Philadelphia 76ers

Nerlens Noel receives a First-Team All-NBA vote

Published May. 21, 2015 7:11 p.m. ET

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Nerlens Noel had a fantastic first pro season, finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting behind Andrew Wiggins and Nikola Mirotic. Now, he's getting further acknowledgement of his strong play.

The NBA announced its All-Defense teams Wednesday, and though Noel didn't actually make one of the two rosters, he did receive votes: five, actually.

Fred McLeod of FOX Sports Ohio gave him a first-place vote.

Still, the rookie being left off both the teams has been met with some backlash, namely from Ray Boyd of CBS Philadelphia:

Noel averaged 9.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 1.8 steals per game during his first NBA season.

Photo Credit: JAP Photo/Darren Hauck

The players that did make the teams are as follows: First Team: Kawhi Leonard, Draymond Green, Tony Allen, DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul Second Team: Anthony Davis, Jimmy Butler, Andrew Bogut, John Wall and Tim Duncan.

All of those players had significant defensive impacts on their teams, but Noel had just as much if not more of an impact as every name on that list.

Noel was 10th in the NBA in steals per game. As a big man, the only steals you typically get are on deflected passes into the paint that you manage to break up. Noel has some of those, but also managed to pick the pockets of players much smaller than him out on the perimeter and ignite the break.

Very few centers have the quickness and athleticism to steal a ball from a point guard. Noel does that regularly. Look at the names on that list ahead of Noel. The overwhelming majority are guards and wing players. Noel was also top seven in the NBA in blocks per game at 1.9. He actually finished ahead of Bogut in that category and just a notch below Duncan who averaged a solid 2.0.