NBA Awards For The Season So Far

DPOY - Al Horford

Al Horfor

The Celtics are the best defensive team this season, and Al Horford is the biggest part of it. Kawhi Leonard and Rudy Gobert are obviously out of contention because of their respective injuries, and Draymond has been great but overall their defense hasn't. Although, once Draymond cranks it up a notch, he will become the most serious contender for this award.

As of now, the biggest contenders to Al Horford are Andre Drummond, Clint Capela, Joel Embiid and Paul George. Andre Drummond has the best defensive box plus/minus and the second-best defensive rating but his defense is not contributing to team's success as of late. And we have seen in the past that the players who lead elite team defenses have won the DPOY(Marc Gasol). So, if Celtics unable to get the first seed in East or Draymond gets madder, Horford is the front-runner.

Joel Embiid improves his team's defense by a big margin and is also a great team leader which also always riles up the crowds. Paul George hasn't been able to find his groove on the offensive end, but defensively he has been rolling, leading the league in steals per game.

A big shout out to Clint Capela, who is leading the league in defensive rating. Hidden under Houston's offensive prowess, his defensive contributions often get overshadowed. A serious dark horse candidate, if his team keeps on rolling like they are, he can definitely win out of nowhere.