New Orleans Pelicans

Williams believes Davis deserved Defensive Player of the Year award

Published May. 1, 2015 2:02 a.m. ET

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Despite compiling some of the most insane defensive plays you'll ever see on a basketball court all year long, Anthony Davis did not win the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award. He did not come in second, either. Or third.

That's right. Davis fell all the way to fourth, gathering only 11 first-place votes. This is a big problem for Pelicans head coach Monty Williams, as relayed by The Times-Picayune's John Reid:

"He has an affect on the game that is so different from other players that you've seen in the past. That's why I was so frustrated when he didn't get defensive player of the year because how many guys can block eight or nine shots a game, block 3-pointers and dunks. And he's the same guy that will beat everybody down the floor, dunk the ball or knock down a jump shot off a dribble. He's a unique, different player.''

Davis is indeed a special basketball player, but the voters probably got this correct, giving it to Spurs patrolman Kawhi Leonard instead. The Pelicans forward can do things nobody else can, but he's also 22 years old, still adjusting to the complex nature of NBA team defense, still making routine mistakes that shouldn't happen.

That said, 10 years from now it shouldn't surprise anybody if Davis has five or six of those things sitting on his mantle.

(h/t: The Times-Picayune)

Photo Credit: Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports