As opposed to the dozens (hundreds?) of readily-available statistics that measure offensive performance, basketball still has a long way to go to effectively gauge the individual impact a player makes at the defensive end of the floor. Sure, there are blocked shots – Anthony Davis again led the league in that category, with 2.57 rejections per game. Yes, there are steals – Davis ranked 15th in the NBA, one spot ahead of teammate Jrue Holiday. In general, though, the most significant defensive achievement a player can reach remains All-Defensive recognition, determined each spring by an end-of-regular season vote.
Davis and Holiday both earned first-team status Wednesday, a fitting reward for their impact on making New Orleans one of the NBA’s most improved defenses in the second half of the 2017-18 regular season.