The Miami Heat get the shaft again! Not only isn’t their big man, Bam Adebayo, going to win the NBA Defensive Player Of The Year award, but he won’t even finish in the top three of the voting.
From a pure performance perspective, it makes no sense. The only sense that can be made of it is that he missed over 20 games with the thumb injury but other than that, there is none.
As far as the award itself, the DPOY, it’s an NBA award like any other. Meaning, that it’s been given out year after year and people complain about it year after year.
“So and so should have won”, “what’s his name never should have”, and “blah blah should have been“ in the conversation—whatever that means. NBA awards, as we know, are difficult.
There are no real criteria points for how the voting is supposed to go. In judgment sports, such as figure skating and gymnastics, the judges have a given set of rules to follow, then give judgment ratings based on how well they think the athlete met those rules.
For NBA awards, ballots are given to members of the media and the media can then vote for whomever they think deserves the award. That is pretty much it.
They’re called voters, not judges and that’s by design. Because in these scenarios, it’s really more like an election than a contest.
Basically, “Who do you like the best”? The Miami Heat will always have a hard time there unless it’s as undeniable as Tyler Herro‘s illustrious Sixth Man Of The Year case, which has some critics as well.
But yea, everyone knows how that goes. Even still though, this isn’t the point of this chat.
Let’s go a little deeper.
Miami Heat: Bam Adebayo May Not Be DPOY, But Rudy Gobert Isn’t Either
DPOY has been one that has had a personal feel to it for a while here, based on a desire to focus on what can only be called the Rudy Gobert Conundrum. The conundrum is this.
How do you award the best defensive player award to someone that can be schemed against or isn’t someone who is a lockdown defender on the perimeter? Though deeper than that too, that is the most foundational principle here.
For what it’s worth, you can’t scheme against the Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo. He can guard anywhere on the floor and anyone on the floor, guarding all five positions as if they were his assignments, but again, that’s neither here nor there.
Gobert has won the award three times now and is a top-three finalist this year, meaning that members of the voting class have voted for him again. Gobert’s main talent is protecting the rim, as he’s great at blocking shots, while he has excellent timing and intuition in the paint.
He, not only, stops shots from going in but deters offenses from attacking the basket. The controversy all starts with the infamous Clippers series of last year’s playoffs though.
The Clips went small and made open shots when Gobert stayed in drop coverage. He wasn’t necessarily played off the floor, but it wasn’t good.
Miami Heat: Bam Adebayo Is Typically A Top-2 Defender On Floor, Is Gobert?
This, then, provoked the arguments around him winning the award. There is one side of the room that thinks Gobert is completely unplayable, he’s useless when switched on the perimeter, and therefore, is totally undeserving of the award.
Again, it is much more complicated than that but that’s the basic premise. The other side has this counterpoint.
Gobert’s primary service is as a rim protector, while asking him to be in the paint and along the perimeter at the same time is unreasonable, which is true. They contend that he deserves the award because of what he provides at the rim but also how much other teams avoid the rim when he’s on the floor.
Therein lies the problem though. Defense is as much about preventing actions as it is about blocking shots from others.
How do you account for all the things that didn’t happen in a play?
You really can’t.
As a defender, is it better to have a low field goal percentage around the rim or low field goal attempts? The answer is somewhere in the middle of both but then, what matters more?
This, then, gives way to the real problem with this award. Defense is very much a team aspect.
Even if we want to focus on specific players and their impact, the defensive aspect of playing basketball is heavily dependent on the coaching and the other four players, as much as it is about one talented one.
Because if you were giving the award to the best individual defender, it has to be Bam Adebayo, right? No one single defender can do as much as he can do, as well as he can do it, for as long as he can do it.
If you look at all three finalists, Gobert, Mikal Bridges of Phoenix, and Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics—Bam can do what all of them can do on the floor defensively, while none of them can do everything that the others can.
Again though, this isn’t that.
Miami Heat: Even Outside Of Bam, Does Gobert Have Great ‘Overall Impact’?
Let’s be clear, Gobert is a very talented individual but his ability to be schemed against speaks to how much he functions within that team dynamic. Granted, the Jazz defense is designed around him and doesn’t work without him.
They force the offense to make bad decisions, knowing they can depend on Rudy Gobert to be that last great barrier, so it works to his advantage. It takes a very special player to anchor a defense like that, but basketball is a dynamic sport and players need to be malleable.
It seems Gobert’s skill centers around how the team functions and works when spread out over an 82-game season, but when things slow down in the playoffs, what he provides doesn’t really hold up to the same level.
The impact just isn’t the same.
Defense is a team skill but some schemes can give us individual moments as well, which is also important. The NBA has many skilled isolation scorers, so being a skilled isolation defender then has value as well—again, such as the Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo (sensing a theme here?).
Teams might choose to fight or hedge certain offensive actions because they want their lockdown guy marking that iso scorer, such as the Miami Heat with any of their many elite defenders, especially Bam though. Now think about it, if your Defensive Player Of The Year isn’t taking any of those assignments, is he what you think of when you think of that award?
Maybe. For me though, probably not.
Miami Heat: DPOY Is More ‘Art’ Than ‘Science’ And Has To Be Treated As Such
That’s where the difference in criteria comes in. You have to ask, “how are the voters looking at it?”
That spectrum of individual lockdown talent versus team contribution is the dilemma here. Perimeter defenders aren’t seen as rim protectors and therefore aren’t considered as much for the award, but just because someone isn’t at the rim doesn’t mean they aren’t contributing.
Point of attack defense can have just as much of an impact, it’s just not something that is easily countable. Again, how do you keep track of what didn’t happen?
It’s a difficult task, for any player, to do what Gobert does. And I can’t fault a voter for seeing the immense value in what he gives, but what about these other players that aren’t rim protectors?
Kawhi Leonard won the award some years ago, but is that because he was just that good on the perimeter and played enough in the frontcourt to have us blown away? That’s, kind of, what happened when Giannis Antetokounmpo won too.
Why does that earn more votes one year but not another? Perhaps, another one of those Miami Heat things?
Ok, to be fair, Bam Adebayo did miss 22 games or so with a thumb injury for his Miami Heat. However, that’s where it all comes back to the voter’s perspective.
You don’t want voters to be put in a box, you really don’t. But basketball is such an expressive sport and therefore, should have things left open to interpretation.
However, you also would have to say that some voters are putting themselves in that box by only picking Gobert. Ultimately, it leaves you conflicted because you want more definitive guidelines on the voting.
But—and a big “but”, you want there to be some artistry, different perspectives, and opinions. Because that matters too.