Tony Allen (4th In Voting) Wonders How He Can Get A DPOY Award Like Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard was voted the NBA Defensive Player of the Year for the third consecutive season yesterday. Tony Allen of the Memphis Grizzlies came in 4th in voting behind Howard, Kevin Garnett and Tyson Chandler. Allen wondered on Twitter today what it would take for a hard-working guard like himself to win such an award since he actually has to guard people on a nightly basis.

Jus wondering!! D howard got defensive player of ther year!! What kind of players do he check all year!! At the center position? Tweet back (link)

I’m chilln,, I don’t want that award!! I jus wonder what do you have 2 do 2 get it!! (link)

@milewski10 lol!! I mean!! Its easy!! 2 lay off these guys and clog the paint (link)

Tony Allen had to guard skilled players on a nightly basis while Howard just got to hang out in the lane and wait for small people to dribble the basketball in his general direction. Of course, Kelly Dwyer of Ball Don’t Lie is ready and willing to shit on Tony Allen’s argument.

Howard had to be the clear winner, as he led a terrible group of defensive teammates to a top three mark in defensive efficiency in 2010-11. The 25-year old stud managed 14.1 rebounds per game this year with 2.4 blocks and 1.4 steals. He led the NBA in Defensive Rating and Defensive Win Shares (Jon Barry: “Wha?”) for the third straight season, centers only manage an 11.8 PER against him (15 is the average; and PERs tend to inflate for good rebounders, so PER rankings for centers are usually surprisingly high), while still covering all angles as penetrating scorers dash past Jameer Nelson=, Gilbert Arenas, Hedo Turkoglu, J.J. Redick, and Jason Richardson.

Sorry Tony. Maybe next year.

[h/t: @TrueHoop, Image via Getty]

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5 Responses to “Tony Allen (4th In Voting) Wonders How He Can Get A DPOY Award Like Dwight Howard”

Chris Kaman 69ing a Giraffe Says:
April 19th, 2011 at 6:19 PM

This guy really is fucking insane!

Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
April 19th, 2011 at 6:29 PM

I had a facebook meltdown when he signed for same/less money in Memphis. Me an’ PP were both PISSED. I loved him against Kobe, against Bron, and it was always just enough to keep Pierce out of trouble and let Pierce (a pretty good defender) or Allen (a surprisingly decent defender) cover late when you had to take him out to keep an offense.

/Also wouldn’t have had to trade Perk and take 5 years off Simmons’ father’s life

jekyll Says:
April 19th, 2011 at 6:29 PM

aa000G9? Does that twitter handle mean something?

plikkkk Says:
April 20th, 2011 at 11:44 AM

Not really sure that’s quite the “takedown” you thought it was. A center who blocks shots is always going to have a greater overall effect on the game than a wing player who merely shuts down one guy. That doesn’t mean the center is better at defense. It means that its an inapposite comparison. Maybe they should hand out two DPOY’s — one to a frontcourt player, one to a backcourt player? I mean a guy who loves defense as much as Allen does, and who is as impressive an on-ball defender as he is, and who is in such unbelievable physical condition definitely deserves a lot of credit.

Lt. Leisure Says:
April 20th, 2011 at 3:19 PM