The NBA All-Defensive Teams have officially been announced with 2x Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard receiving a unanimous selection to the 1st team. It’s been a huge year for Leonard getting his first All-Star appearance as well as leading the Spurs to a 67-15 record. Draymond Green earned the second most votes behind Leonard (260) with 251 averaging a very impressive 1.5 steals per game along with 1.4 blocks per game. The First team had two players from the Los Angeles Clippers with DeAndre Jordan receiving his second All-Defensive 1st Team honors in a row and Chris Paul receiving his 6th All-Defensive 1st Team honors having his 9th NBA season averaging over 2 steals per game (2.1, 2015-16). With 137 votes and 47 1st Team votes, Avery Bradley slid into the All-Defensive 1st Team getting his first individual NBA accolade in his 6th NBA season. Here are the full voting results for the All-Defensive 1st and 2nd Teams:
To no surprise the second team had multiple players that have earned more than one appearance on the All-Defensive Team. Paul George is one of the biggest names on the Second Team with 48 total votes, only 5 points ahead of LeBron James to give George his 3rd All-Defensive Team of his career (Second All-Defensive 2nd Team). In Jimmy Butler’s very short NBA career thus far, he’s onto his 3rd All-Defensive 2nd Team in a row after winning the Most Improved Player Award last season. Tony Allen’s very defensive oriented career has given him his 5th All-Defensive Team honor in a row and only his second All-Defensive 2nd Team honor in his career. The Atlanta Hawks’s 3x All-Star Paul Millsap and Miami Heat’s rising defensive star Hassan Whiteside both earned their first All-Defensive Team honors after Millsap had a career high in Blocks Per Game with 1.7; while Whiteside led the league in Blocks Per Game with 3.7.
