Smart wins DPOY

YES

https://youtu.be/bmuocOtgwk0

About time! Congrads goes out to Smart.

Awesome, finally recognized for how terrific he is. Gary Payton came to town to give him the award. Well deserved Marcus.

Boston Celtics' Marcus Smart wins NBA Defensive Player of the Year award for first time

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33763528/boston-celtics-marcus-smart-wins-nba-defensive-player-year-award-first

Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart has been named NBA Defensive Player of the Year, the league announced Monday.

It's the first DPOY award for Smart, who is the first primary guard to take home the honor since Gary Payton in the 1995-96 season.

Smart received 257 points (37 first-place votes) to finish first in voting. Forward Mikal Bridges of the Phoenix Suns (202 points, 22 first-place votes) and center Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz (136 points, 12 first-place votes) ended up second and third, respectively, in voting from a panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters.

Defensive Player of Year Voting

Players in the running for defensive player of year received 5 points for a first-place vote, 3 for a second-place vote and 1 for a third-place vote:

PLAYER 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
Marcus Smart 37 18 18 257
Mikal Bridges 22 25 17 202
Rudy Gobert 12 18 22 136
Bam Adebayo 13 17 12 128
Jaren Jackson Jr. 10 11 16 99
Giannis Antetokounmpo 5 7 12 58
Robert Williams III 1 1 0 8
Jrue Holiday 0 2 0 6
Al Horford 0 1 0 3
Draymond Green 0 0 2 2
Matisse Thybulle 0 0 1 1

Smart finished the season ranked seventh in the NBA in steals per game (1.68) for a Celtics team that led the league in defensive rating (106.2) and points allowed per game (104.5). He also was ranked fifth among all NBA guards with a defensive rating of 105.2, and was first in the league with 1.1 loose balls recovered per game.

Smart, who started each of the 71 regular-season games he played, also finished tied for 10th in deflections (106) and charges drawn (16) and had a career-high 3.2 defensive rebounds per game.

The eighth-year player is the second Celtic ever to win DPOY, joining Kevin Garnett (2007-08).

Big men have dominated the award since its inception in 1982. Smart and Payton are only the two point guards to have won it. Shooting guards have won it another five times, but none since Michael Jordan in 1988. And centers and forwards have won all the rest, including Gobert in 2018, 2019 and 2021.

Speaking last month, Smart said guards deserve more respect in the voting.

"I'm not taking anything from the bigs," he told ESPN. "A vital part of the game is protecting the paint. But, as guards, we do a lot more before [our man] gets to the paint. ... Contesting the 3, contesting pullups, making sure he doesn't get to his spots."

Well deserved!

Hoping Smart and Rob Williams win it year after year.

Bob


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One of the best reactions was the one of Ime with Smart at the end of the clip. Great feeling to see a coach react like this.
I wonder how proud Danny Ainge feels right now, he was a Marcus supporter the whole time he was here. They had a special relationship

Pretty special when you consider that no guard has won the award in 26 years.

Also very interesting to see both Rob and AH on the list.

So great to see Marcus get the love returned he gives out in such abundance.

So happy for my Flower Mound, Texas neighbor who attended High School 3 blocks from the house. He was just as nasty a defender then as he is now. BTW the name of the High School?  Marcus.

How prescient of the School Board to name the school for a future DPOY.

worcester wrote:How prescient of the School Board to name the school for a future DPOY.

I wish. Marcus HS opened in 1981. They should consider renaming it Marcus Smart HS, He put them on the map.

Great! Let this be a season of accolades starting with Smart DPOY. Let the banner top it all.

DPOY, a wonderful start to the playoffs. Marcus also delivered the dime to Tatum which won us the first game. I love Marcus Smart.

Berlin-T

Winning that award should just about take care of any plans BKN had of winning or stealing one tomorrow.  Tighten the noose. Or in this case the constrictor!!  dboss, you and I are on tomorrow!! No better time to test our new descriptor! BKN is now thinking what a perfect time to spoil and crash the party. "Oh we're effin' winnin' G2!!" That's what they're thinking. Only makes it worse!!

Congratulations, Marcus!!! Clearly well deserved and well earned.

db

P.S. And for Spoelstra and Yabba Adebayo, if you make it to the ECF, Marcus Smart and Boston will show you both first hand why you didn't make the short list.

He earned it with flying colors. I've been a Marcus fan since he arrived in Boston, and I'm so pleased he's our longest tenured player. 8 remarkable years. Hearty Congratulations Marcus!

I haven't been shy in my sharing my opinion of Marcus Smart.  I saw the holes our team had and I knew if someone was going to be traded to fill that hole in a big way it would probably be Smart before Jaylen but I hated the mere thought of it.  He is our living, beating heart and you can't justify transplanting your heart unless you get a heart back.

This award makes sense, not just because Marcus Smart is a hellaciously good defender but because the league has changed.  The Andre Drummonds of the NBA are fading into the fog quickly as the Robert Williams and other quick-footed leapers replace them.  The game has transitioned to the perimeter from the paint, which means that the defense has transitioned out to the perimeter too.  Why is Robert Williams considered to be so good while Hassan Whiteside is bouncing from one team to another?  Because Whiteside won't leave the paint and Williams will and does.  Every defender now has to be able to, and be willing to, go out to the arc.  That's why Grant is getting his minutes, he'll guard almost every position everywhere on the court.  He's not elite but he's versatile and that's the coin of the realm now.  Marcus Smart guards everybody everywhere and he does all of it at an elite level.

Not only is Marcus Smart the first guard to win DPOY since The Glove, he's only the 2nd Celtic since KG (the award was created years after Russ retired or he'd have a garage filled with them).  Consider that, though.  Not McHale.  Not Parish.  Not DJ.  Only a first-round lock for the HOF, The Big Ticket, has one for us.  Now back off and look at it from a bigger picture.  Not Kobe, despite being First Team All-Defense 9X.  Not Butler.  Not Beverly.  Not Simmons.  Not Bledsoe.  Not the Grindmaster Tony Allen, who Kobe thought was the best defender against him when he was the best player in the league and winning MVP 2X.  All of these players are/have been multiple First Team All-Defense team members, so naming any of them DPOY wouldn't be a real shock since their elite skills had already been recognized, but none of them have won DPOY.

Now we need The Time Lord to get his due with the Most Improved Player Award.


Bob


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