Below are the BBI staff picks for our All-Defensive teams. We do three teams every year instead of two, there are three ALL-NBA teams after all, why shouldn’t defense get the same love. A few metrics mentioned in the article are D-LEBRON our overall defensive impact metric, Defensive Playmaking, which takes into account steals, blocks, deflections, and offensive fouls drawn, weighting them by importance, and Perimeter Isolation Defense which looks at how various data points such as lowering shot quality and suppressing attempts.

1st Team

Dyson Daniels – ATL

The Great Barrier Thief led the league in havoc, finishing 1st in Defensive Playmaking. We don’t often use per game stats here at Basketball Index but Dyson averaged 3 steals a game! He’s the first guy since 1991 to do that. at 6’7, with a 6’11 wingspan he’s able to constantly bother ball handlers. Dyson has great feet and slides laterally with the best of them. Heading into his age 22 season, he’ll be an inner circle DPOY candidate.  

 

Evan Mobley – CLE

Mobley won defensive player of the year thanks to his versatility defending on the perimeter and in the paint. In the past I’ve called him AD with 70% of the offense. Their defensive metrics are strikingly similar through four seasons. One of the traits they have in common is the ability to contest without fouling. Mobely had the 5th lowest rate among rotation bigs in Fouls Committed/75. His ability to cover ground from the corner, as well as switch pick and rolls make him invaluable to Cleveland’s defense.

 

Draymond Green – GSW

Two thirds All-Defensive Team caliber player, one third WWE wrestler. Green isn’t quite the same player he was in his prime but he makes up for it by trying to hurt other players. If he’s ever struggling with an opponent, he reaches into his bag of defensive tricks and either strikes them, chokes them, or pokes them in the eye. 

 

Amen Thompson – HOU

Amen is an absurd athlete who’s quick twitch and physicality make him a menace on the defensive end. He’s extremely disruptive (95th percentile in Defensive Playmaking) and one of the most effective perimeter defenders in the league (97th% in Perimeter Isolation Defense). At 6’7 He might be the best inch for inch rim protector and rebounder in the league. Amen is a guy that pops on tape and in the numbers.

 

Kris Dunn – LAC

Over his career Dunn has been a good defender on a lot of bad teams. This year he was surrounded with defensive talent and flourished. He finished 9th in D-LEBRON as well as Perimeter Isolation Defense. His ability to get around screens makes him difficult to switch off of and he accels getting into passing lanes. His motor, even at age 30, is one of the highest in the league.

 

2nd Team

Lu Dort – OKC
The Dorture chamber has long been one of the best nicknames in the league. Dort earned it by locking up offensive players for large chunks of the shot clock, evidence made clear by leading the league in our Perimeter Isolation Defense metric four times in his six year career (including this season). His short area quickness and strength make him one of the hardest perimeter players to shed in the league. Another part of Dort’s defensive game is running into players, he is the best player in the league at drawing offensive fouls on moving screens. The less palatable part of this play style is that he will often get into awkward collisions with players who are in vulnerable positions.


Rudy Gobert – MIN
Rudy is past his prime, but he’s still one of the best defenders in the league. His ability to lock down the bottom half of the key by himself creates big time value. Pair that with his fellow BBI All-Defensive team member Jaden McDaniels, and they form one of the most feared defensive duos in the league. Rudy’s was third our Help Defense Talent metric this season and is still a feared rim protector.  

 

Jaren Jackson Jr – MEM
Triple J is a unicorn because of his length, mobility, and bounce. He has great instincts helping on drives, routinely erasing offensive advantages at the rim. He’s known for his blocks but he also racks up a lot of steals for a big (71% percentile in Steals/75). Fouling was an issue early in Jaren’s career and while he still is near the top of the league in Fouls Committed/75, it’s less egregious now.

 

Jaden McDaniels – MIN
McDaniels’ has been among the best wing stoppers in the league for a few years now. At 6’9 he can guard bigger wings while still having the quickness to match up against guards. He takes some of the toughest assessments in the league (98th% in Matchup Difficulty) and handles them at an elite level (98th% in Perimeter Isolation Defense). This season he took a big leap as a defensive playmaker (Going from 64% to 89% in Defensive Playmaking), while also reducing his foul rate significantly.

 

OG Anunoby – NYK
OG is an elite wing stopper and vital to the Knicks defense. He was over 70th percentile in blocks, steals and deflections/75 last season while often guarding the other team’s best player (94th percentile in Matchup Difficulty). Anunoby has a similar height to wingspan ratio as Dyson Daniels (6’7 with a 7’2 wingspan) this allows him to guard up, giving him elite versatility. Things like rim deterrence and post defense aren’t a large part of his game but he graded out well in these areas in our advanced metrics.

 

3rd Team

Jalen Willaims – OKC
J Dub had an interesting year because at points he was playing center due to injuries. He was surprisingly effective given his height/length (6’5 with a 7’2 wingspan). He took big jumps across the board in our key defensive metrics, namely Defensive Playmaking, Matchup Difficulty, and Defensive Rebounding Talent. Half of the OKC’s roster was considered for this list but Jalen’s versatility was the difference maker when it came to selections.

 

Bam Adebayo – MIA 

It was easy to forget about Bam this season, the Heat weren’t very good and he struggled offensively. However, on defense Bam was still the best switching big in the league by a wide margin. He’s been around for a long time, and people know his reputation, but he was noticeably better than every other big on switches this season in the data. Because of how he’s used his other big man metrics aren’t amazing, but that’s why context is important. There’s always going to be some trade off between dominant rim protecting and mobility on the perimeter. 

 

Andrew Nembhard – IND

This is a regular season award, but it deserves mentioning how amazing Nembhard’s playoff run was as a point of attack defender. He was super glued to SGA and did a fantastic job making things tough on the MVP. Nembhard was 2nd in our Perimeter Isolation Defense metric and first in Matchup Difficulty. He’s not the disruptor that some of the other players on this list are, but he makes up for it with things like ball pressure and screen navigation.

 

Ivica Zubac – LAC

Zu has been a quality player for a long time and at age 27 he finally peaked. The nerds have always loved his rim protection numbers and this year he was the number one player in our Help Defense Talent. His defensive rebounding was dominant and he was even pretty good switching out on the perimeter. Zubac has very good defensive positioning which allows him to be a high impact defender without racking up many blocks and steals (17th percentile in Defensive Playmaking). Another big value add is his ability to contest without fouling.

 

Toumani Camara – POR

Camara is the NBA hipsters newest fascination and for good reason.  At 6’8 he’s a legit wing stopper and was top 10 in our Perimeter Isolation Defense metric. For a perimeter player he’s quite effective helping on drives and his post defense numbers were good. His helpside blocks  have led to some jaw dropping highlights. This was only his second season and he still has plenty of room to grow.