NBA Defensive Player of The Year: 5 Players who missed out

Defensive Player of the Year is one of the trickiest awards to hand out each year. MVP, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved and Sixth Man of the Year all have a pretty clear set of criteria as well as having stats and overall team record as an easy measuring stick.

DPOY is a bit different, as there are no basic stats to show a player's defensive impact. Steals and blocks are the closest we have, but even though don't tell a full story; bad defenders - usually point guards - regularly come close to leading the league in steals for no reason other than they are near the ball a lot, while players can boost their shot blocking numbers while simultaneously enraging their coach for being out of position.

It's difficult to pick a winner, but that doesn't change the fact that a handful of worthy players have never won the award. Here are the best five defenders to never be voted the top defender in the league.

#5 LeBron James

Cleveland Cavaliers v Boston Celtics - Game One

Before he started coasting in the regular season and waiting for the playoffs to give his all, LeBron was an incredible defender in the regular season and came runner-up to Marc Gasol for DPOY in 2013.

Gasol was a tremendous defender, and he wasn't an unworthy recipient, but the decision looked awful when Gasol was then voted to the all-defensive second team rather than the first. Joakim Noah and Tyson Chandler BOTH had more all-defensive votes than Gasol and shared the center position on the first team as a result.

In the middle of his career with Miami, LeBron was at his athletic peak, which meant his defensive prowess was at an all-time high. Nobody in the league could defend all over the floor like LeBron could. He could defend in the backcourt, on the perimeter, in the post, he closed-out shooters, and he was a phenomenal rim protector for a forward.

He won MVP in the same year, and voter fatigue definitely affected his ability to outshine Gasol among the DPOY voters. He could have been just the fifth player in history to win both awards in the same year, joining an illustrious list of Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Kevin Garnett.

Gasol was a good winner, but LeBron would have been a better one. Gasol won the award with 30 first-place votes and 212 total points ahead of LeBron with 18 first-place votes and 149 total points. The advanced defensive metrics look to be in Gasol's favour, but to see the DPOY go on to miss out on all-defensive first team selection must have stung for LeBron.

#4 Kobe Bryant

Los Angeles Lakers v Cleveland Cavaliers

Kobe was a rare breed of NBA super-scorer because he was also willing to play so hard on the defensive end. Michael Jordan was the same, but most scorers tend to use most of their energy on the offensive end. Kobe was intense on the perimeter as he was able to play close to his man without allowing them to blow past him off the dribble. He also talked trash, often in Italian, while playing defence.

Kobe was a 12x all-defensive selection during his illustrious 20-year career (10x first team all-defense), but he was never voted as the number one defender in the league; he maxed out at fifth with 40 votes in 2008. Regularly beaten in the voting by big men in an era when shot blockers ruled, Kobe often ranked as a top-two defensive guard according to the voters.

#3 Bruce Bowen

Bruce Bowen isn't a big-time superstar like the other four names on this list, but he would have been if defensive players received the same praise as offensive players. Bowen's defensive resume shows eight all-defensive selections, including five to the all-defensive first team.

He won championships with San Antonio in 2003, 2005 and 2007 as the team's premier defensive stopper, regularly tasked with guarding NBA legends such as Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Ray Allen, and LeBron James.

Bowen finished third in DPOY voting for three consecutive seasons between 2005 and 2007, and he also finished fourth in 2004 and 2008. His five-year stretch finishing in the top four of DPOY voting is an incredible achievement, but he was never able to catch the voters' attention enough to win the award himself; Ben Wallace (2005-2006) and Marcus Camby (2007) were the men to deny him from winning.

#2 Tim Duncan

Tim Duncan, another basketball cyborg produced by the San Antonio Spurs, was an elite two-way player, but his defense is what really helped him stand out.

Ben Wallace, Dikembe Mutombo, Marcus Camby, Dwight Howard, and so many other DPOY big men had polarizing block counts, while Duncan was a more technically sound defender rather than a flashy one. He was still a phenomenal shot blocker, but his understanding of team defence was unlike most other big men we've ever seen.

Duncan was never in the wrong spot, played flawless help defense, hedged appropriately at drivers and shooters, knew how to defend the pick and roll, communicated with his team, and prioritized forcing bad shots and securing rebounds rather than blocking shots.

Duncan averaged 2.5 blocks throughout his first ten years in the league and ended his career averaging 2.2 per game despite playing until he was 39 years old.

The number one overall pick in 1997 made an instant impact on defense by finishing fifth in DPOY voting. Duncan finished third in 2001 and 2007 and received votes in twelve of his 19 NBA seasons, but the five-time champion was never able to win the award.

Duncan's advanced defensive metrics are quite remarkable, too. He led the league once in defensive box plus/minus, and five times in defensive win shares. Most unbelievably of all, he led the league in defensive win shares as a rookie, and defensive box plus/minus in his final season at age 39.

#1 Scottie Pippen

Pippen is lauded as an all-time great defender, but often gets overlooked as he was playing next to Michael Jordan. Jordan won DPOY in 1988, but Pippen was never able to win the award.

For those who didn't watch NBA in the 90s, Pippen is comparable to Kawhi Leonard right now, and he showed even more intensity as the hand-check rules allowed him to make some contact without being called for a foul.

Pippen received DPOY votes in nine seasons, finished in the top three on four occasions, and finished as high as second twice, but ultimately never won the award. 1995 is seen as the year he could have won it as the Bulls found success with him as their best player rather than Jordan.

With an increased offensive load in Jordan's absence, Pippen became one of the league's best offensive players, but he never let his defense tremble as a result. Most elite offensive perimeter players use defense to catch their breath so they can make another play with the ball, but Pippen worked hard on every single possession regardless of his offensive workload. In 1994-95 Pippen averaged 2.9 steals and 1.1 blocks per game, but ultimately fell short to Dikembe Mutombo who averaged 3.9 blocks per game to clinch the award.

He could smother the ball, played elite denial defense and made his man work hard just to get the ball, defended tough in the post, and was a mismatch nightmare due to his combination of strength, length and speed. Pippen was probably the best perimeter defender of the 90's, and for him to have zero DPOY awards seems like an error in the NBA history books.

Edited by Abhinav Munshi