Lakers' Anthony Davis Absurdly Omitted From List Of Finalists For Major Award
This decision is really hard to defend.
One of the best defenders in basketball since he first stepped on an NBA court in 2012, All-Star Los Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis is without a doubt a top-three defender in the NBA.
His ability to protect the rim is more or less generational, and his uncanny quickness for his size makes him a top perimeter defender at his position. To that end, it's no surprise that he's a four-time All-Defensive Team member, and has led the league in blocks three times.
This year, despite playing a career-most 76 regular season games, AD was left off the Defensive Player of the Year Finalist list, an indefensible decision by the league/media.
The argument against Davis would be LA's poor team defense, but that argument also works in his favor. He was faced with a heavy burden, contrary to players like Bam Adebayo and Rudy Gobert, who play alongside multiple good-to-great defensive players. Davis plays alongside none.
Poor team defense is also the case for Victor Wembanyama, but nonetheless, he was a finalist. Optically, he was highly impressive (as were his counting stats), but Davis was amongst the league leaders in every stat listed above, strengthening his case.
Defense is tough to get a read on in the league due to the idea of a deterrent effect, which implies that players avoid driving at them and attempting shots over them, which is a hard statistic to measure. This makes counting stats (which favor Davis) even more valuable, but there's a strong case for all 3 finalists – Davis just has one too.
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