Marc Gasol Winning NBA Defensive Player Of Year More Laughable Than Tyson Chandler Winning It Last Season

HacheMan · Apr 25, 2013

Let's be realistic.

No way in he!! is Marc Gasol a better defensive player overall than Lebron James, just like Tyson Chandler wasn't either over Dwight Howard last season.

Seems as though the NBA is wanting to spread awards around more lately.

Last year Howard should have won his 4th Defensive POY Award, but the NBA apparently said enough is enough and handed it to Chandler.

This year Lebron James will win his 2nd MVP award (4th overall) so I suppose the NBA thinks that is enough prestige for one player and that James shouldn't also win the Defensive Player Of The Year award also in the same year.

Marc Gasol and Tyson Chandler are the types of players who win such awards in the old CBA.

NBA Should be embarrassed...

donkeybucks · Apr 25, 2013

Another Lebron "should have it all" post.

Lebron is known for offense. Great athlete, great player, and will eventually develop into the "BEST" player of the NBA of all time for about a decade.

Agree with you to some degree about Marc Gasol being the Defensive POY. Who do you think deserves a better recognition in this year's award?

Mr_Mark · Apr 25, 2013

Hache Man said:
Let's be realistic.

No way in he!! is Marc Gasol a better defensive player overall than Lebron James, just like Tyson Chandler wasn't either over Dwight Howard last season.

Seems as though the NBA is wanting to spread awards around more lately.

Last year Howard should have won his 4th Defensive POY Award, but the NBA apparently said enough is enough and handed it to Chandler.

This year Lebron James will win his 2nd MVP award (4th overall) so I suppose the NBA thinks that is enough prestige for one player and that James shouldn't also win the Defensive Player Of The Year award also in the same year.

Marc Gasol and Tyson Chandler are the types of players who win such awards in the old CBA.

NBA Should be embarrassed...

Agreed!

Penugins13 · Apr 25, 2013

Lebron does not deserve it either. He does nothing special on D.

Shows how bad the NBA is, no true centers.

Mr_Mark · Apr 25, 2013

No love for Ibaka last year or this year either. I thought he was more deserving that then winner. But my vote this year would of went to Lebron.... if I had a vote that counted lol

Mr_Mark · Apr 25, 2013

Penugins13 said:
Lebron does not deserve it either. He does nothing special on D.

Shows how bad the NBA is, no true centers.

The game has changed, centers now are much different from centers 20+ years ago.
Also have seen Lebron play at all this year??? no Defense you cant be serious, he was great on D and did it with rarely fouling

PatsFan1283 · Apr 25, 2013

Hache Man said:
Let's be realistic.

No way in he!! is Marc Gasol a better defensive player overall than Lebron James, just like Tyson Chandler wasn't either over Dwight Howard last season.

Seems as though the NBA is wanting to spread awards around more lately.

Last year Howard should have won his 4th Defensive POY Award, but the NBA apparently said enough is enough and handed it to Chandler.

This year Lebron James will win his 2nd MVP award (4th overall) so I suppose the NBA thinks that is enough prestige for one player and that James shouldn't also win the Defensive Player Of The Year award also in the same year.

Marc Gasol and Tyson Chandler are the types of players who win such awards in the old CBA.

NBA Should be embarrassed...

Dwight missed the last 3 weeks of the season last year, big reason he didn't win.

Gasol clearly deserved it this year, I don't think many people would argue that. Based on per minute, maybe you could go with a Noah or KG but based on aggregate clearly Gasol.

How do you think Memphis won 56 games? Do they seem very good to you?

It is a regular season award.

Is this 1 of those lets get some discussion going threads?

skoda · Apr 26, 2013

last time I watched NBA around 2008, defense wasn't played.

I'll watch this weekend and look for some.......

http://youtu.be/ldTtmeYzOgo

weezyfbaby · Apr 26, 2013

skoda said:
last time I watched NBA around 2008, defense wasn't played.

I'll watch this weekend and look for some.......

http://youtu.be/ldTtmeYzOgo

1 of tonites games ended in the 170s and another ended in the 150s. There's been defense the whole time. They stopped allowing handchecks. Not saying you're a Jordan fan but he'd be fouled out by halftime these days.

celticGreen+ · Apr 26, 2013

no love for Hibbert

doubledeuce22 · Apr 26, 2013

weezy f baby said:
1 of tonites games ended in the 170s and another ended in the 150s. There's been defense the whole time. They stopped allowing handchecks. Not saying you're a Jordan fan but he'd be fouled out by halftime these days.

mj would shoot 50 ft's a game if it was called then as it is now.

pistons/knicks wouldnt even have any players to put on the floor by the 2q since they'd all be ejected with these soft rules.

Penugins13 · Apr 26, 2013

Mr_Mark said:
The game has changed, centers now are much different from centers 20+ years ago.
Also have seen Lebron play at all this year??? no Defense you cant be serious, he was great on D and did it with rarely fouling

Not many blocks, not many steal, not many rebounds.

He gets no fouls called on him because the refs want him in the game all the time. That's how of a joke the NBA is.
Probably get more beneficial ref treatment than Jordan if that's even possible.

Mr_Mark · Apr 26, 2013

Penugins13 said:
Not many blocks, not many steal, not many rebounds.

He gets no fouls called on him because the refs want him in the game all the time. That's how of a joke the NBA is.
Probably get more beneficial ref treatment than Jordan if that's even possible.

I am a big numbers guy, always have been. But I was judging more the level of play. Lebron guarded all 5 positions this year. PG to Center. I like Gasol and thought he had a good year. But there wasnt many people who Lebron guarded that statistically had good games this year

halekulani · Apr 26, 2013

hold on

1. dwight played 54 games last season = 65% of a season. you don't get regular season awards if you only complete a little over half a season unless you are just oustanding and head and shoulders above the rest.
2. don't act like lebron was ignored of his defensive accomplishments. he made 1st team all nba defense this year.
3. while defending 5 positions adds to lebron's credibility, gasol shouldn't be punished for the lack of it. it is difficult for a perimeter player to win DPOY just because a big man anchors a defense with the responsibility of the paint. for the stats geeks, the only player with more defensive win shares than gasol is paul george. gasol held his opponents to an avg PER of 14.6 (league avg 15) while lebron held his opponents to a PER of 17.2 at PF but was incredible at SF holding their PER to 12.7 (source: 82games. it should be noted that the majority of lebron's minutes are still at the PF position despite his phenomenal play at SF).
4. you couldn't have gone wrong in picking either lebron or gasol, but 30 first place votes vs 18 is pretty significant and gasol won by a good margin. lebron was also competing against elites like ibaka, noah, and duncan. true bigs will always have priority. this may be outdated thinking given how the game has changed and de-emphasized the importance of true positions with the evolution of hybrids, but that's just how it is. i have no doubt that lbj will finish his career with at least one DPOY, but lets not diminish gasol's achievements this year.

Mr_Mark · Apr 26, 2013

dsethi said:
Did he guard all of them well? No. Not at all.

The fact that Gasol got this award without gaudy numbers is a testament to his overall contribution on the defensive end. Unfortunately he followed up the award with a subpar defensive game by his standards last night, but the guy is well deserving.

Noboday can guard all 5 well. But 3-4 positions, Yes he did pretty well with those. Has nobody watched Heat Games this year??
1-1 defender Lebron was probably the best, you can make the argument Gasol & Tyson were probably 2 of the best team defenders over the last 2 years, coming/picking up the help. If I have to pick a Center who I need for Defense. Is Gasol going to be my first choice? No, I would pick Hibbert over him.
Grizzlies have much better team defense than the Heat, and Gasol is the anchor there. But Tony Allen, Mike Conely are both really good defenders. Adding Tayshaun just helped. Those are all much better defenders than any one on Miami. Not at all saying Gasol is a bad defender, but this is an individual award here. Take Gasol and put him on the Bobcats. Is he still the leading candidate for DPOY? Put Lebron on there and he is still in the voting. I wont be surprised if Gasol does not even make first team and loses that spot to Hibbert or Howard or even Noah

halekulani · Apr 26, 2013

hibbert is a good anchor for team defense, but his 1 on 1 man defense is nowhere near gasol's.

celticGreen+ · Apr 26, 2013

halekulani said:
hibbert is a good anchor for team defense, but his 1 on 1 man defense is nowhere near gasol's.

Good thing it's not called the "best 1 on 1 defender" award

halekulani · Apr 26, 2013

they're both good team defenders
one is a good individual defender
one is a bad one

hmmm who do i take

celticGreen+ · Apr 26, 2013

Calling Hibbert a bad one on one defender at the center position is silly... Not saying he's the best, but come on.

HacheMan · Apr 26, 2013

So Marc Gasol is the best defender in some of your books?

Memphis may be a very good defensive team altogether, but sorry there's just no way that Gasol in THE BEST defender in the entire NBA.

With all of the studs in the league it's just not even realistic that this guy is THE BEST...