Doc Rivers has gone all in on DeAndre Jordan’s Defensive Player of the Year campaign, saying, “If anybody else gets that award, we need to have an investigation.”
That led to Tom Haberstroh writing a compelling article on why Jordan doesn’t deserve the honor. An excerpt:Rebounding isn’t everything
Jordan does have the upper hand in the rebounding column. Since Blake Griffin went out with a staph infection in early February, Jordan has pulled down a ridiculous 18.6 boards per game with 13.2 of those coming on the defensive end. Those are Wilt Chamberlain-type numbers.
The full scope of DeAndre Jordan’s stats prove he’s not a leading DPOY candidate.
In fact, Jordan’s 17.2 rebounding average was the highest we’ve seen in any month (minimum 10 games) since Ben Wallace in 2002-03, when he racked up 18.8 rebounds per game in the month of March. Interestingly enough, Wallace went on to win the defensive player of the year award in a landslide that season, garnering 100 of the 117 first-place votes.
Here’s why Jordan probably won’t follow Wallace’s path: Most of Jordan’s glass-cleaning impact is on the offensive end, which doesn’t move the needle for his defensive credentials. When Jordan’s on the floor, the Clippers recover 25.5 percent of their misses, but that free-falls to an abysmal 15.4 percent when he goes to the bench, according to NBA.com. That’s impact.
However, Jordan’s defensive rebounding tells a much weaker story. The Clippers’ defensive rebounding rate barely moves from 76.4 percent to 74.6 percent when he goes to the bench, indicating that he could be stealing defensive boards from his teammates. Case in point: Griffin averages just seven rebounds per 36 minutes playing next to Jordan this season, but that soars to 10.6 when Griffin plays without him. Chris Paul also shows a similar split (4.8 boards with Jordan vs. 5.6 without Jordan).
Your response, Doc?
Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times:
Doc Rivers wasn't happy about @tomhaberstroh article saying DeAndre Jordan is not the defensive player of the year, saying he took offense.
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) March 13, 2015
Doc Rivers on article: "He didn’t mention rebounding. How the hell can you not mention rebounding in defense?"
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) March 13, 2015
Doc Rivers continued: "Rebounding is maybe the No. 1 thing about defense because you have to get the rebound to stop the other [team]."
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) March 13, 2015
Doc:"The other thing he said was there wasn't a lot of use, a lot of guys aren’t driving. Exactly! They’re not driving because D.J. is there
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) March 13, 2015
Doc Rivers: "You could make an article on any number you want to, and that’s what I’ve learned with a lot of the writing now."
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) March 13, 2015
Doc: "Ask Dallas tonight if D.J.’s a good defensive player. I think the last time we played, Rick Carlisle used the word Wilt Chamberlain."
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) March 13, 2015
Doc Rivers admitted he had not read story by @tomhaberstroh and was fed excerpts by the team's PR staff.
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) March 13, 2015
How do you complain about what’s not in an article that you didn’t read in full? I just – I don’t even know what to say.
To quote Draymond Green, “Cool story, Glenn.”