From the opening tip of the season, Evan Mobley was the best defender on a Cavaliers team that had the eighth-best defense in the league — and a 108.6 defensive rating when he was on the court that would have been second in the League. Mobley is a valued rim protector who can switch out on (or just be assigned to) perimeter players, closing them down.
That play and that consistency earned him the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, as voted on by members of the media.
What won Mobley the award was both the quality of his play and the consistency — he was good all season. Mobley had the counting stats — 1.6 blocks per game (sixth in the league) and 7 rebounds (13th) — but it was the eye test that won a lot of voters over. Using the league’s tracking stats, Mobley contested 10.4 shots per game, the third most among players who played at least 58 games.
DPOY was a wide-open race (once Victor Wembanyama was out for the season) and that is reflected in seven players getting first-place votes for the award.
Mobley had 35 first-place votes (and 30 for second place), edging out Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels (25 first-place votes) and Golden State’s Draymond Green (15). The Thunder’s Lu Dort and the Rockets’ Amen Thompson finished fourth and fifth in the voting.
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