Avery Bradley finishes 6th in the Defensive Player of the Year voting, Jae Crowder finishes 13th


Yesterday, the winner of the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year was announced as Kawhi Leonard won his second straight and the Celtics had two players receive votes for the prestigious award, including Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder. Bradley finished 6th in the voting and was the leading vote getter for the award for guards. Jae Crowder placed 13th win one third place vote:





For AB, this is a very impressive finish as the top vote getter at the guard position. Bradley's always been known as a lockdown defender and put that on display many times this season against some of the best players at his position. Avery's defense this year frustrated and gave fits to elite players like Damian Lillard, Stephen Curry, Dwyane Wade and James Harden. Bradley's 6th place finish bodes well for his chances of ending up on the NBA's All Defensive 1st Team. Back in 2013, he was named to the All Defensive 2nd Team.

Jae Crowder also received a 3rd place vote for Defensive Player of the Year and it's also nice to see him getting acknowledgement and credit for his play this year. The Celtics were one of the better defensive teams in the league this year and much of that is due to Crowder's improvement on that end.

The Celtics were a tremendous defending team this season, especially on the perimeter and that was in large part due to the intensity of Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder. Along with Marcus Smart and Evan Turner, the Celts have a very capable quartet of perimeter and on-ball defenders and much of their success this season has relied on the teams' effort to stop opponents from scoring. It's unfortunate that Bradley's injury has possibly ruled him out for the rest of this playoff series, as the Celtics will miss him greatly on the defensive end. However, it's still great to see AB getting the recognition he deserves.

Image Credit: Tim Fuller/USA Today-Sports
Follow Kevin Yazhari on Twitter @KevKevYazhari
disqus Post a Comment
Share