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May 5, 2010Twitter: A Place Where the Tribe Choke Gets Funnier and Funnier
May 5, 2010
Through the 2009-10 NBA regular season, LeBron James and Anderson Varejao finished first and third overall in point differential. Today, the two players were recognized for their extensive efforts on the defensive end.
The NBA has announced that James and Varejao were named to the NBA All-Defensive first and second teams, respectively. Overall, James came in third with 45 points, receiving 20 first- and five second-place votes. Varejao received 15 points overall, receiving two first- and 11 second-team votes. Points are awarded on a 2-1 basis.
In terms of measurables, James averaged 7.3 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.0 blocked shots through the regular season. Varejao (playing considerably fewer minutes than James) averaged 7.6 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 0.9 blocked shots.
James was also a member of the 2009 All-Defensive first team. This year, he is joined by Orlando’s Dwight Howard (the 2009-10 Defensive Player of the Year), Boston’s Rajon Rondo, Los Angeles’ Kobe Bryant and Charlotte’s Gerald Wallce. Oddly, Atlanta’s Josh Smith (this year’s runner-up for the DPOY award) was named to the second team.
For the season, the Cavaliers held opponents to 48.2 percent – the third best mark in the NBA. No other members of the Cavaliers received any consideration for the two All-Defensive teams.
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(Image via Jon Cole/WFNY)
10 Comments
What, no Mo??
@1 Beat me to the Mo joke..
Re: Varejao
I just did a little looking into “back spasms.” I had no idea what they were, now I have a LITTLE idea. Sounds painful. It also has the ring of a thing that is only known by the pain it causes – one of those things for which the sufferer’s word has to be taken. On a team that “take my word for it” dynamic could be hard to cope with. I can imagine a joke where someone starts pointing at his own back and wincing.
Is Kobe really that good defensively? I realize he got props in the Olympics for turning himself into a defensive specialist of sorts, but I don’t think he’s exhibited that in the NBA season at all. Artest is supposedly LA’s lockdown defender, not Bryant. What a joke.
For the record, I don’t think ‘Bron should be on here either for the very same reason. His chase-down blocks are awesome, but night-in-and-night-out he is not a defensive stopper.
So we have two of the top defenders in the league, and the freaking Celtics are putting up 100 a game on us!?!?!?!?!?!?
@ Vengeful Pat: I think LeBron deserved the honor last year. This year, it seems his possession-to-possession on the ball defense has really suffered… don’t know if it’s laziness or what.
I’m glad to see Varejao finally got some recognition for something.
I really don’t understand the fuss about Josh Smith at all in any aspect of the game. Maybe I haven’t seen enough of him. He’s never impressed me on either end of the floor any more than your run of the mill above average NBA baller does.
What is the NBA getting all defensive about?
Just to put some stats to this, here are some players’ defensive win shares per 48 minutes:
LeBron: 0.084
Kobe: 0.068
Howard: 0.120
Varejao: 0.084
Josh Smith: 0.085
Gerald Wallace: 0.095
Also defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions on floor):
LeBron: 102
Kobe: 104
Howard: 95
Varejao: 102
Josh Smith: 101
Gerald Wallace: 100
I’m not sure there’s anything too egregious there, except that maybe Kobe is running on reputation at this point.
I don’t think you all understand: Kobe is obviously the best basketball player on the planet, so therefor he’s clearly the best defender in the NBA. He’s a better defender and rebounder than Howard, a better passer than LeBron, and stronger down low than Shaq.
At least, that’s what I’d be reading over at a Lakers forum.
I know Rondo gets alot of steals, but all-defensive first team seems like a stretch.