Giannis Antetokounmpo: 3 reasons why he should win Defensive Player of the Year
By Brennan Olin
2. Individual defensive success
The way the stats bear out, it proves just how important Giannis is to Milwaukee’s defensive success. Just like the team overall, Giannis leads the league in individual defensive rating, defensive field goal percentage, and defensive field goal percentage in the restricted area.
By allowing only 51.7 percent shooting on field goals in the restricted area, he protects the rim better than anyone in the league. He’s also able to end possessions better than nearly everyone, as he has the second-best defensive rebound percentage in the league. By the way, he’s not even a center. He’s the only non-center in the top-10 in both defensive rebound percentage and total rebound percentage.
It must also be remembered that Giannis is doing all of this while leading the league in usage percentage. So while he’s on the court, he’s being used more frequently on offense than any other player, and he’s still doing what he’s doing on defense. It’s absolutely incredible. He’s having a truly historic NBA season.
Giannis’ individual statistics help make his DPOY case as well, but the best part about Giannis’ DPOY case is that the stats aren’t everything. If you sit down and watch a game, the eye test matches the stats completely.