell 58,61,62,63,65
Olajuwon 94
Robinson 95
Duncan 02,03
Garnett 04

There are some other players, particularly big men, who were close to 50/50, but this seems to be pretty inclusive of guys who were clearly defense-first. Most recent such case was 18 years ago. Giannis I think *might* qualify, but I lean no since his offense is still where he has most of his impact.

Only player really in recent memory was who, maybe Dwight in 2011?

Can we see another defense-first player win MVP? If so, who is the likeliest candidate?

Incidentally, I don't actually think Garnett qualifies. I think he was more offense than defense in '04 in contrast to a year like '08.

To your broader question:

I've thought a lot about how Gobert was perceived in '20-21. People just refused to take him seriously as an MVP candidate, and while they pointed to his offensive weakness, I always felt that the real thing going on was the lack of trust they had in his ability to be similarly effective in the playoffs.

If prior to that year the Jazz were known for overperforming in the playoffs by virtue of a consistently stifling defense - like you could argue for Russell - I think Gobert wins the MVP that year.

But the further we go along seeing the non-offensive stars seem to be unable to lead teams to championships, the more resistant to the idea the modern basketball world becomes.

[Doctor MJ]

Another issue is that defense doesnt gain anyone sneakers deals nor does it generate much hype

2021 gobert was a mvp worthy season but people were morr likely to promote mitchell for mvp

Even second or third rate offensive stars have more creed than first rate defensive stars like draymond or gobert

One thing about the Mitchell > Gobert crowd:

To me that came to life after the 2020 Bubble playoffs where the Jazz defense was utterly helpless but they almost won the series on the back of Mitchell's offense.

I think you could argue that that playoff series didn't just cost Gobert the MVP the following year, but prevented him from being taken seriously as even a candidate for many people.

[NW BBALL]

I hope so. Dwight Howard came close in 2011. Won his 3rd Defensive Player of the Year award and placed 2nd in MVP voting.

[Cavsfansince84]

I think another thing that happens is defensive first players are relegated to just dpoy talk and that's how the media views things. I think Ben Wallace actually deserved more mvp talk back in the day and should have been finishing much higher in mvp voting. Eras have changed since then but in that time frame his impact was huge.

[Texas Chuck]

You could argue giannis mvps fit the bill

Agree. Clearly defense-first to me.

I disagree. Even if one is low on Giannis offense and I know that relatively speaking at least you are. I would still have to think you believe his offensive impact was still higher than his defensive impact, no?

Of course I'm that guy who thinks Giannis is an absolutely elite offensive player despite his lack of shooting.