The Week that Was:
Nothing special. Four home wins over teams with things to play for and likely locking up home-court throughout the playoffs.
-== Top 11 Steph Curry Moments Of His Career ==-
The Soapbox: Defensive Player of the Year
Defensive Player of the Year can be hard to figure out in the NBA. While we are learning more and more about what constitutes good defense, the award itself still poses problems since a top defender can take many forms.
In my eyes, the two archetypes can be explained in how I like to handle the MVP discussion: Most Valuable Defender and Most Outstanding Defender. Strangely enough, the Warriors may have both this season.
To me, the Most Outstanding Defender for the 2014-15 NBA season is Andrew Bogut. According to Rim Protection stats from Nylon Calculus, Bogut has saved the second most points at the rim per minute of any player in the league and does so as a part of the NBA’s best defense. In fact, there is a significant gap between Bogut and Roy Hibbert who sits in third at the moment. One other note: the man leading the league in Points Saved / 36 could and should have been a Warrior too- Utah’s Rudy Gobert
While I do not love on and off court metrics for reasons I can explain at a later time, they do tell quite the story here. When Andrew Bogut plays, opponents score a measly 94.4 points per 100 possessions. That number jumps more than five points when he sits to a still great but not nearly as eye popping 99.7 points per 100 possessions.
On top of all that, Bogut plays the most important defensive position. In today’s NBA, the Center has to erase the mistakes of the rest of the team. The Aussie has done so insanely well and provides a latitude to the rest of the team that helps immensely.
Despite all of that, I would give a Most Valuable Defender award to Draymond Green. The Dancing Bear does not bring Bogut’s impact per minute but gets pretty close because his defensive versatility allows Golden State’s defense to ratchet up a few notches. Draymond can legitimately defend three positions at a high level and do a shockingly good job on the other two as well. Furthermore, he has played about 1,000 more minutes than Bogut so Green gets the nod on a value side.
Which way would I go on the award? In my eyes, Defensive Player of the Year should skew more heavily towards Most Outstanding than Most Valuable because the goal is to reward the best defender. That would send me Andrew Bogut’s way though Draymond Green and more than a few others have completely legitimate cases.
The Week to Come:
The start of the second to last road trip of the season, which follows an extremely strange trajectory. The Warriors start the week in Portland to complete their back-to-back then head to Memphis and all the way up to Milwaukee to complete another back-to-back. Fortunately they can use these games as an opportunity to try out different looks and make sure the key players are ready for mid-April.
Due to players resting, I will not be predicting wins and losses for the rest of the regular season.
Agree that Bogut has been valuable as the last line of defense, and the shutdown cog if a team mate loses his man, but Green has been the main difference between last years good defense, and this years great defense. Once Kerr replaced David Lee’s no help defensive game with Greens intense play, the team has excelled, and as you said, Green can defend multiple positions.