Draymond Green leads All-Defensive team, Isaiah Thomas snags second-team vote
The NBA announced first and second team honors for its All-Defensive squads, highlighted by Draymond Green, Rudy Gobert and Kawhi Leonard. The three leading vote-getters are also the three finalists for the 2016-17 Defensive Player of the Year award, which will be announced Monday night.
Green, Gobert and Leonard tallied 198, 196 and 192 points, respectively, far ahead of Chris Paul (140 points) and Patrick Beverly (110 points), the other first-team honorees.
Green, who is making the first team for the third year in a row, led the league in steals with just over two per game last year. He became the first player in Golden State Warriors history to record at least 150 steals and 100 blocked shots in a year. He has never won a Defensive Player of the Year award, but is the favorite for 2016-17. Gobert's selection to the team was his first, while Leonard was honored for the third straight year.
Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas, who was ranked second to last out of 411 players by ESPN's Defensive Real Plus-Minus statistic, earned a vote for the second team. The Celtics were nine points better defensively during the regular season last year when Thomas sat out.
Meanwhile, it looks like Washington Wizards point guard John Wall isn't too happy about the results.
All-Defensive second team selections:
Tony Allen, Memphis Grizzlies (80 points)
Danny Green, San Antonio Spurs (68 points)
Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans (58 points)
Andre Roberson, Oklahoma City Thunder (53 points)
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks (35 points)
