Top 5 defensive Centers of 2019-2020

Top 5 defensive centers of 2019-2020

Defense wins championships. This is a common statement heard in any sport you

play, watch, or love. This is part one of five showing off the best defenders in the

NBA for their respective positions for the 2019- 2020 season. With the season being

cut short we won't be able to see these statistics at their full potential, but I feel

enough games were played to get a good enough idea of who the lockdown

defenders are. Today we are talking about centers, the players that are supposed to

protect the rim and end an offensive possession with a rebound. I looked at 9 specific

stats and from there used that information and the eye test to put together this top

5. The 9 stats were defensive ratings, defensive field goal percentage, defensive win

shares, block percentage, steals percentage, defensive rebounding percentage, steals

per game, blocks per game and defensive rebounds per game with a minimum of 30

games played. 

5. Deandre Jordan (Brooklyn Nets)

Deandre Jordan has been a pretty good defender his whole career. He made an all

defensive team twice and led the league in rebounding for 2 years. This year was no

different playing for his new team. He put up a line of 8.3 points, 10 rebounds, and .9

blocks. Jordan was able to hold his opponents to shooting 40.5% from the field which

was the second best out of all centers. He also was second in the league in defensive

rebounding percentage grabbing the boards 34.2% of the time he was on the floor.

That's amazing seeing he was 11th in defensive rebounds per game at center

grabbing 7.5 on the season. Unfortunately second was the highest he could get in

any of the categories and he only placed top 5 three times. The third was his

defensive rating which came in at 103.6, fifth best out of all centers. With that being

said his defensive win shares were by far the worst out of the group at 2.3% and he

was not consistent enough to compete with anyone else on the list. He earned his

spot on the list because if you put him on your best big man chances are Jordan will

be able to at least contain him.

4. Hassan Whiteside (Portland Trail blazers)

 

Whiteside was putting together a pretty good season averaging 16.3 points, 3.1

blocks and 14.2 rebounds per game. Now you may look at the amount of blocks and

rebounds and be confused as to why he is number four on the list, but looking

deeper into the numbers blocks and rebounding were the only categories that

Whiteside thrived in. He had the most blocks per game and had the highest block

percentage by blocking an opponent 8.3% of the time he was on the court. He was

also third in defensive rebounds with 10.2 rebounding the ball 33.4% of the time he

was on the court which was also third out of all centers. The problem with Whiteside

is he has the second worse defensive rating out of all the players on this list at 106.

He also has the second worse percentages in defensive win shares at 3%. So while he

dominated the competition in blocks his opponents were able to score on him unless

he got one of those blocks.

3. Andre Drummond (Cleveland Cavaliers)

Putting Andre at this number 3 spot was a tough decision considering he was number

one in four of the nine categories which was the most out of anybody else on the list.

He could be higher depending on what you value on the defensive side. His 1.9 steals

per game lead all big men on the list taking it away 2.8% of the time he was on the

court. He also led all big men in defensive rebounding, grabbing 10.8 a game

meaning he got the rebound 36.6 percent of the time he was on the court. His

defensive win shares were also at 3.6% which was third best out of all centers. On

the year, Drummond also averaged 17.6 points and 1.6 blocks per game. While the

steals and rebounds were great Drummond severely lacked when it came to on ball

defense. He allowed his opponents to shoot 57.6 percent which was 23rd out of all

centers. He also had a defensive rating of 107 which is the worst on the list. The fact

that his defense won games, he led in four of the nine categories and he was more

consistent than Hassan and Deandre put him high enough on my list.

2. Brook Lopez (Milwaukee Bucks)

Now I know you are shocked and confused because I was the same way when

making this list. When you think of Brook the first thing you think of is not defense,

but the more I looked at it the more I was convinced. He showed up in five of the nine

categories and the lowest he placed was fourth. He was also number one in arguably

the most important category which was his defensive rating sitting at a 99. If that's

not enough to convince you it doesn't end there. He was second in blocks per game

with 2.4 blocking the ball 8 percent of the time he was on the floor which was tied

for second, the other being Mitchell Robenson. He only allowed his opponents to

shoot 41.8% from the field sitting at fourth out of all centers. To top it all off he was

second in defensive win shares at 3.9% only second to the number one player on my

list. The only thing he is lacking is what Drummond had. His rebounding was abysmal

for a center averaging 4.5 a game and 3.8 of them were on the defensive side. He

also averaged .7 steals a game but the only person anywhere near that list was

Drummond so it's hard to fault him for that. Looking at these numbers it's almost

impossible to put him any lower on this list.

1. Rudy Gobert (Utah Jazz)

 

Unlike Brook Lopez, Rudy Gobert should come to nobody's surprise. He has won back

to back defensive player of the year awards and was well on track to win another

one. Like brook he showed up on five of the nine categories and was number one on

two of them. He held his opponents to shooting 40.2% from the field and his

defensive win shares were sitting at 4%. His defensive rating was second best on the

list sitting at 103.2 behind Brook Lopez. He was fourth out of all centers in blocks

averaging 2 a game with a block percentage of 4.8%. He also had what Brook lacked,

grabbing 10.3 defensive rebounds, only behind Drummond and 13.7 total rebounds.

Rudy is the definition of a true rim protector and any team would be lucky to have

him down there defending their paint.