Defensive Joke of the Year

It's the end of the regular season, so it's time for break room and message board debate to hit full steam. With all the postseason awards the league hands out every year, it's difficult not to find something (or someone) around which an entire afternoon can be spent exploring the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of the minds of the voters. Which is funny, because most of the time they seem not to have minds of their own at all - the sports media, I mean.

Take, for example, Scoop Jackson of SLAM! Magazine and espn.com's Page 2. He's so busy looking for reasons that Steve Nash shouldn't be the league's MVP to talk about the things that matter, such as his MVP credentials. A more balanced and honest approach is taken by his colleague, Jamele Hill. It's not that I'm a homer that I like her take better. It's just that she mentions some extremely valid points at the end, most notably that "Nash's defense is a step above atrocious, a trait no other MVP had." But if you're going to use that, then you may as well use it to knock down Nash's only competition. Dirk's size shouldn't be confused with defensive capability.

The great thing about the MVP award, though, is that people tend not to focus on the negative. Even when Nash was winning his first two Podoloff trophies, the rumblings of his supposedly nonexistent defense remained just that - under-the-breath, barely within earshot mumbles. It had never really come up before, and probably shouldn't this year, considering the competition. Besides, there is a whole other award given for the defensive players.

Just as the MVP has gone away from defense as a major criterion, the Defensive Player of the Year award seems to have undertaken the notion that offensive talent need not apply. Alonzo Mourning was the last player to score at least 20 points per game the season he won the award.

But if that trend continues, the award itself may lose its meaning entirely. I'm talking about the mindset of voters that the DPoY should somehow be a consolation prize for the offensively inept. Over the past few years, due to Ben Wallace's unprecedented run of four DPoYs in five years, talk of Bruce Bowen deserving the award has gotten louder and louder. Today, it became ear-shattering when Sports Illustrated's trio of postseason award voters, Jack McCallum, Ian Thomsen, and Marty Burns shared their thoughts with readers. My first thought was, and pardon my Francois...

Are you fucking kidding me?*

It surprised me in ways that I can't describe that Shawn Marion only showed up on ONE of the three ballots - second place, no less. To be fair to Jack McCallum, he listed Tim Duncan and Marcus Camby as his top two picks. Even I can't argue against those choices, as they are both defensive machines with superhuman game altering abilities, especially since Duncan has been inexplicably eliminated from the MVP conversation by the media. Besides, the Defensive Player of the Year has traditionally been a big man, and for good reason. But it's McCallum's third choice, and Thomsen and Burns' first choice that really kills me.

Bruce Bowen? Over Shawn Marion? Again...

Are you fucking KIDDING me?!

In all honesty, a few years ago I would have agreed with them. Bowen's tenacity is infamous in current NBA lore, and his ability to get under the skin (and jerseys) of opposing players is almost legendary. To add insult to injury, Burns goes so far as to suggest that Shawn Marion isn't the "defensive stopper" that Bowen is.

Don't get me wrong. I have a lot of respect, albeit begrudgingly, for Bowen's defense. His ability to superglue himself to his cover is frustrating for a fan to watch, so I can imagine how tough it is for the perimeter player himself to cope. But if you're going to stick Bowen in that category, why not insert Raja Bell right behind him? Or, better yet, in front of him? Bell is, after all one of the few defenders that has even earned the respect of one Kobe Bryant.

And really, what's the difference? The stories of their individual treks to the NBA are the same. They were both undrafted free agents who used defense to earn a regular gig in the league. The only thing is that Raja wasn't satisfied with simply having a job. He wanted to improve himself and his game. Now Bell is one of the most feared three point shooters in the league. Not only that, he's become a better than average ball handler, taking over the passing duties in Nash's absence this year.

Apparently it's a lack of offensive game that is motivating these writers and pundits to hand the award to someone whose sole purpose is to nag offensive talents. But Bowen over Marion? Have these people not bothered to look at a stat sheet in the last decade? You remember statistics - those neat little numbers that encapsulate a player's game in a tangible way that make simple decisions like this that much easier.

Shawn Marion is one of two players in the NBA (along with Ben Wallace) to occupy the top 20 in rebounds, blocked shots, and steals per game. Don't believe me? Look here, here, and here.

Apparently, 10 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1.5 blocked shots isn't the combination of stats that the voters are looking for anymore. According to Marty Burns, it's that "Bowen's ability to defend the opposition's top perimeter threat every night is critical to the Spurs' outstanding defense." Where do Bowen's .7 blocks and .8 steals per game figure into his reasoning? He also fails to mention Shawn Marion's ability to guard the opposition's best PLAYER, regardless of position. This from a 6'7" 225 pound small forward who is consistently playing out of position.

Let's go ahead and take Marty's route of intangibles and see where we end up. First of all, let's take a look at those perimeter threats that Bowen is likely to face in the playoffs. (Yes, I know that it's a regular season award, but who better to use for comparison than the guys that really matter.)

Will Bowen be assigned to lock down Allen Iverson and his 40.2% postseason scoring average, or will it be Carmelo Anthony's 36.2%? Is he going to put a halt to Steve Nash's penetration and precision, or Leandro Barbosa's interstellar first step? If the Spurs make it past Phoenix, will he be stopping Jason Terry, Josh Howard, AND Jerry Stackhouse? Granted, that's a pretty lofty list of players to deal with, and only a great defender would have a chance of slowing any one of them down.

But there are some glaring omissions from that list - namely Amare Stoudemire and Dirk Nowitzki. Yes, I know that Bruce Bowen had success against Dirk in the past. But how has he handled a big Auslander with a better passing game and back-to-the-basket array of fall aways? And what coach in his right mind wants to endanger the health and well-being of the "best perimeter defender in the game" by sticking him in front of that run away freight train we in Phoenix call Black Jesus?

Shawn Marion, on the other hand, has proved himself more than capable of defending every player on that list, as well as Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan. Shawn doesn't care who he's defending, as long as it's the other team's best player. He lives for it, and his offensive game thrives on it.

More importantly, Bruce Bowen plays on a team whose coach's philosophy is "play defense or go to the WNBA". His defensive presence is center stage because that's the system. Marion, on the other hand, plays on a team where defense is an after thought. In fact, without Shawn Marion, the Suns wouldn't have a defense at all! (My apologies to Bell and Kurt Thomas, but every defensive possession begins and ends with Shawn's ability to guard any player on the floor at any given time, including after switches.) Why punish a great defender for playing on the best offensive team in the league? If not for Marion's defense, the Suns would not be the title contender they are today.

When the Suns beat the Mavericks IN Dallas in the double-overtime-best-game-of-the-regular-season-instant-classic on March 14, who was the player who prevented Nowitzki from getting within arm's reach of the lane, forcing Dirk to settle for fade away after fade away? Who was it that forced Jason Terry into a crucial turnover in the second overtime with the Suns leading by 4? Who was keeping Phoenix in the game against San Antonio on April 5, to the point the Suns were leading 37-36 AT THE HALF?

That's right. It was Shawn Marion.

And when he went out with a dubious foul in the third quarter of that Spurs game, San Antonio built its biggest lead, going up by 12. And when Marion came back into the game for the fourth quarter, the Suns made their final push that, had it not been for a Steve Nash pass that Amare Stoudemire couldn't hang onto, almost stole the game for Phoenix. And it was a HUGE block on Tim Duncan in that fourth quarter that highlighted exactly why Shawn Marion is and should be voted as the NBA's Defensive Player of the year.

You want stats? You got 'em. You want intangibles? You got those, too. So the question is, what else does Shawn Marion have to do? He has nothing left to prove except that he's a champion, and it's going to take seven more guys on his team to get that. Without Marion's defense, those seven guys don't have a prayer.

And here we have respected national sports journalists illustrating Marion's number one complaint of his career. You wonder why he feels under-appreciated? It's easy. You give awards that he's more than earned to guys less deserving.

*Author's note: I try to stay away from profanity when I write, but in this instance, the circumstances are just so ridiculous that I can't think of any other way to put my disbelief. My apologies for any offense.