Individual defense is always hard to measure, whether via metrics or qualitative evaluation. Aside from rim-protection stats, numbers measuring individual defensive contributions can be a little rough. Additionally, with the complexity of modern defenses and length of the schedule, it is too much to ask of anyone to have watched enough of the candidates in sufficient detail to have more than a general idea of a player’s consistency of execution or his level of responsibility for his team’s level of defensive success. On top of these “every year” problems, this season has thrown up a few more wrinkles.