Could this be the first year in decades a guard (Marcus Smart) wins Defensive Player of the Year?

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The NBA’s annual Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) award is always a contentious one given the difficulty of quantifying defense easily, especially across positions. Frontcourt players have dominated the award for decades now, with only Gary Payton Sr. winning it since Larry Joe Bird was still suiting up for the Celtics.

But analysts still try to account for defensive excellence in the backcourt, such as The Athletic’s Seth Partnow, who listed Boston Celtics veteran point guard Marcus Smart along with big man teammate Robert Williams III, Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, and Memphis Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr.

As per usual, all frontcourt players save Smart.

Acknowledging the slanted history of guards in the DPOY race (and Smart’s own criticisms of that), Partnow goes through the list to examine strengths and weaknesses in context, soon arriving at the Celtics on his list.

“Boston has the NBA’s best defense, though which player should get sufficient credit to be recognized as the best defender in the league this year? Six of the Celtics’ top seven (Smart, Williams, White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Al Horford) players rate in the 84th percentile or higher in (defensive estimated plus/minus). Smart’s candidacy is hurt by the fact that it’s been so long since a guard won the award that I’m not sure we would recognize what DPOY-level guard play even looked like.”

“As Smart himself put it, those are the rules,” half-joked Partnow.

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After a helpfully exhaustive analysis of the state of defense in general in the league, one point, in particular, stuck out to Partnow — the decline in import defensively of the traditional big man who has so long dominated this award.

“We’ve been so accustomed to DPOY being a big-man award that the increased value of a point guard who can not only survive but prosper in a defense in which he is called upon to guard much larger players with regularity is overlooked. If Adebayo had played just a few more games, I would probably lean toward him given the stark contrast in Miami’s performance with and without him on the floor.”

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Does that mean that Adebayo is the man to beat in this race? For at least the day he published the article — actually, no.

“However, Smart will end up playing around 500 more minutes,” relates the Athletic analyst. “Considering how much he unlocks and excels in Boston’s scheme, and maybe because he bullied me on Twitter, my pick as of today would be the Boston guard.”

Better get that award locked up in a hurry though Marcus, because if we ask him “again tomorrow, … it might be someone else.”

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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