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It was announced today that New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler has won the 2011-2012 Defensive Player of the Year award. If you look at the overall results, you might be surprised to see Greg Monroe's name make an appearance near the bottom of the pecking order with a single point. It was surprising to ESPN's John Hollinger, too:
Holy crap ... Greg Monroe got a third-place DPOY vote. That is just horrible. Pistons gave up 11.9 pts/100 more with him ON the court.
— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) May 2, 2012
The unbiased part of me is willing to admit that Monroe probably had no business receiving any votes for this award, but I'm not so sure Hollinger -- the man behind the not-all-inclusive PER statistic -- is backing up his outrage with the right statistic. Monroe can't be held solely responsible for his four other teammates.
More times than not, the Pistons were better off with Monroe on the floor on the defensive end than not. Of the Pistons who played in more than 13 games this season, Monroe was second on the team in DRtg behind only the four-time Defensive Player of the Year winner Ben Wallace.
Monroe's no Top 5 defensive player in the NBA, but he didn't have a defensive season that should go unmentioned. He averaged 1.4 steals and nearly a block per 36 minutes and had a higher defensive rebounding rate than the DPOY. He was exposed quite a bit throughout the season, but an aggregate look at Monroe's final numbers, comparatively, and they're not too shabby. I imagine the 21-year-old will only improve once he gets some better talent alongside him.