Howard wins DPOY

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bbwchingy0007

bbwchingy0007

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ESPN said:
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard is the NBA's defensive player of the year after becoming only the fifth player to lead the league in blocks and rebounds in the same season.

The announcement was made Tuesday.

Howard received 542 points, including 105 first-place votes from a panel of 119 writers and broadcasters. Cleveland's LeBron James was second with 148 points and Miami's Dwyane Wade finished third with 90 points.

The 23-year-old Howard is the youngest player to win the award. He led the Magic to 59 wins in the regular season, one shy of tying the best record in franchise history set in the 1995-96 season. Orlando trails the Philadelphia 76ers 1-0 in the first round of the playoffs.

Howard averaged 13.8 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game this season, his fifth in the league.

The only other players to be rebounding and blocks champions in the regular season were Bill Walton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon and Ben Wallace. Blocks were not kept as an official statistic until 1973.

"To be the defensive player of the year at 23 is remarkable," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "To be a great defensive player usually comes later in a career. And he still has so much room for improvement."

The award caps a remarkable year for Howard.

He won gold as the center of the U.S. men's team at the Beijing Olympics, passed Wilt Chamberlain as the youngest NBA player to reach the 5,000-rebound mark and became an All-Star for the third time.
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Source
 
So I guess this one really is all about stats now. The Camby thing wasn't a fluke.
 
speeds said:
So I guess this one really is all about stats now. The Camby thing wasn't a fluke.
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Yeah, I mean that's who I would have voted for. Stats aren't everything, but obviously he was a defensive monster this year. So who actually deserved to win it?
 
Well I guess I'm out of the loop with this award. To me being DOPY means you are locking down the other team's best player, or in his case the other team's best post player. Or at least leading the best defensive team in the NBA. Can either claim be made about Howard? Not IMHO.
 
Or at least leading the best defensive team in the NBA. Can either claim be made about Howard? Not IMHO.
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Defensive player of the year is not a team award, it is about individual accomplishments on the defensive end of the floor. Dwight dominated there, therefore he won.
 
speeds said:
Well I guess I'm out of the loop with this award. To me being DOPY means you are locking down the other team's best player, or in his case the other team's best post player. Or at least leading the best defensive team in the NBA. Can either claim be made about Howard? Not IMHO.
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So, doesn't that handicap big men a decent amount (the first condition of your requirements) given that they're not going to be guarding the Kobes and LeBrons of the league?
 
I can see Dwight getting the DPOY. LeBron as well I guess, but Dwyane Wade third? Wade gambles a lot and gets steals, but I don't see him being that great of a defender.
 
LameR said:
So, doesn't that handicap big men a decent amount (the first condition of your requirements) given that they're not going to be guarding the Kobes and LeBrons of the league?
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Well if you count Artest as a guard, only twice in the last twenty years has a guard won the award. So I don't think its a requirement for the award, just something I think should be in consideration. Clearly I have everything ass backwards because everyone seems to agree that Dwight deserved it.

Answer_AI03 said:
Defensive player of the year is not a team award, it is about individual accomplishments on the defensive end of the floor. Dwight dominated there, therefore he won.
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Dominated the box score, maybe. Just look at the last month of the season and see him getting outworked by the likes of Brook Lopez, Chris Bosh, Yao Ming, and Dave Lee.


Blocks are a dubious defensive stat. How many times a game does Dwight spike a ball into the fifth row instead of collecting it and getting a turnover for his team? Blocking a shot out of bounds just gives the ball back to the other team.

No doubt he is a great rebounder.
 
speeds said:
Well I guess I'm out of the loop with this award. To me being DOPY means you are locking down the other team's best player, or in his case the other team's best post player. Or at least leading the best defensive team in the NBA. Can either claim be made about Howard? Not IMHO.
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The Magic were #1 in the NBA in Defensive efficiency, giving up only 101.9 point per 100 possesions. Boston was #2 at 102.3...

As far as this award going more to bigmen, I think that's just the way it should be. They have much more of an impact on a teams overall defense, a great wing defender can make life difficult for 1 guy, but a great bigman can effect way more defensive possessions. Intimidating/swatting drivers, pick n roll defense, rebounding misses (every good defensive stand has to end with a defensive board), etc.
 
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Fall 2007, one of the NBA preview magazines picked Greg Oden to win DPOY in his rookie year! I was stoked. Then MF surgery and a lackluster season.
 
Jayps15 said:
The Magic were #1 in the NBA in Defensive efficiency, giving up only 101.9 point per 100 possesions. Boston was #2 at 102.3...

As far as this award going more to bigmen, I think that's just the way it should be. They have much more of an impact on a teams overall defense, a great wing defender can make life difficult for 1 guy, but a great bigman can effect way more defensive possessions. Intimidating/swatting drivers, pick n roll defense, rebounding misses (every good defensive stand has to end with a defensive board), etc.
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Yup.
 
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