Boston Celtics veteran shooting guard Marcus Smart finished in a tie with Los Angeles Clippers guard Patrick Beverley for sixth place in the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award, joining fellow Clipper Kawhi Leonard as the only non-bigs in the top-10 vote-getters for the award.
Traditionally awarded by media vote to big men with Leonard the sole exception in the last decade and one of only two non-bigs to win the award in 20 years, it was an uphill battle for both defensive specialists — even with Smart’s proven ability to guard even burlier big men in short stints to great effect.
The duo each received seven votes; Beverley, oddly, granted a single first-place vote to Smart’s none.
NBA DPOY is the funniest NBA award vote every year, because while Giannis Antetokounmpo was a reasonable winner, you get some really hilarious votes.
Like Andre Drummond getting a 1st place vote, Hassan Whiteside getting a 2nd place vote, and Jarrett Allen getting a vote pic.twitter.com/K3Rh51O85y
— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) August 25, 2020
Ahead of them were the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, winning the award with 432 total points, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Anthony Davis a distant second with 200 votes, the Utah Jazz’ Rudy Gobert third with 187, Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers in fourth with 32 votes, and the Miami Heat’s Bam Adebayo fifth with 17 total votes.
Andre Drummond of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Leonard tied for seventh place with five total votes to finish behind Smart and Beverley, with the Bucks’ Brook Lopez (four), Portland Trail Blazers’ Hassan Whiteside (three) and Brooklyn Nets Jarrett Allen (one) also getting votes.
While the overwhelming tendency of the award to go to big men takes away from its significance in a league where the role of such players is rapidly shrinking, there’s at least one important thing to take away from Smart’s showing in the voting.
He knows he’s the most impactful defender in the NBA, whether he got the award or not.
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