As a WNBA media member with an awards vote, every season, the award I struggle with most is Defensive Player of the Year (and the related All-Defense team). So many players across the WNBA defend at a high level, but each plays different roles and has different strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n
Some are elite team defenders but struggle on the ball. Others are great perimeter defenders, but don\u2019t have the overall defensive impact of a rim protector. How do you compare a guard and a post player when their defensive responsibilities are so vastly different?<\/p>\n
On top of that, I always consider team defense to be a crucial factor; no matter how impactful a defender may be individually, it\u2019d be hard for me to give them this award if they were on a below-average defensive team. (Yes, many of you have criticized me for this in the past \u2014 and it\u2019s something I\u2019ve gone back and forth about quite a bit).<\/p>\n
All that being said, I voted for Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese for Defensive Player of the Year \u2014 and I feel pretty good about it.<\/p>\n
The case for Angel Reese for DPOY<\/p>\n
My initial desire to vote for Angel Reese for Defensive Player of the Year stemmed from simply watching her play. Take away the analytics, statistics, and multitude of metrics now available for WNBA award voters to leverage \u2014 it simply felt like Reese\u2019s presence dramatically changed the Dream\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n
A quick look at the numbers seriously confirms that eye-test.<\/p>\n
Reese thrives according to numerous defensive analytics. She has the best defensive rating differential in the entire WNBA (-15.1), which means that Dream opponents score 15.1 more points per 100 possessions when Reese is off the floor versus when she is on it.<\/p>\n
Reese\u2019s presence also directly correlates with opposing teams\u2019 offensive struggles. She has the best opponent effective field goal differential (-7.4%), true shooting % differential (-5.6%), and opponent 2-pointer % differential (-5.9%) \u2014 in other words, no WNBA player\u2019s on-court presence is more directly correlated with the opposition\u2019s efficiency worsening than Reese\u2019s. (In even more plain terms, if Angel Reese is guarding you, your team starts missing shots).<\/p>\n
Reese also helps generate steals at a very high rate. She is third in the WNBA in steals per game (1.8), trailing only Dream teammates Rhyne Howard (2.3 per game) and Jordin Canada (1.9). But, even more motably, Reese leads the league in opponent turnover percentage differential (+3.2%), meaning that her presence significantly impacts opponents\u2019 tendency to turn the ball over. (In other words, teams turn the ball over 3.2% more often when Reese is on the floor versus when she\u2019s off of it). Forcing dead-ball turnovers doesn\u2019t count toward a player\u2019s steals per game, but it does show up in their ability to impact an opponent\u2019s turnover percentage.<\/p>\n
Reese also has the fourth-highest defensive VPM (+1.81), a databallr metric that estimates how much a player contributes to preventing points per 100 possessions, relative to a baseline player. (She trails only A\u2019ja Wilson, Gabby Williams, and Aliyah Boston).<\/p>\n