Smart Named to NBA All-Defensive First Team

[Donoghus]

Way to go Marcus!  Well earned.

First & Second Teams

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
2019-2020 NBA All-Defensive teams:

First team: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis, Rudy Gobert, Marcus Smart, Ben Simmons

Second team: Bam Adebayo, Patrick Beverley, Eric Bledsoe, Kawhi Leonard, Brook Lopez

[liam]

Way to go Marcus!  Well earned.

First & Second Teams

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
2019-2020 NBA All-Defensive teams:

First team: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis, Rudy Gobert, Marcus Smart, Ben Simmons

Second team: Bam Adebayo, Patrick Beverley, Eric Bledsoe, Kawhi Leonard, Brook Lopez

Cool for Smart. He deserves it. Jaylen should've been on there too.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Way to go, Mahcus!!! You deserve it.

[jambr380]

Good for Marcus - he earned it!! I was a little worried when we saw the DPOTY results and Beverley had the tie-breaker on him with 1 first place vote.

Maybe it's just because I hate him, but DREW Bledsoe making 2nd team is a little annoying - guess they wanted to reward as many Bucks players as possible.

[gouki88]

Congrats Smart!

If RoCov had played all year at Houston no way does Lopez make it.

[Roy H.]

In 20 years, some kid will draft Brook Lopez in the CelticsBlog Draft and will argue that he was a dominant two-way player.

[Ogaju]

Marcus Smart needs to be paid more money....

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

In 20 years, some kid will draft Brook Lopez in the CelticsBlog Draft and will argue that he was a dominant two-way player.

Yeah, I don't understand Lopez making the team. Maybe he's improved recently, but during his time in Brooklyn I always saw him as a subpar defender.

[Somebody]

In 20 years, some kid will draft Brook Lopez in the CelticsBlog Draft and will argue that he was a dominant two-way player.

Yeah, I don't understand Lopez making the team. Maybe he's improved recently, but during his time in Brooklyn I always saw him as a subpar defender.

He's been very strong defensively in Milwaukee - his rim protection has become elite. Ignoring the contempt and prejudice shown towards analytics in that comment, I don't think it'll happen - fans will likely get better and better at analysing players from now on thanks to the analytics movement. Is Lopez an ATG defender? No, but this is a guy who can have very strong defensive impact in the right role (eg. rim protector in a drop scheme) when a young Celticsstrong Draft participant is looking for a backup defensive anchor in 20 years' time with a late pick.

[Roy H.]

In 20 years, some kid will draft Brook Lopez in the CelticsBlog Draft and will argue that he was a dominant two-way player.

Yeah, I don't understand Lopez making the team. Maybe he's improved recently, but during his time in Brooklyn I always saw him as a subpar defender.

He's been very strong defensively in Milwaukee - his rim protection has become elite. Ignoring the contempt and prejudice shown towards analytics in that comment, I don't think it'll happen - fans will likely get better and better at analysing players from now on thanks to the analytics movement. Is Lopez an ATG defender? No, but this is a guy who can have very strong defensive impact in the right role (eg. rim protector in a drop scheme) when a young Celticsstrong Draft participant is looking for a defensive anchor in 20 years' time with a late pick.

I hope that draft participant is selecting the DPOY alongside him.

[Somebody]

In 20 years, some kid will draft Brook Lopez in the CelticsBlog Draft and will argue that he was a dominant two-way player.

Yeah, I don't understand Lopez making the team. Maybe he's improved recently, but during his time in Brooklyn I always saw him as a subpar defender.

He's been very strong defensively in Milwaukee - his rim protection has become elite. Ignoring the contempt and prejudice shown towards analytics in that comment, I don't think it'll happen - fans will likely get better and better at analysing players from now on thanks to the analytics movement. Is Lopez an ATG defender? No, but this is a guy who can have very strong defensive impact in the right role (eg. rim protector in a drop scheme) when a young Celticsstrong Draft participant is looking for a defensive anchor in 20 years' time with a late pick.

I hope that draft participant is selecting the DPOY alongside him.

Doesn't have to unless he aims to build an All-Time level defence off the bench

[tarheelsxxiii]

Well deserved.  No one else more impactful than him at closing time right now.

[ozgod]

About time!! Well done Smartacus, and well deserved!

[trickybilly]

Should be DPOY.

The anti-guard bias in the league is ridiculous. The bias should be _against_ bigs...

[Greenality]

I'm happy for Marcus, he deserved it 100%, but somehow he's still hugely underappreciated in this voting. I mean, 40+ voters didn't put him in the 1st team, like what???
And if you go through the results... Somebody did put Doncic, Harden, Drummond in the first squad, Westbrook and Lillard (who I like, but still, come on...) in the second. Lebron had a 1st team nod; and though he was actually defending on a pretty high level this RS, he still is no match to Giannis and Davis obviously. I also don't understand this media obsession with Simmons, who got more points than Smart. I get that he is really good on D, but if you look through his stats, you could make a strong argument him being overrated a bit. I would say he is a great match-up against certain guys (Tatum as one of them), he has a cute sleals/deflections argument, but the hype he gets is overblown IMO. I mean, just compare his advanced stats to, lets say, Tatum. And I know, that Ben is "competing" in the guards subdivision, while Jayson is a forward. So it's not about this particular voting in this case, but more about the general perception, as Simmons is viewed as a defensive standout and Tatum as a guy who "has progressed as a defensive player", kind of a different tone.
So, these are the stats:
Simmons: opp fg% = 46.3, opp 3p% = 36.5, def rtg = 107.3 (Harris is 107.2, Al - 106.8, Josh Richardson - 106), def ws = 0.122 (Embiid - 0.150), opp +/- per 100 possessions = -1.5.
Tatum: opp fg% = 43.8, opp 3p% = 34, def rtg = 103.5 (best in Celtics among our main core), def ws = 0.156 (clear leader in C's, 5th in the league, if you don't count Winslow, who barely played), opp +/- per 100 possessions = -10.5.
I don't say Ben is trash or something and Celtics were generally better than 76s this year, so some of this numbers are a reflection of the team performance. Also, I would actually put Simmons on the 1st def team myself (maybe Beverley), but it's sometimes amazing the way certain players are overhyped in some regard and others undervalued.

I started this with comparing Ben to Smart and defending a point, that Smart should be known as the best defensive guard in the league, while polls show otherwise. But yeah, Marcus' numbers are better also)