NBA All Defensive Team voters = HUGE joke

by UofTOrange on May 12, 2008 2:31 PM CDT

NBA head coaches, you guys are not too intelligent. Shane Battier absolutely owns Bruce Bowen on the defensive end. Yes, Bowen gets more head lines, mostly because he is a dirty bastard of a defender, but Shane does every single thing on the defensive end better. I feel like a Spurs hater today even though I truly respect what they've done, but Tim Duncan is only an 11 time All NBA first team defensive player because power forwards suck at defense apparently. That's not to say Duncan isn't a really good defender, he's just not a great one. Throw the 11 in a row at me all you want, the stats and my eyes say he is really good, but not great.

Shane Battier was the best defender on the league's third best defensive team. He was also the only truly good defender on the entire team. Let that sink in, Shane carried a team, sometimes by himself, on the defensive end to the third best statistical team on defense. How exactly was he 1. Not the defensive player of the year or 2. Even on the list of first teamers? He constantly guarded the other teams best player and just about always held them down in some easily understood way. Shane out-averaged Bowen in rebounds (5.1 -2.9), steals(1.0-.7) and blocks(1.1-.3). He did lose out to Bowen on a-hole plays (1, the Durant trip, to Infinity, also known as every thing Bowen does).

The most ridiculous part? Shane wasn't even a unanimous second team pick. In fact, 9 coaches (Adelman wasn't allowed to vote for him) didn't put him in the top 2. That's just pathetic and tells me that coaches have no business doing anything but coaching. Chris Paul, who I would trade your first born child for, was only 3 points behind Shane. Chris Paul, while great at playing the passing lane, is simply not a good defender. Even the Hornets fans can admit to this. Yet there Shane is, sitting barely in front of him.

I'm so upset at this. I thought it was just an anomaly that would get corrected this year. And while I'm sure Shane doesn't care, I do. Shane, maybe it's time to be an a-hole on the court, it makes people think you are a better defender than you actually are. You went to Duke, I thought they taught y'all that stuff there?

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The all defensive team is almost as worthless as the gold glove award. I can't remember who it was, but an opposing manager was interviewed before an Astros game and asked what else Adam Everett had to do to win a gold glove. His response "hit a little better".

Battier not being recognized for his defense is just as bad.

by Papabear on May 12, 2008 4:08 PM CDT reply actions

Like many of the awards, it seems to be based solely on hype. Battier doesn't get much hype.

Horrible decision.

by Sujal on May 12, 2008 7:15 PM CDT reply actions

I think the perception around the league is that the rockets are a great defensive TEAM comprised of players who do not play great INDIVIDUAL defense.
I agree with that sentiment to a degree. In my opinion, our only Achilles heel defensively, is whenever teams isolate against anyone not named Shane Battier. I was ok with him not winning defensive player of the year. However, I was not ok with him getting third and I am not ok with him being on the second team.

by Amaar on May 12, 2008 8:35 PM CDT reply actions

I could not agree more, Battier got screwed. After watching Shane play outstanding defense on the Jazz for 6 games strait I am sold on this guys abillity to defend. He can cover at least 3 possitions very well (SG, SF, PF) and could probably do as good a job on the other two as anyone else in the league.

by Hammy on May 13, 2008 10:51 AM CDT reply actions

You'd think that coaches would be able to exercise better judgment than journalists, but apparently not.

I was going to argue that Shane would have a hard time knocking Bowen out of the forward spot, then I saw that Bowen was listed as a "guard". Which makes the whole thing even more stupid.

I've stopped caring about individual honours for a while now precisely because of nonsense like this. At this point I'll be ecstatic with just making it out of the second round.

Incidentally, who would you pick for center? I'm hard-pressed to come up with one. I want to say Dwight Howard but I haven't seen enough of him to know if he's good at one-on-one defence as opposed to just blocking shots.

by Jeffrey Hardy Quah on May 13, 2008 8:18 PM CDT reply actions

I'm not a Rockets fan nor a Spurs hater but Shane should have made the All Defensive Team over Bowen. The Lakers are my favorite team and Shane does an excellent job on Kobe.

by Ace on May 18, 2008 1:29 AM CDT reply actions