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Defensive Player of the Year

1. Roy Hibbert, Indiana Pacers – Hibbert remains the NBA’s standard for tremendous rim protection. Indiana is struggling mightily this season with a cast of characters that isn’t worthy of a playoff push even in the East, but Hibbert is chugging along, averaging 2.0 blocks per game and leading qualified players in deterring shots at the rim to the point where opponents are making only 39.4% of their shots in the basket area. The lumbering center does have a weakness in his lack of court coverage on the perimeter, but the difference between Hibbert and everyone else at the rim is so jarring that it almost doesn’t matter.
2. Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City Thunder – Ibaka is “only” third in the league in blocks (2.3 per game), but he has visibly sacrificed his own numbers in favor of stronger positional defense. Oklahoma City’s chief rim protector is extremely mobile in pick-and-roll coverage while remaining strong against interior play (41.9% allowed at the rim), and he is the main reason that OKC has maintained a top-five defense despite numerous injury issues. He will never get the proper respect as the “third banana” with the Thunder, but Serge Ibaka is pretty good.
3. John Wall, Washington Wizards – Have you watched John Wall this season? I mean, really watched him? Washington’s floor general has been extremely effective on both ends of the floor, but defensively, he is officially a terror. The Wizards are allowing only 95.9 points per 100 possessions with Wall on the court (one of the best marks in the NBA for any qualified player), and that number skyrockets with him off the court to the point where they allow 99.2 points per 100 overall despite Wall playing 35.9 minutes per game. The 6-foot-4 point guard has the length to disrupt everything that the opposition tries to start offensively, and with 2.2 steals per game (second in the league), he has the “traditional” statistic to lean on for candidacy. John Wall won’t win this award, but he has morphed into a two-way monster.

Next: Rookie of the Year