Tyson Chandler of the New York Knicks Wins Defensive Player of the Year

Defensive player of the year has just been announced, and the Knicks’ Tyson Chandler will receive the hardware.  He just beat out Serge Ibaka by 4 first place votes.  Dwight Howard finishes third, and Lebron James finishes 4th.

This would be one of the tougher awards I feel to actually put together because how do you truly measure what a great defensive player is?  Bruce Bowen was usually the benchmark for defense, but was he all stats with it?  I think it was more of his ability to pressure the ball and really make guys earn their shots.  So how does that come into play?

I don’t disagree with any of the choices that received some votes. I can’t say that I’ve really thought Chandler was that much of a defensive player, but winning this award tells me that. I’ve seen a bit of Ibaka and Howard play, and know those guys are always defending the paint, and you won’t want to come down the middle on them.

I think Lebron James doesn’t always get the credit for being a defensive player like he is.  But with his size and strength, he can really muscle you on defense, and force you into bad shots.  That would be a good comparison with Michael Jordan, as he usually was a great defender as well.

All good choices, and the voting showed what a close contest this was.  Congratulations to Tyson Chandler.  Now he needs to help his Knicks team play some defense on the Heat and make that a series.