The Detroit Pistons have one of the league's top perimeter defenders in Motown, but does he have a path to winning the Defensive Player of the Year honor while Wemby is still in the NBA?
Last night, Detroit Pistons wing Ausar Thompson was selected to the first All-Defensive squad of his career, and his honor came with top billing as a member of the First Team. During the announcement, the NBA revealed that the 100 basketball analysts across the world selected both Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs and Chet Holmgren of the Oklahoma City Thunder by a more resounding margin as the only two players to earn more votes than AT.
As for Wemby, it should come as no surprise that the Western Conference tower from across the pond had a decisive hand in both the All-Defensive First Team lineup in addition to winning the Defensive Player of the Year award. During the regular season, Wemby averaged more than three blocks and one steal per game, and he somehow found a way to raise his rim protection to another level during the playoffs.
Just two weeks ago, Wemby recorded a triple-double against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round of the postseason where blocks were one of the pertinent categories in the Frenchman’s dominant display. At 7-4 but more realistically a mobile 7-6, Wembanyama has the ability to impact shots unlike any player who’s entered the league in generations, and his youth at just 22 years old should strike fear into General Managers across the NBA.
Wemby is routinely making plays that only seemed possible on NBA Street or within the confines of our imagination, and he’s done so in emphatic fashion. But for all of those defensive plaudits, Thompson has put together some comparable defensive game tape in his own right, though they specialize in different areas.
As a pickpocketing artist, Thompson’s greatest impact comes as an on-ball defender at the point of attack. During the regular season. Thompson set the standard by leading the NBA with two steals per game, a level that becomes even more impressive when considering the level of talent that AT set out to blanket last year. See, Thompson has the drive and ambition to apply his suffocating defensive tendencies to the opposing team’s most dangerous player, therein neutralizing a threat who could light up the Pistons if they aren’t careful.
Given that focus, Thompson takes on an aggressive role each night, and he set the tone for a Detroit defense that took pride in carrying out an imposing effort each night. But as it pertains to the Defensive Player of the Year award, how can AT compete with such a lengthy opponent in the other conference?
Well, the answer is that it won’t be easy for Thompson to pry the DPOY trophy away from Wemby, but it is possible. Last year, Wembanyama averaged a combined 4.1 stocker per game, which is a staggering number, but Thompson was not too far off with 2.9 each game. Since Wemby is one year younger than Ausar (they are from the same draft class), it will be challenging for the elder to overtake the Spurs center, but stranger events have occurred in the league. For example, Wemby needs to continue to stay healthy given the NBA’s 65-game requirement for individual awards. And following that same train of thought, Wemby would of course need to avoid suspension trouble in order to meet that games played threshold, while Thompson played in the most games of his career with a new high watermark for minutes played as well after an injury-riddled sophomore campaign.
Right now, the deck may seem stacked in Wemby’s favor given the league’s propensity to prioritize rim protection when it comes to defense, but Thompson’s ball-hawking ability may be enough to eventually tip the DPOY scales back in his favor.
For more information on the latest Detroit Pistons team or player news, follow @EricJRutter on X for continued basketball coverage. Also be sure to look up Roundtable - Michigan Men Media
