Most people who bet on NBA games know that offense is the most important aspect of modern NBA play and that the adage “defense wins championships” is seldom true in the league.
However, the fact that this is the case makes it all the more spectacular when a defensive player takes home the title of Defensive Player of the Year. Betting who will win the award is quite different from betting on who will be named NBA Most Valuable Player or NBA Sixth Man of the Year. While putting a wager on this award recipient with a leading online basketball bookmaker, here are some important considerations to remember.
Betting Advice for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award
Big Guys Make for Wise Bets
The point guard may be dominating the NBA right now, but it won’t matter when it comes to who wins this award. In 1982, when the award for Defensive Player of the Year was first presented, five of the first six winners were shooting guards. These players were Sidney Moncrief (twice), Alvin Robertson, Michael Cooper, and Michael Jordan.
Yet, after Michael Jordan was the first guard to win the award in 1989, only one other guard in the following 30 winners was a guard. That guard was Gary Payton, who won in 1996. It’s possible that guards don’t win the award because they don’t rack up the counting numbers in boards or thefts, or it might be because they typically score more on the offensive end of the court. Either way, guards don’t win the award very often.
A good defense almost always demands a significant amount of length, which guards can’t give for the most part.
As a result, the fact that centrist candidates have garnered the majority of votes should not come as a surprise. From 1989 through 2014, power forwards and centers comprised 24 out of the 26 Defensive Player of the Year award winners. Payton in 1996, whose defiance of a lengthy pattern we demonstrated before, and Ron Artest in 2004 were the only two outliers throughout that era of time.
Think big if you still decide who to choose for Defensive Player of the Year. Even if the court is growing smaller and the game is getting quicker, there will always be a place for bigs who can defend. And most of the time, they end up taking the prize home with them.
They may not play as significant roles on offense, but they are still the foundation of strong defenses (we’ll talk more about that in a little), and they have the most significant influence on that end of the court.
There is an Incidence of Repeated Victory
While the honor is rather specialized – let’s face it, there aren’t a ton of exceptional defenders compared whole the offensive skill we see in the league who wins MVP, Most Improved Player, and Sixth Man of the Year – the same names seem to come up more frequently than not.
Also, it is common for them to be found in groups. The award was given to the same player for each of the first two seasons it was presented: guard Sidney Moncrief of the Bucks.
Between the years 1993 and 2016, a total of 24 people were honored with this award. Despite this, only 13 players could take home the trophy. During this time period, prizes were won several times by players like as Hakeem Olajuwon (twice), Dikembe Mutombo (four times), Ben Wallace (four times), Dwight Howard (three times), and Kawhi Leonard (two times). Take note that everyone, with the exception of Leonard, was a tall, muscular man.
Winners Use Best Defenses in Their Games
The concept of “team defense” is not made up. The most effective defenders don’t rely just on their abilities. They have an impact on the five-person group. Winners of the Defensive Player of the Year award often play on championship-caliber defensive units. This may seem like stating the obvious, but think about their team defense’s strength.
From 2003 to 2018, 15 of the 16 champions played for defenses that finished in the top five in their respective divisions in terms of overall effectiveness. The only time this didn’t happen was in 2007 when Marcus Camby led the league in defensive rebounds and averaged 9.3 on the defensive end. The defensive effectiveness ranking of the Nuggets was thirteenth overall.
Yet, the other 15 victorious teams had defensive ranks that averaged 2.9 on the scale.
Choose a defense that will be one of the finest in the league if you want to win the Defensive Player of the Year award. Keep in mind that the topic at hand is effective. The tempo of play is only sometimes considered when calculating points per game permitted.
We are looking at how many points a team allows their opponent to score for every 100 possessions they have. A defense that will enable issues to be scored against them might still be considered excellent if they play faster.
Watch out for all-stars
Each year, the All-NBA Defensive Teams are stacked with outstanding defenders who don’t get as much national exposure as they should. Some of them are two-way players, but more often than not, people put in so much effort on defense that they have less of an effect when they’re on offense.
Because of this, such players, of course, don’t make the All-Star team too often. After all, there are only twenty-four of them available every single year.
On the other hand, the very finest defenders are. If a player dominates his position throughout an entire half of the court for their league, they will certainly be selected for the All-Star team. Between 1988 and 2011, 21 of the 24 players named Defensive Player of the Year were also chosen for the All-Star team during the same season.
The three players that did not fit this pattern were Dennis Rodman, Ben Wallace, and Marcus Camby. Rodman was selected as an All-Star the previous season, while Wallace and Camby became All-Stars the following year. Camby was an anomaly for a number of different reasons.
