Marc Gasol deserves your consideration for Defensive Player of the Year. The defensive anchor of the league’s 4th best defense is having a resurgent season. Through 23 games “Big Burrito” has as good as case as any player this season for DPOY honors. Despite declining athleticism, Gasol is impacting games through intelligence, craft, and hustle.

Advanced Data

Based on advanced data, Gasol should be considered the front runner for this award. He is 3rd in D-PIPM, 2nd in DRPM, and 2nd in Defensive Win Shares. No one other player in the league appears in the top three of all three categories. Gasol is only 1/100th of a decimal behind Robert Covington for the lead in DRPM. He was ahead of Covington in the metric until Covington’s off-ball brilliance was unleashed in Minnesota.

Gasol is also grading well in all three categories of our defensive grades. Through 23 games, Gasol has an A in both interior defense and defensive rebounding, to go along with an B in perimeter defense. Pertaining to defensive rebounding, Gasol ranks 17th in defensive rebound percent.

That B in perimeter defense is huge for Memphis. Last year that grade was a C-. In his age 34 season, it was fair to project even more decline on the horizon. But that hasn’t been the case. The fact Gasol is not the human form of wet tissue paper out on the perimeter is a win for the Grizzlies. To be grading out in the 66th-74th percentile of all players this season in perimeter defense is absolutely massive for Grit n’ Grind 2.0.

Wiley Ole Vet

Look Ma! No Eyes!

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I know I’ve highlighted this clip before, but I just can’t stop watching it. Gasol never looks at John Wall but still gets the deflection leading to a steal. He saw the easy path to the basket for the cutter along the baseline and just knew where to throw up his gargantuan paw.

There are only five players this year averaging at least 1.3 blocks per game and 1.3 steals per game. The list; Gasol, Covington, Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Andre Drummond. If we’re being honest with ourselves, Covington, Davis, and Antetokounmpo are Gasol’s main competition for DPOY to this point.

Circling back to Gasol’s elite defensive rebounding, his hustle is making everyone’s lives better as well. Gasol is 6th in the league in box outs per game. His teammates are gathering 4.7 rebounds per game on Gasol box outs, the 9th best figure in the league. What’s more, Memphis is collecting a bodacious 92.2 percent of rebounds when Gasol boxes out.

Against Expectations

Gasol is in the 72nd percentile in DPOE. His defend field goal percentage is 59.2 percent within six feet of the basket, among players that have played at least ten games and contest at least 5 shots per game within six feet of the rim. That mark ranks 25th out of those that qualify for the criteria. This puts him around the likes of Al Horford, Anthony Davis, and Rudy Gobert.

At first glance that doesn’t seem too impressive, other than the name power of the surrounding company. Gasol is getting somewhat unlucky when defending these shots however. Remember, his interior defense grade is an A. That grade is driven largely from Jacob Goldstein’s points saved at the rim metric. Gasol ranks in the 94th percentile in the metric.

It appears that given the context Gasol is still performing well above expectations as a rim protector. He is also deterring opponents from taking shots at the rim, something that doesn’t show up on a stat sheet. Even at 34 years of age, it is impossible to move Gasol if you try to post him up.

Gasol is leading the way in advanced metrics and providing valuable rim protection. Memphis is one of the elite defense in the NBA and Gasol is the engine. Through 23 games Gasol is right in the mix with those most deserving of defensive player of the year.