Top Candidates For NBA Defensive Player of the Year!

2. Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans)

Anthony "The Brow" Davis was earmarked for super stardom pretty early on in his career. He actually represented the USA Senior Men's National Basketball team in the 2012 Olympics and played alongside legends such as Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, LeBron James, before he played a single game in the NBA!

Expectations have always been high from The Brow, and with good reason. In the eyes of analysts across the league, the sky was the limit for Davis and potential oozed from him. Well, this season the expectations have finally been realized, and how!

Anthony Davis has been an absolute MONSTER for the New Orleans Pelicans and has terrorized opponents across the league this season. Since the injury to DeMarcus Cousins midway through the season, Davis has actually stepped up his game to the next level- leading his team to the second round of the playoffs. He contributed massively on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor- recording 40 point games with alarming regularity.

Anthony Davis boasts of equally impressive defensive stats as well. He leads the league in total blocks with 193 in the regular season! He averages 2.6 blocks per game, another league leading defensive stat. Davis is top 10 in both total defensive rebounds and defensive rebounds per game in the league and is averaging 1.5 steals per game- a career best and an increment of 0.2 in the same stat from last season.

In fact, Davis is the only player in the league who is averaging at least 2.5 blocks and 1.5 steals per game. Both blocks and steals are the foundations on which the defensive contributions of a player are evaluated. While playing defense, Davis commits on average 2 fouls per game.

Both Joel Embiid and Rudy Gobert commit more fouls than Davis while playing defense- giving opponents the chance to score through free throws in the process. He is also an elite isolation defender. Davis uses his remarkable size to dominate over the players he guards. In isolation, opponents score a mere 32% of the time against Davis. This mark is better than the percentage held by Paul George, who is much heralded for his isolation defensive abilities.

Another edge that Davis has over his competition is the fact that he was healthy and contributed regularly towards the defensive efforts of his franchise this past season. Both Joel Embiid and Rudy Gobert had injury layoffs due to which their stats suffer and so do the defensive endeavors of their franchises.

At any time now, Anthony Davis is going to make that elusive Defensive Player of the Year award his for the taking.