The Whiteboard: New No. 1 in Defensive Player of the Year race

Defensive impact is much more challenging to measure and compare than many offensive skills and the size of a sample is a big factor. Still, most teams are closing in on the one-fifth mark of the season and we're starting to see some patterns emerge.

I've left some well-known and highly regarded defenders off my early season list but here's how I'd rank the five best defenders in the NBA so far.

5. Jalen Suggs, G, Orlando Magic

Including Suggs here in the final spot means we're leaving out some seriously worthy defenders — Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, Jalen Johnson and more. But the Magic currently have the second-best defense in the league and someone from that group deserves recognition.

Orlando's success is very much a product of numerous solid defenders playing together in a well-designed system that plays to their strengths. Suggs may not be the most impactful defender of the group but I wanted to highlight him for the way his aggressiveness at the point of attack sets the tone for everyone else.

Suggs is third in the league in steals per game and averages 4.4 deflections per 36 minutes, fourth-most in the league among players who have played at least 300 minutes. He's applying relentless ball pressure, picking up ball-handlers deep in the backcourt, fighting over screens and creating a ton of easy offensive opportunities with his turnovers.

Suggs' impact is elevated because of the rest of the players around him and it's unlikely that he really receives many Defensive Player of the Year votes at the end of the season. But for now, let's celebrate him for helping change the culture and outcomes for the Orlando Magic.

4. Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers

Mobley finished third in the Defensive Player of the Year voting last year and has been, individually, just as good this year. He's a fantastic shot-blocker, terrific in space and a fluid, versatile anchor to the Cavs defense. The problem is that Cleveland hasn't had the same pieces in place this year.

Mobley and new additions Max Strus and Georges Niang are the only three Cavs who have appeared in all 13 games so far this season. Jarrett Allen, who helped Mobley anchor ther Cavs defense last season, has played just eight games. Isaac Okoro, their best wing defender, has played just six games.

In short, Mobley has been fantastic this season but it isn't showing up in quite the same way and unless the Cavs get their act together, he's likely to be overshadowed in the Defensive Player of the Year race this season.

3. Kristaps Porzingis

With the benefit of health, Porzingis re-established himself as an elite interior defender last season with the Wizards and he's brought that to the Celtics. By defensive field goal percentage — the difference between how opponents shoot inside of six feet when he's the closest defender and how we would expect them to shoot given their normal percentages — implies that he may be the most effective rim protector in the league so far this season.

The Celtics were already a strong defensive team and adding Jrue Holiday on the perimeter has helped as well. But they've been even better to start this season, allowing 3.6 fewer points per 100 possessions than last season. They're following the same basic formula — challenge shots without fouling and dominate the defensive glass — but trading for Porzingis appears to have elevated what was already one of the best defenses in the league.

2. Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder defense has improved by nearly five points per 100 possessions compared to last season and the addition of Chet Holmgren has been, by far, the most impactful addition. Thunder are still getting battered on the offensive glass, giving up a ton of second-chance points but Holmgren's presence as a rim protector has been transformative.

Holmgren has been the closest defender on opponent shots with six feet of the basket an average of 9.8 times per game, the second most in the league. Opponents are shooting just 51.1 percent when he's the closest defender in this range, the fifth-best mark in the league among players who defend at least six such shots per game — better than Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Evan Mobley, Myles Turner and more.

There were concerns about how Holmgren's lack of strength might inhibit him as an interior defender but he's more than made up for it with his length, body control and quickness. Watch him take this hit from Jusuf Nurkic, who has a nearly 100-pound weight advantage, and still maintain enough position to block the shot in the air.

Holmgren's backline defense has helped the Thunder's already strong perimeter defenders play more confidently and more directly, a cascading set of effects that are helping power an incredible start for Oklahoma City.

1. Rudy Gobert

It took almost a year to work out the kinks but the Minnesota Timberwolves are finally getting what they hoped for when they traded for Rudy Gobert. They're among the best teams in the Western Conference, with success built on the back of the best defense in the league.

Gobert is not quite the same force he was with the Utah Jazz and won three Defensive Player of the Year Awards in four seasons. But his impact is undeniable.

Only four teams are holding their opponents to a lower field goal percentage within eight feet of the basket and only two other teams are allowing fewer shots in that range (and there's none of those teams overlap).

It's not just Gobert but his work on the backline helps Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Mike Conley be even more effective on the perimeter and both Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid have done a great job complimenting him around the basket.

Voters may have a hard time selecting Gobert for this award again, given how he and the Timberwolves struggled last season and the fact that he's clearly no longer at the height of his defensive powers. But I don't know that any defender has had a bigger impact this season on the fortunes of his teammates and his team's success.

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