I’m so surprised they don’t got at least one defensive player of the year award. Adebayo can guard every position on the court and switch between defensive schemes based on the game and possession. For example, he might drop back to tip a pass instead of stopping to contain the ball. It’s not just blocks where Davis makes his impact known. Davis protects the rim and is the main reason the Lakers are outscoring teams in the paint by an average of 5.3 points per game. The Lakers have few bigs available to complement or help Davis, so he has far more defensive responsibility than his peers on other teams.
2018 when Rudy only played 56 games and AD had probably his best all-around season, finishing 3rd DPOY and 2nd most 1st place votes.
Smart’s year was voter fatigue for Rudy, but probably Bam’s best defensive season. You could argue that he should’ve won with precedent of Rudy’s 2018 dominant season and Bam playing 56 games himself in 2022