NBA data analysis: Why Evan Mobley wins the honor of best defensive player

Recently, Cleveland Cavaliers player Evan Mobley won the honor of Best Defensive Player. The competition for the best defensive player this season is very fierce. In early April, major media and betting agencies were optimistic that Golden State Warriors' Green won this honor, but in the final voting session, Mobley was even more recognized by the judges. He won a total of 35 first-round tickets, 30 second-round tickets, and 20 third-round tickets from the 100 judges. Finally, he won the award with a total score of 285 points. Daniels ranked second in total score of 197 points, and Green ranked third in 154 points.

This season, Mobley has made great progress on both offense and defense and has become an all-star star in the offense and defense level. However, today's top-level players' test only brings everyone a defensive data analysis to see what kind of defensive performance Mobley impressed the judges.

This is not the first time Mobley has competed for this honor. As early as the 2022-23 season, he was selected into the league's best defensive first team. The five-man group at that time were Lopez, Jaren Jackson Jr., Mobley, Juli Holiday and Caruso. In the selection of the best defensive player of the season, Mobley ranked third with 101 points, Jaren Jackson Jr. Jr. No. 1, and Lopez No. 2, 309 points. It can be seen from the point gap that Mobley was still quite immature at that time, but since this season, he has been highly recognized by experts. It can even be foreseeable that the NBA's "best defensive player" honor competition for many years in the future will be the battle between Mobley and Vinban Yama.

First look at the advanced defensive data rankings of several well-known data websites in the United States.

On the basketball website, Mobley's DBPM (defensive contribution value per 100 rounds) is 1.5, ranking 16th in the league, first Dunn 3.4, second Jokic 3.3, third Green 2.8. The DBPM data of this website has always been controversial because they also count the assist data into the defensive statistics, so Jokic's DBPM score is as high as 3.3, ranks second in the league. In fact, Jokic's defensive dominance is very average.

On the Dunks-threes website, Mobley's DEF (defensive influence per 100 rounds) is 1.4, ranking 32nd in the league, first Caruso 3.2, second Wenbanyama 2.8, third Green 2.7.

On the bball-index website, Mobley's D-lebron (defensive influence) 1.73 ranks 15th in the league, defensive role tags are Mobile Big (mobile big man), first Bitaze 2.57, second Isaac 2.55, third Green 2.42.

On the crafted NBA website, Mobley's CraftedDPM (Comprehensive Defensive Positive and Negative Value) 2.2 ranked 28th in the league, first Green 4.5, second Wenban Yama 4, third Caruso 3.9 ranked 3.

The statistics of advanced defensive data on each website are different. Most of them use rebounds, steals, blocks, defensive points and other data. Through the advanced defensive data ratings of the four websites, it can be seen that Green is in the top three, while Mobley is ranked 15th to 30th. I think the reason why major media and betting agencies listed Green as a popular winner at the end of the season is based on this, but the right to select the best defensive player in the NBA is in the hands of 100 basketball reporters and commentators in the United States and Canada. These judges did not simply select according to the advanced data, but gave the answer based on their own standards.

When evaluating a player's defensive ability, we must comprehensively consider the defense situation of his team. This season, the Cleveland Cavaliers ranked 8th in the league with a defensive efficiency of 112.2 per 100 rounds. The opponent averaged 90.9 shots in front of the Cavaliers, and the number of shots ranked 22nd in the league from low to high. This shows that although the Cavaliers gave their opponents a lot of opportunities to make phone calls, they did a very good job in interfering with the reserve requirement ratio cut.

Among them, the opponent's three-point line averaged 37.5 shots from outside the three-point line, and the number of shots defense ranked 12th in the league from low to high.

Average 53.4 shots from the inside, the number of shots from low to high is ranked 23rd in the league.

It can be seen that the Cavaliers' defensive strategy is to strictly prevent the outside and to put the opponent into the inside to attack, because the team has two major experts in the interior, including Jarrett Allen and Mobley.

Then we take a closer look at Mobley's positioning and efficiency in this defensive system. He played No. 4 for 48% of the time this season and No. 5 for 52% of the time. Basically, he played No. 4 when Allen was on the court, and when Allen left the court, he became the center of the team.

He has become an excellent defensive rebound protector with his wingspan talent of 23 meters (ranked 41st in the league). He ranked 21st in the league with 7 defensive rebounds per game, with a rebound rate of 33.7%, and provided 114 blocking times to help his teammates grab rebounds, ranking 20th in the league.

Average defensive running 1,754 meters per game ranks first among the Cavaliers, averaged 17.1 defense against opponents per game ranks first among the Cavaliers (Allen ranked 2nd in 14.9 times, and Struz ranked 3rd in 11.3 times), and ranked 11th in the league. Based on the above defensive data, it can be seen that Mobley is the defensive core and defensive pillar of the Cavaliers.

The opponent averaged 7.6 goals per game to 44.5% under Mobley's defense, reducing the opponent's shooting percentage by 3.2 percentage points on average. This reduced efficiency ranks 17th among all 196 players in the league with more than 10 attacks by opponents in the league. It is very deterrent. It has made a total of 113 blocks and ranks 5th in the league, only behind Vanbanyama 176 times, Lopez 148 times, Turner 144 times, and Kessler 138 times..

Among them, the opponent's three-point shooting averaged 5.1 times outside the three-point line, ranked 47th in the league. The opponent's averaged 1.7 goals per game hit to 33.6% under his defense, reducing the opponent's shooting percentage by 1.9 percentage points on average. This defensive efficiency ranks 26th among the top 100 defending three-point shootings in the league.

Average 12 shots from the opponent in the inside line, ranking 11th in the league, with the opponent's average shooting percentage of 5.9 goals per game to 49.1%, reducing the opponent's shooting percentage by 5.7 percentage points on average. This defensive efficiency ranks 17th in the top 100 defense two-point shootings in the league.

It can be seen that Mobley is an all-around defensive player who can defend the inside and the outside, and can greatly reduce the opponent's shooting rate on both the inside and outside.

It can also be seen from the above data that Mobley is a multi-functional defender who can defend from No. 1 to No. 5. Although Gobert has won the honor of Best Defensive Player many times, he was very embarrassed to be played by outside stars like Doncic and Curry. Smart, the best defensive player of the 2021-22 season, also said that Gobert cannot defend the defender, but he can defend the center. Mobley has no shortcomings in the defensive position at all, and he can deal with any position or any type of offensive player.

The defensive back players have 251 minutes, accounting for 28% of the total defensive time. It is a very good level to limit the shooting percentage of the defenders to 43%.

Defensive forward players account for 413 minutes, accounting for 46% of the total defensive time. It is a very good level to limit the shooting percentage of forward players to 43.5%.

The defensive center players have 240 minutes, accounting for 26% of the total defensive time, and limiting the center players' shooting percentage to 50% is also an excellent level.

From the data, it can be seen that he has a very terrifying suppression of defenders and forward players, and his defensive efficiency has decreased due to his weight disadvantage.

The top ten stars in defense time match.

Defense Lopez in 17 minutes, 32 seconds and 81 rounds, Lopez in 66.7% from 4 of 6 shots.

Defense Scotty Barnes 16 minutes 25 seconds 88, and Barnes made 8 of 22 shots from 36.4%.

Defense Adebayo made 7 of 16 shots and shot 43.8%.

Defense Horford was 13 minutes, 40 seconds and 62 rounds, Horford hit 47.5% from 3 of 8 shots.

Defense Clarkston 13 minutes 14 seconds 56 rounds, Clarkston made 7 of 13 shots and hit a 53.8% shooting percentage.

Defense Towns 12 minutes, 40 seconds and 59 rounds, and Towns made 8 of 12 shots and shot a percentage of 66.7%.

Defense Stewart was 12 minutes, 21 seconds and 59 rounds, and Stewart made 4 of 6 shots and hit a 66.7% shooting percentage.

Defense Josh Hart 11 minutes 54 seconds 45 rounds, Hart shot 14.3% from 1 of 7 shots.

defended Miles Bridges in 11 minutes, 12 seconds and 57 rounds, and Bridges made 11 of 20 shots and hit a 55% shooting percentage.

defended Okonggu for 11 minutes 11 seconds 56 rounds, Okonggu made 1 of 4 shots and hit a 25% shooting percentage.

From the star counterpoint data, it can be seen that Mobley's defensive strength-type inside line does not have an advantage, but once he encounters a player whose height is not as high as his own, he can easily grasp it.

In addition, I think one thing Mobley is the key factor that impressed the judges. His defensive movements are very clean. He ranks 104th in the league in 141 fouls this season, while Green ranked 8th in the league with 219 fouls, of which 13 technical fouls ranked 4th in the league, 3rd in 6 fouls, and 1 direct expulsion. His defensive reputation is much different than Mobley.

Finally, according to the comprehensive defensive data, Mobley is a multi-functional defensive champion that every coach dreams of. The reason why the Cavaliers' Allen, Mobley and Markkanen tactics were able to go against the trend when the small ball trend was popular was also due to Mobley's defensive unimaginable attributes. He also has the ability to shoot on the offensive end, and is the most perfect center in the small ball style.

Mobley is full of ambitions. In an interview after winning the honor of Best Defensive Player, he said: "This is just the first of my many honors." His draft template is legendary superstars like Garnett and Bosh. Now it seems that he has a chance to reach the template height. Let's quietly look forward to the new star's legendary performance of his own name.