Theo Pinson Offers An Interesting Take On The NBA DPOY Award
Pinson said that Miami Heat's Bam Adebayo should have won the award
The Defensive Player of the Year award is one of the most controversial ones in the NBA. Last year, Minnesota Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert secured his four DPOY award but there are still some who believe he didn’t deserve it.
On a recent episode of Theo Pinson and Raymond Felton’s To The Baha podcast, Pinson stated that Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo should have won the award.
“Bam [Adebayo] should’ve been Defensive Player of the Year” - Pinson
Last season, Adebayo finished behind Gobert and San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama for third in the award race with a total of 91 votes. Despite of the lack of votes, he definitely made a huge impact on the defensive end.
The Heat finished the season as one of the league’s best defensive teams with a defensive rating of 112.2, mostly due to Adebayo’s high-level of effort. He led the team with an average of 0.9 blocks and a total of 66. He even led them in steals with a total of 81, his third straight season with 80-plus total steals. His best defensive game came on Jan. 24 when he recorded a career-high six blocks against the Memphis Grizzlies.
This isn’t the first time he fell short of a Defensive Player of the Year award. In each of his last four years, he finished fourth and fifth place in voting two times each. In spite of that, he still made the All-Defensive Second Team each of those years, which is a testament to how great he is defensively.
Due to the fact that the NBA saw the introduction of great defensive players such as Wembanyama and Oklahoma City Thunder’s Chet Holmgren, Adebayo’s chances of winning the award might decrease. However, he is still great enough to keep getting his name mentioned.
Cory Nelson is a contributor to Fansided’s Wiz of Awes. He attended Northern Virginia Community College. He can be reached at corymckenzienelson@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @CKenzyNelson, Instagram @ckenzynelson, and Threads @ckenzynelson