NBA TV's Matt Winer Predicts Kawhi Will Be Unanimous DPOY

[DenialTwist]

Raymond Green the got that got raped by 'Moose' Monroe and Derrick Favors.

I'm tired of hearing this "He can guard 1-5" bull the media throws in for him and Lebron. I'd love to see them guard a PG and Center tbh

I know. 1-5?! yeah right. 3 and 4 yes but small ball centers don't count lol Hassan Whiteside even had a twitter argument with Green last summer because Green said big men are dinosaurs in the NBA with the Warriors small ball dominating teams. Green definitely had a hard time with Monroe. He thinks he can shut down LaMarcus Aldridge too according to the Dubs beat writer.

[DenialTwist]

On the same segment, Rick Fox predicted the warriors to go 16-0 in the postseason tbh

Dennis Scott said the Warriors would go undefeated in the postseason too. He said the spurs would not make the finals.

[Uriel]

I agree that Kawhi should win DPOY, but if there's one player who can give his some compe ion for the award, it's Tim Duncan, the guy who has the highest defensive real plus-minus in the NBA.

[Raven]

raymond really can't defend anyone one on one, he's an energy guy that improves the teams D in general, but if you isolate him he's just a tweener pf. Whenever there is a skilled center he'll abuse him left and right and whenever there is a skilled sf he'll shoot a thousand 3s or get layups. The thing is, raymond doesn't need to be a good one on one defender, because he's kinda a wildcard on D. Curry, Klay and Barnes do their job so he doesn't need to help D and Bogut is there strictly to protect the rim, so raymond really only has to go for rebounds and give effort.

[Fireball]

raymond really can't defend anyone one on one, he's an energy guy that improves the teams D in general, but if you isolate him he's just a tweener pf. Whenever there is a skilled center he'll abuse him left and right and whenever there is a skilled sf he'll shoot a thousand 3s or get layups. The thing is, raymond doesn't need to be a good one on one defender, because he's kinda a wildcard on D. Curry, Klay and Barnes do their job so he doesn't need to help D and Bogut is there strictly to protect the rim, so raymond really only has to go for rebounds and give effort.

That is way too negative IMO ... Draymond defends both players bigger and smaller than him better than most NBA players with his size are able to.
This makes him extremely valuable in the Warriors killer lineup because they can switch anything without Draymond getting abused.
Greg Monroe was successful as a big, but otherwise ...

[YGWHI]

A lot can happen between now and the end of the season, but Kawhi is by far the best overall defensive player in the league.

Kawhi Leonard. Defensive Player of the First Trimester by Marc Stein.

http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/p...-leonard-spurs

The Spurs, meanwhile, are in the midst of assembling one of the most impressive seasons defensively that we've ever seen, which naturally nudges us in the direction of spotlighting a Spur here. Thus it is Leonard, currently the NBA's only player ranked in the top five in both offensive and defensive win shares, who narrowly gets the nod from us ahead of Green and teammate Tim Duncan.
...If the Spurs can stay at that level all season, it's obviously going to be difficult for defenders in other cities to get their just due.

But

We have to say that Golden State's Green, though, is actually right there with Leonard on this scorecard and arguably best positioned to ultimately trump him in the real-life DPOY race until Rudy Gobert returns to the Utah lineup

...