defensive player of the year

Taylor Snow

BOSTON – When Marcus Smart entered the Auerbach Center gym Monday afternoon, his teammates were waiting for him with a surprise gift – a gift that hadn’t been received by an NBA guard in nearly three decades: the 2021-22 Defensive Player of the Year trophy.

Smart became the first perimeter player to earn the recognition since Gary Payton in 1995-96 and fittingly, the Hall-of-Fame point guard and former Celtic was on hand to present the trophy.

As soon as Payton announced the reason for his presence, Smart was engulfed by his water cup-welding teammates and doused in a celebratory shower – an appropriate way to end such a long drought.

“First off, I definitely want to thank you guys: my coaching staff, teammates,” Smart addressed his peers after drying himself off and taking hold of the basketball-shaped, glass hardware. “It’s not easy playing in this league full of guys like Jayson and Jaylen who score the m************ ball the way they do and getting the recognition on that defensive end, trying to guard those guys every night. This is eight years, man, just trying to do what I do. You guys allowed me to do that.”

Over eight seasons, Smart has put a lifetime of effort into his play on the defensive end. He guards the best perimeter scorers on a regular basis and consistently finds ways to reduce their effectiveness. He’s constantly hustling, diving for loose balls, deflecting passes, taking charges, fighting through screens – doing all the dirty work and little things that contribute to winning.

The NBA hadn’t rewarded a player of his type in many years, largely because perimeter defenders don’t typically stack up with interior defenders from a statistical standpoint, such as in the rebounding and shot-blocking categories.

“It’s understandable why it was such a big man award,” reflected Smart, the second DPOY in Celtics history along with Kevin Garnett in 2007-08. “They do so much in helping their team on that end. We give so much credit to the big men. But those guards, they’ve been working, we’re the front line; you have to get past us first, and that’s how us guards feel.

"To be able to be named the Defensive Player of the Year and be the first guard since Gary Payton in 1996 to win this, it just shows that it can be done. The way the game is changing, the guards have been more recognized for their ability to do certain things we shouldn’t be able to do at our size, and this award and me winning it opens the path for guards in the future.”

Over the past few seasons, Smart has gained an increasing number of supporters, such as Payton, who recognize his value.

“You’re a guy,” Payton told Smart before handing over the trophy, “that reminds me of myself. Everybody asks me about it all the time and it’s you. You play that ‘D’ the way you’re supposed to. You play it with a chip on your shoulder and some heart.”

Enough heart to finally overcome the statistical barriers that stood both in his way and in the way of every other perimeter defender over the past three decades. Though, that’s not to say that Smart didn’t put up any impressive numbers. He still ranked sixth in steals, fourth in loose balls recovered, and first in deflections per game.

However, what he did beyond the numbers was far more important. Smart is the vocal leader of Boston’s defense, a coach on the floor. He directs his teammates and helps them to become better defenders and his constant communication is what led the Celtics to earn the best defensive rating in the NBA.

Rob Williams, one of the most improved defenders in the league, can vouch for that.

"A lot of my defensive grit and my will to fight out there I get from just watching him,” said Williams, who finished seventh in the voting for DPOY. “Even in practice, him being vocal. On the court, he’s a great defensive anchor for us, but he’s a better leader. And he doesn’t even know it. He’s always talking, putting guys where they need to be.”

As a result, Smart finds himself exactly where he’s meant to be: at the top of the podium, owning the most prestigious defensive honor.

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Smart Earns DPOY, Ends 26-Year Drought for Guards

Since we began handing out these awards nine years ago, not once have we encountered a tie.

This season’s Defensive Player of the Year was such a toss-up that we have declared co-winners in Marcus Smart and Robert Williams.

Both players impacted the team’s defense in their own unique way, as Williams stuffed the box score nightly with absurd defensive statistics, while Smart continued to impact the team like he has year-in and year-out with his relentless hustle and gritty, winning plays.

We’ll start off by explaining why Williams deserves a share in this award, which marks his second in our Series after already being named Sixth Man of the Year.

After displaying flashes of raw, defensive potential throughout his first NBA two seasons, Williams, this year, began living up to the hype. By earning a more consistent role with increased playing time, the 23-year-old center saw both his confidence and his discipline improve, leading to a breakout season.

Williams proved to be a terror on the defensive end, combining his elite athleticism with his 7-foot-6 wingspan to turn into a shot-blocking machine. He tied for the sixth-most blocks per game (1.8) in the NBA, despite playing only 18.9 minutes per game. That means that he averaged 3.3 blocks per 36 minutes, which placed him second behind this year’s blocks champion, Myles Turner (3.9), among players who saw at least 900 minutes of court time.

Williams also posted the highest block percentage in the league among players who averaged at least 15 minutes per game, finishing with a rate of 75.8 percent per NBA Stats. That mark placed him just above three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert (74.8 percent) and the block champ, Turner (74.6 percent).

Not many shot-blockers in Celtics history have had more success than Williams did this past season. The only members who have averaged more BPG in a season since the NBA began tracking blocks in 1973 were Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, and Kendrick Perkins. On top of that, Williams’ mark of 3.33 blocks per 36 minutes ranks second all-time behind Parish’s mark of 3.35 in 1980-81, per Statmuse.

As impressive as his numbers were in the regular season, he was even more imposing during Boston’s short postseason run. He averaged a league-best 3.0 BPG in the postseason while averaging just 15.2 minutes per contest. That was largely thanks to a franchise-record nine-block effort against the Brooklyn Nets in Game 1 of the first round.

Williams was also one of Boston’s best rebounders this past season. He led its main rotation players in offensive rebound percentage (14.9 percent), defensive rebound percentage (25.6 percent), and total rebound percentage (20.2 percent), all according to Basketball-Reference. He also posted 6.9 RPG, which equaled out to 13.1 rebounds per-36 minutes.

To fully grasp how impactful Williams was defensively, look no further than his team-leading defensive box plus/minus
 mark of 3.1. The only Celtics player on record who has logged a better DBPM during a single season was Kevin Garnett, who recorded a 3.5 during Boston’s 2007-08 championship season when he earned the only Defensive Player of the Year nod in franchise history.

Williams’ statistical accomplishments alone made him worthy of our Defensive Player of the Year, but not every area of the game can be covered in a box score. That’s where Smart’s worthiness comes into play.

Smart may not put up the crazy defensive numbers that Williams does on a nightly basis, but he is unequivocally regarded as the team’s vocal leader and defensive anchor. Such as been the case for the last several years, and that likely won’t change anytime soon.

Smart continued to be Boston’s most tenacious defender in a year when defense wasn’t its strongest suit, as he helped them keep the ship afloat on several occasions by producing a variety of his trademark winning plays.

Smart led the team in many hustle categories including steals (1.5 per game), deflections (3.3 per game), defensive loose balls recovered (0.6 per game), and contested 3-point shots (3.1 per game). Unsurprisingly, he earned the team’s inaugural Tommy Award, which recognizes the Celtic who “best embodies attributes of hustle, effort, and pride throughout the season.”

Despite the Celtics finishing 13th in defensive rating, Smart still nearly found his way onto his third consecutive All-Defensive Team. He finished sixth among all NBA guards in the voting, earning one First Team vote and 20 Second Team votes. The only other vote-getter from the C’s was Jaylen Brown, who earned one First Team vote, as well.

Throughout the 2020-21 season, Smart maintained his reputation as one of the most respected defenders in the NBA, while Williams began building a reputation of his own, becoming one of the league’s most feared shot-blockers.

As a result, we have our first-ever set of Awards Series co-winners in our two deserving Defensive Players of the Year.

2021-awards-series-defensive-players-of-the-year-marcus-smart-robert-williams

2021 Awards Series Defensive Players of the Year: Marcus Smart & Robert Williams

Marc D'Amico

It’s awards season at Celtics.com! We’re handing out six awards throughout mid-October as we roll through this year’s Celtics.com Awards Series. We may not have trophies or acceptance speeches, but we do have some top-flight Celtics performances to outline. Here we go...

BOSTON – We’ve finally arrived at the final installment of our 2020 Awards Series, one which gives Marcus Smart his second award of the season. Smart has added Boston’s Sixth Man of the Year digital trophy to his collection that also features this year’s Defensive Player of the Year award.

The Twitter voting for the Sixth Man of the Year Award was the most convincing of any of the awards. Smart was nearly a unanimous winner, having garnered 91.9 percent of the 17,523 votes.

One might wonder why Smart was eligible to win this latest award that’s dedicated to a reserve, seeing as he started 40 of his 60 appearances during the regular season and 16 of his 17 games during the postseason. The answer to that question is simple: he started those games because he was the team’s most important and impactful reserve.

The Celtics were riddled with injuries throughout the season at multiple positions. Gordon Hayward missed 19 regular-season games plus the majority of the postseason, Kemba Walker missed 15 regular-season games, Jaylen Brown missed 13, and Jayson Tatum missed five. Smart was the reserve who was called upon to step into the starting lineup for nearly all of those absences when he was available to do so.

The sixth-year guard delivered in those spot-starts, just as he did as a reserve. His approach to the game never changed, and that’s what Brad Stevens loves about him. It’s a given that Smart will play each night with effort and energy while defending at a high level and creating offense both via the shot and the pass.

That’s a lot for a reserve to bring to the table.

Let’s start out at the defensive end of the court, where Smart earned his second consecutive All-Defensive First Team honor this past season.

Smart led the Celtics in both total steals (101) and steals per game (1.7) for the second consecutive season. He limited opponents to 42.8 percent shooting from the field, which led Boston’s top eight rotational players with regard to playing time.

The guard was also one of only six players in the NBA to average at least 1.7 steals and 0.5 blocks per game on the season.

Rightfully so, the defensive end of the court is where Smart garners most of his attention. His impact at the offensive end for Boston oftentimes flies under the radar.

Smart ranked fifth on the team in scoring with a career-high average of 12.9 points per game. He ranked third on the team in made 3-pointers with a total of 137, all while ranking eighth in the NBA (minimum 50 attempts) in 3-point percentage on pull-up 3s (40.1 percent). Smart also had Boston’s fourth-best free throw percentage among players who attempted at least 40 freebies, at 83.6 percent.

Smart’s shooting boosted the Celtics on many occasions, but his ability to make plays while protecting the ball was showcased every night. He set a new career high in assists per game with a team-leading average of 4.9, and he also led the team in total assists (291). All the while, Smart rarely turned the ball over. He compiled the fifth-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the league among guards who averaged at least 28 minutes of playing time per game.

These statistics and achievements are what one would expect from an NBA starter. Smart played great basketball for the Celtics all season long no matter what the role. He excelled as a spot-starter, and he excelled when coming off the bench.

He was Boston’s de facto sixth starter, a role commensurate with the most important and impactful reserve on the team – its Sixth Man of the Year.

defensive player of the year

Smart Earns DPOY, Ends 26-Year Drought for Guards

2021 Awards Series Defensive Players of the Year: Marcus Smart & Robert Williams

2020 Awards Series Sixth Man of the Year: Marcus Smart