By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
Many basketball experts are proponents of the view that it’s the offense that brings the fans to the stadium and the defense that wins titles. An approach that is very close to this view is that the defense is like money in the bank, while the offense points more to… gambling, since it’s the topic of the day!
Our view? In contemporary basketball the titles are won by a combination of the balance between defense and offense, when both function at the highest level for a team! The reason? Now, offense and defense are more and more interconnected and interdependent, since basketball is getting faster, plays unfold faster and situations proceed from one to the other in no time.
The question is simple. Who is the best defender in this year’s Euroleague? Which player deserves to get the Best Defender award that was established in the 2004-05 season?
Before we present our own candidates, let’s remember the winners of the previous 11 seasons! The absolute dominator is Dimitris Diamantidis with 6 wins (2005-09 and the 2011 season)!
In 2010 it was Viktor Khryapa, in 2012 Andrey Kirilenko, in 2013 Stefan Lasme and in the 2 last seasons it was Bryan Dunston as a player for Olympiacos.
The best defender has emerged from a Greek team nine times and two times from CSKA. This particular award hasn’t travelled to any other countries outside of Greece and Russia! Impressive!
This year, for the very first time, the chance of the award to going to a player that plays in a different country is big!
The six candidates
Eurohoops singled out 6 players not only based on numbers, but with the criterion being their overall effort and impact on the defensive function of their teams and with contribution that is not captured in statistics. The second basic criterion is the course of the clubs they play for and how far they went. Let’s take a look at them!
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Dontaye Draper
Lokomotiv Kuban
The 32-year-old guard is the classic case of a player that does a great job in defense, but isn’t rewarded by the numbers! The coaches, teammates and mostly… the opponents know that he’s one of the best defenders in the Euroleague at pressing on the ball!
He’s excellent in one-on-one defending too, but when it comes to on-ball pressure, he’s a specialist. He lowers his body, has very fast feet and hands, is very dedicated and reads well what the offense wants to do and how he has to move in order to break up the screens. Lokomotiv made the leap, they have the best defense in the competition and Draper is key to this.
Stefan Jovic
The Serbian guard has had a productive season, like Crvena Zvezda who made a record number of wins in the history of Serbian teams in the Euroleague! Skillful in many defensive situations since he’s 1m.98 and has fast feet – considering his height – and quite long arms. He’s good at one-on-one defense and pressing on the ball and at reading plays (he’s 8th in steals), has the advantage of being able to deal with taller opponents in the post, after switches on the screens.
Nikita Kurbanov
Dimitrios Itoudis’s well-hidden defensive secret for those who haven’t seen many of CSKA’s games this year! Kurbanov has played a catalytic role in the defensive balance regarding the five-on-five play and has done everything well and effectively! He’s strong, plays defenses in the low post, gets rebounds, shuts off lanes. His most important contribution? For extended periods of time, he sets up the first line of defense along the perimeter with impressive effectiveness, often following switches. He’s done great in this special and crucial role, against almost every top scorer of the competition and it’s no coincidence that he plays for an average of 20 minutes!