nineteen ninety six. It was the last year in which a point guard or a shooting guard won the award for Best NBA Defender. Since then, an irrepressible string of interior players, whether they are centers, power forwards or forwards have won the trophy without exception. Dikembe Mutombo (4 awards), Alonzo Mourning (2) or Ben Wallace inaugurated this tradition of rewarding great intimidators, fantastic protectors of the area at a time when basketball was played very differently from now (ball inside-out). and in which the centers they did not leave the area to shoot, in general, from outside positions. Dwight Howard managed to get three wounds before a decade, the second of the 21st century, in which some eaves were made with him. And now, more than a quarter of a century later, a short guy wins the award.
In the last 12 years we’ve seen Kawhi Leonard (twice) or Giannis Antetokounmpo win the trophy, but point guards and shooting guards were still ignored. Great specialists or absolutely generational players have been left without it: Tony Allen never won itas if it were done by an expert like Ron Artest, another small forward. And Kobe Bryant, a historically good outside defender, didn’t win the trophy either., as happened to Tim Duncan, also inside. More recently, Klay Thompson has been left out of the picture. And you have to go back to the beginning of the trophy to see Sydney Moncrief, a wonderful point guard for the Bucks (he won it twice) to see a point guard win it. Among the escorts stands out, of course, Michael Jordan, who joined the award with the MVP in 1988, something that Hakeem Olajuwon (1994) and the aforementioned Giannis (2020) later achieved. David Robinson and Kevin Garnett, in different years, have also won both trophies.
For the Celtics it is the second award for Best Defender in history after the one won by Kevin Garnett in 2008, a year in which, by the way, they won their last championship ring. A reward also to what has been the best defense in the entire NBA, a spider web full of physical and bulky bodies that drowned his rivals. Smart, an experienced defender who had been demonstrating a high level for several years on that side of the court, has been the leader, along with Robert Williams (another who has sounded for the award) of that defensive effort that has led Ime Udoka’s team to to be the best of 2022 and to improve to 51-31, a record that faltered on January 7, when things went from bad to worse in Boston. A great achievement, therefore, for a team that is beating the Nets in the first round of the playoffs (1-0) after a Jayson Tatum basket at the buzzer off a great pass from, oh, Marcus Smart.