Smoove gets 6th Place in DPOY vote

[Johnnybravo4]

http://www.nba.com/news/garnett_defensive_080422.html

He finally gets some recognition but it is kind of disappointing. I understand that Garnett plays on the best defensive team in the NBA, but this is not a team award it is an individual award. He basically won having the half the stats of every other player in the running. I understand that stats aren't everything but giving Garnett the DPOY award is like giving the MVP to a player who avg 16 ppg merely because he is the point guard of the highest scoring team. Oh they already did that...twice.

[exodus]

I look at it as a compliment. Just look at the guys he finished ahead of.

Kevin Garnett, Boston 90 12 7 493

Marcus Camby, Denver 12 32 22 178

Shane Battier, Boston 11 33 21 175

Bruce Bowen, San Antonio 7 7 24 80

Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers -- 10 10 40

Josh Smith, Atlanta 1 6 11 34

Chris Paul, New Orleans 1 4 7 24

Dwight Howard, Orlando 1 4 7 24

Tim Duncan, San Antonio -- 6 4 22

Tayshaun Prince, Detroit -- 3 4 13

Tyson Chandler, New Orleans 1 1 2 10

Rasheed Wallace, Detroit -- 3 -- 9

Richard Hamilton, Detroit -- 1 -- 3

Samuel Dalembert, Philadelphia -- 1 -- 3

Raja Bell, Phoenix -- 1 -- 3

Rajon Rondo, Boston -- -- -- 1

Chauncey Billups, Detroit -- -- 1 1

Kyle Lowry, Memphis -- -- 1 1

Ron Artest, Sacramento -- -- 1 1

Andrei Kirilenko, Utah

[Brotha2ThaNite]

Damn that is pretty good company to be in. HE BEAT OUT SOME GOOD PLAYERS!

[Hawk88]

Man,

I wonder why Zaza is not on the list?

or Salim

or Bibby

or Marvin

Man, our defense sucks.................

Hawk88

[capstone21]

Disappointing? Smith is not even that great a defensive player. I think where he finished is pronominal. He gets blocks and steals but he doesn't really guard his own man very well. He needs to study players like Bowen, Battier and Bell in the off season to get his man on man skills to improve.

[swolehawk2]

Yep, it is easy to be in the top 15 in blocks and steals while being a 6'9 forward on a bad defensive team.....he is just ordinary....I prolly could do that too.

[DChawk]

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Yep, it is easy to be in the top 15 in blocks and steals while being a 6'9 forward on a bad defensive team.....he is just ordinary....I prolly could do that too.

I think what he's trying to say is that if Smoove ever focuses on being a great man defender he will win several of these DPOY awards. He still relies too much on his athleticism and quickness - he baits people into making passes or shots by allowing them to think he's not close enough to effect them. Reminds me of Deangello Hall in a lot of ways.

[exodus]

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Disappointing? Smith is not even that great a defensive player. I think where he finished is pronominal. He gets blocks and steals but he doesn't really guard his own man very well. He needs to study players like Bowen, Battier and Bell in the off season to get his man on man skills to improve.

The Hawks gave up 7 ppg less when Smith is playing so he must be doing something right. Sure he could improve, especially denying early post position and boxing out.

But his real problems are on offense. The Hawks scored 3 ppg less when Smith was playing.

[Guest]

Kyle Lowry??? Rip Hamilton?? Wow, those names are completely random for this award.

I would probably have gone with Battier on this award, they always end up overrating rebounds and big men for DPOY.

[DeacKillsaDevil]

Great. Maybe this will motivate him to show up on Wed night.

[capstone21]

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Yep, it is easy to be in the top 15 in blocks and steals while being a 6'9 forward on a bad defensive team.....he is just ordinary....I prolly could do that too.

I think what he's trying to say is that if Smoove ever focuses on being a great man defender he will win several of these DPOY awards. He still relies too much on his athleticism and quickness - he baits people into making passes or shots by allowing them to think he's not close enough to effect them. Reminds me of Deangello Hall in a lot of ways.

Thank you. He has awesome timing and as a result he often lets his man go by him so that he can block his shot. He gambles on steals and it hurts just as much as helps. I think once he learns to stop gambling so much and instead stay in front of his man he will become worthy of the award. Right now I don't even think he is the best defender on the team. I think Horford is a much better defender.

When he learns to be a man on man defender and is able to tie that together with what he can do with his quickness, timing and athleticism...look out.

[Johnnybravo4]

Horford can't stay out of foul trouble.

[AtLaS]

Garnett definitely deserved this award.

Many of you here think that Smith isn't a great defender, and are correct, he isn't GREAT, but he's still a good overall defender. The thing is, we get to see Smith play EVERY game of the season, so we see every defensive mistake he makes. If you saw Battier/Camby/Kobe/Duncan/Ben Wallace/Sheed you'd see that they also get beat a ton. It's just a matter of the NBA being so good it's impossible to not have defensive let downs.

[Joker]

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Yep, it is easy to be in the top 15 in blocks and steals while being a 6'9 forward on a bad defensive team.....he is just ordinary....I prolly could do that too.

I think what he's trying to say is that if Smoove ever focuses on being a great man defender he will win several of these DPOY awards. He still relies too much on his athleticism and quickness - he baits people into making passes or shots by allowing them to think he's not close enough to effect them. Reminds me of Deangello Hall in a lot of ways.

Thank you. He has awesome timing and as a result he often lets his man go by him so that he can block his shot. He gambles on steals and it hurts just as much as helps. I think once he learns to stop gambling so much and instead stay in front of his man he will become worthy of the award. Right now I don't even think he is the best defender on the team. I think Horford is a much better defender.

When he learns to be a man on man defender and is able to tie that together with what he can do with his quickness, timing and athleticism...look out.

When, that's like saying when Kwame Brown get aggressive... easier said then done.

[AHF]

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Garnett definitely deserved this award.

Many of you here think that Smith isn't a great defender, and are correct, he isn't GREAT, but he's still a good overall defender. The thing is, we get to see Smith play EVERY game of the season, so we see every defensive mistake he makes. If you saw Battier/Camby/Kobe/Duncan/Ben Wallace/Sheed you'd see that they also get beat a ton. It's just a matter of the NBA being so good it's impossible to not have defensive let downs.

Very true. Josh Smith has real work still to come on his man defense but his overall defensive impact is very big - 7 ppg per Ex's stats. I am very happy to see him getting recognition this year.

[Diesel]

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Kyle Lowry??? Rip Hamilton?? Wow, those names are completely random for this award.

I would probably have gone with Battier on this award, they always end up overrating rebounds and big men for DPOY.

I think Bruce Bowen gets votes because of name recognition. Him and Camby. Have you watched them this year. Kobe takes Bowen to the school house everytime they play. IN fact, the more I watch Bowen, the more he looks like a thug. A smaller Kurt Thomas.

And Camby... IS anybody watching Camby this year? Sure he blocks shots, but can he stop anybody?? Did Pau Gasol go for a career high in a playoff game with Camby hanging on his socks?

[Atlantaholic]

I think he's right around where he deserved to be in the voting.

[Plainview1981]

Ron Artest is a better defensive player. I don't see why people are complaining. Josh is not really a good defensive player at all. He plays for stats.

[exodus]

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Ron Artest is a better defensive player. I don't see why people are complaining. Josh is not really a good defensive player at all. He plays for stats.

The list is certainly subjective. It would be hard for me to argue that Smith is a better defender than Duncan or Artest.

While I don't believe that Smith is a great defender i can't see why someone wouldn't say he is a good defender. He definitely prevents a lot of easy buckets and sometimes just the threat of a block throws other players off. I have seen him just stay down and not go for a block at all but the threat of his shotblocking will cause the opposing player to miss an easy shot.

The Hawks give up 7 ppg less when he is playing which is by far the best mark on the team.

[Plainview1981]

All Josh does is try to block shots. Honestly, he should be getting about 4BPG for as many as he goes after. He is man on man defense is almost as bad as it can get.