Defense: the final frontier. If the statistical analysis of basketball offenses lingered in the 20th century for many years, defense was still in the 19th century. Most everyone acknowledges that blocks and steals are insufficient to measure defense, yet they, defensive rebounds and fouls are still the only defensive statistics officially tracked by the NBA.
Fortunately, independent sources, led by 82games.com, have moved to fill in some of the gaps. We can now track how a team's defense performs with and without a player on the floor (using net defensive plus-minus, the difference per 100 possessions in these ratings), have an idea of which players are the best at drawing charges and have very rough estimates of performance by opposing players at the same position...
Shooting Guard
Anthony Parker, Toronto
Parker has helped key Toronto's remarkable defensive turnaround that has led the Raptors to the Atlantic Division le. Parker isn't quite as physical as the stereotypical wing stopper, but he's an excellent athlete with good size and length for the position at 6-6. Opposing shooting guards have just a 47.5% effective field-goal percentage against Parker (league average is 49.6%). Toronto struggled defensively when parker sprained his ankle early in March.
Honorable Mention:
Manu Ginobili, San Antonio - Benefits from playing alongside the league's best stopper, but very good on defense in his own right.
Small Forward
Bruce Bowen, San Antonio
I say this both as an analyst and an employee of a Western Conference opponent: Eventually Bowen has to lose a step, right? At 35, Bowen has had another outstanding season. With Bowen on the floor, the Spurs allowed a microscopic 97.0 points per 100 possessions (San Antonio narrowly leads the league with a 100.9 Defensive Rating overall). Since an early controversy with the Knicks over allegedly dirty tactics, Bowen has stayed out of the news this season.
Power Forward
Tim Duncan, San Antonio
Guards and centers and Bruce Bowen come and go, but the San Antonio defense is positively metronomic in its consistency. If the Spurs hold off Houston to lead the league in Defensive Rating this year, it will be the eighth time in the last nine years. The other year, they finished third. There have been two constants in that period: Duncan and Gregg Popovich. It's hard to say just exactly how much of the credit for the defensive juggernaut deserves to go to Duncan and how much to Popovich, but each complements the other and there is plenty of credit to go around. Duncan is the anchor; he has terrific individual statistics and always has a positive impact on the Spurs defense when he's on the floor.
That is why he is this year's Every Play Counts Defensive Player of the Year.
Center
Honorable Mention:
Rasho Nesterovic, Toronto - Another key to the Raptors defensive turnaround. Nesterovic is criticized for being soft, but he can block a shot and is usually in the right place on the floor to use his size.