A pretty good showing for the young Rockets star.
On April 20, the NBA announced its finalists for the Defensive Player of the Year Award. Three finalists were Dyson Daniels from the Atlanta Hawks, Draymond Green from the Golden State Warriors, and Evan Mobley from the Cleavland Cavaliers. Yep, that is right. Amen Thompson was not a finalist. Four days later, it was revealed that Evan Mobley won the DPOY with 285 total points from votes. (35 first place, 30 second place, and 20 third place votes.) When it comes to DPOY voting, first-place votes are worth five points, second-place votes are worth three points, and third-place votes are worth one point.
It was a pretty good showing for Houston’s young and versatile budding star.
What did the media think?
The Athletic’s John Hollinger emphasized Thompson’s exceptional defensive adaptability by highlighting his capacity to serve as a second rim protector in addition to defending perimeter players.
Numerous outlets highlighted Thompson’s importance on the Rockets’ top-five defense by praising his remarkable athleticism and defensive recovery skills. Despite having several capable defenders on the Rockets’ squad, some experts claimed that Thompson’s defensive influence was evident.
Do the numbers back up the eye test?-
In addition to the positive reception from the media, Amen Thompson had the fourth-best defensive rating at 108.1. This puts him behind only Jalen Williams, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Ivica Zubac. Additionally, this means Amen was ahead of players such as Evan Mobley and Jaret Allen.
In terms of defensive stats, Amen finished first in rim defense among non-big men and first in defensive field goal percentage (DFG%) among players with at least 250 defensive field goal attempts. In addition, he scores strongly in defensive statistics such as ISO defense, defensive three-point percentage, rim defense, and P&R defense. Among players who have attempted at least 250 defensive field goals, Thompson has the highest DFG percentage in the league. In addition, he leads non-big men in rim defense, which is known as pick-and-roll (P&R), and among players with at least 140 P&R possessions, Thompson is ranked third in P&R defense. Among players with at least 100 defensive three-point attempts, he ranks sixth in terms of D3PT%. Finally, Thompson is ranked ninth among players with at least 20 ISO possessions in isolation (ISO) defense.
So why didn’t Amen win? –
Honestly, I think it comes down to the fact that Amen only started 42 of the 82 games. This is not Amen’s fault, as he can’t control whether he starts or not, but when all the finalists were starters, it is a bit hard to make the case for him. Additionally, these days all the NBA awards are highly media-driven, and due to Amen not starting few members of the national media were talking about him early on in the season.
While Thompson didn’t win the DPOY, his strong defensive performance and versatility were widely recognized. Many considered him a leading contender and definitely should have been a finalist. It will be interesting to see if Amen becomes a member of an All-Defensive team this season.