How did Tim Duncan not get a single Defensive Player of the Year vote?
For most of this season, the San Antonio Spurs had a historically great defense. They suffocated their opponents by living in passing lanes, protecting the rim and anticipating sets before they took place.
Kawhi Leonard, who was named Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season on Monday, was a huge reason why. But the team's second-best defender was Tim Duncan, a basketball monolith who lifted an already-brilliant team to new heights when he played.
Despite this, Duncan received zero votes for Defensive Player of the Year, while guys like Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond and Trevor Ariza were credited with their subpar play.
Duncan shouldn't win the award, but it's still outrageous that his name didn't appear on a single ballot.
Full voting from NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Draymond (44) and Whiteside (2) also received first-place votes. pic.twitter.com/XJuM7z4kbZ
— Matt Dollinger (@matt_dollinger) April 18, 2016
The case against him is obvious but trite. The 39-year-old (who turns 40 next week) only played 1536 minutes this season, and the Spurs notably triumphed over the Golden State Warriors in a game Duncan didn't start then only played eight minutes.
So what? He's still really good! San Antonio's defensive rating was a team-best 93.8 when Duncan was on the floor this year. That dropped to 98.4 when he sat—an on/off differential that was slightly larger than Leonard's.
He finished first (!) in Defensive Real Plus-Minus, a statistic that measures a player's on-court impact after taking into account several variables, like teammates and opposing players. Duncan also ranked first in Defensive Box Plus-Minus and placed second in Defensive Rating.
He finished eighth for the award a season ago, with one first-place vote after being named to the All-Defensive second team. To think he fell off that far, despite all San Antonio's 67-win success, is hard to justify, even though he played 670 fewer minutes. He's still a smarter, more effective defensive presence than Davis and Drummond in the time he's out their mucking things up, shouting out coverages and anchoring an all-time unit.
Opponents shot 47 percent at the rim against the Spurs when Duncan guarded it. Hassan Whiteside held opponents to 46.9 percent. Drummond, 52.6 percent. Duncan also held opponents to 0.70 points per possession in post-up situations, which ranked in the 84th percentile.
He isn't as dominant as he once was, but it's still sad to see an all-time legend get robbed of some deserved recognition.
