We all know at this point that Grizzlies center Marc Gasol is this season’s Defensive Player of the Year, but how many were unsatisfied by the results?
Players will always be unhappy when their best defensive player doesn’t get the award, and some will go on record about it. Manu Ginobili openly wondered how Tim Duncan didn’t win, and Dwight Howard thought the results were funny.
In fact, Howard thought if not him, the award should have gone to Oklahoma City Thunder’s Serge Ibaka, who led the league with three blocked shots per game, from ESPN:
“I think Serge Ibaka with all the stuff he did this year, I think he should have been the guy to win it this year and last year, for the stuff he’s done on the defensive end,” Howard said. “I thought he was the clear-cut winner, but people saw it other ways.
“He led the league in blocks. That’s what defense is all about. I think their team was No. 1 in blocks this year. You can’t play defense without having any shot blockers. He was the No. 1 shot blocker the last two years. I think that’s great defense right there.”
That’s quite the intriguing reaction from Howard, who knows a thing or two about winning the DPOY award. The praise he has for Ibaka alone is surprising, and his unwillingness to acknowledge Gasol’s impact on the defensive end shows that he is a firm believer that shot-blocking plays a major part of receiving the award. That would certainly explain why he felt he deserved it over Tyson Chandler last season.
So how did Ibaka feel about the results? Here is his reaction:
That’s about as classy as it gets.
You do have to wonder, though, if the reaction would have been different – or if there would have been a reaction at all – if it weren’t for the fact that Gasol happens to be his Olympics teammate for the Spain national basketball team.