MVP Preview: Who Locks Down Best?

Offence wins games, defence wins championships. It’s a saying that could be almost as old as the game of basketball itself.

While the go-to offensive moves have drastically changed over the years the key pillars of defence have remained the same. Sit down, guard your man, and work your butt off.

Thanks to NBL22 Damian Martin Defensive Player of the Year Antonius Cleveland’s nomination there’s a chance we could see a multiple-time winner for the first time since Martin himself took home his sixth crown in 2018 – however Dererk Pardon and Shea Ili may have something to say about that.

NBL Media runs through the history of the award, and why each nominee can take home the trophy.

Watch the NBL MVP Awards, presented by Hungry Jack’s, live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel from 8:30pm AEDT on Tuesday, February 7.

Last five winners:

NBL22: Antonius Cleveland (Illawarra Hawks)
NBL21: Justin Simon (Illawarra Hawks)
NBL20: DJ Newbill (Cairns Taipans)
NBL19: Andrew Bogut (Sydney Kings)
NBL18: Damian Martin (Perth Wildcats)

Multiple winners:

Damian Martin – 6
Darnell Mee – 5
Phil Smyth – 4
Terry Dozier – 3
Leroy Loggins, Ray Wood, Mike Kelly – 2

Damian Martin's (L) six Defensive Player of the Year Awards - including five in a row from 2011-2015 - led to the award being named after the Wildcats legend.

The nominees

Antonius Cleveland (Adelaide 36ers), Shea Ili (Melbourne United), Dererk Pardon (New Zealand Breakers)

Antonius Cleveland – His credentials:

The stats: 15PPG, 5.2REB, 2.5AST, 0.7BLK, 1.9STL

Why he wins: The reigning Defensive Player of the Year may have changed his uniform in NBL23, but he hasn’t changed his sheer intensity and will to win on the defensive side of the ball.

In a season which started so promisingly win a pre-season win over the Phoenix Suns, Adelaide’s campaign ever so slightly fell off the rails in NBL23 – but one constant has been the leadership of Cleveland within a changing side.

The former Dallas Maverick and Atlanta Hawks’ ability to defend any position on the court is hammered home by the fact he’s been taking jump-balls over incumbent centres Kai Sotto and Daniel Johnson over the season – and the length and athleticism he provides means he’s no easybeat for any player in the competition.

Why he doesn’t: The team defence. Adelaide rank sixth in points against this season – and the 36ers have conceded more points than the teams of each of Cleveland’s competitors for this award.

The lowest any team defence has ranked for each of the last five winners of the award is fifth – which was incidentally the NBL22 Hawks, when Cleveland last won the award – and three of the last five winners have been a part of team defences ranked within the top two of that season.

If Cleveland is going to make it back-to-back wins he’s going to have to break the mould.

The expert says: "His athleticism is the one thing that stands out first and foremost, but the reality is it’s one thing to be an incredible athlete, it’s another thing to be able to utilise that ability by staying in a stance, being so hard to be screened, and using your wingspan to get deflections and steals - and then he reads the game really well. He ticks all the boxes for what it takes to make an incredible defender and that’s why he could potentially go back-to-back." – Six-time NBL Defensive Player of the Year Damian Martin.

Antonius Cleveland has provided the Adelaide 36ers with steady leadership over the course of a tough season.

Shea Ili – His credentials

The stats: 8.7PPG, 3.3REB, 3.9AST, 0.5BLK, 1.0STL

Why he wins it: Melbourne United has won 14 games so far this season. Of those 14 wins, Shea Ili has played in 11.

Melbourne United has lost 13 games this season. Of those 13 losses, Shea Ili has played in three.

Ili’s credentials for winning the Defensive Player of the Year award could, quite simply, just be left at that. While he’s had his injury and availability problems this season United has, for want of a better word, floundered. When he’s taken to the court they’ve absolutely soared.

Is there a player who has such a positive impact on his team’s defensive as Shea Ili does for United?

Why he doesn’t: Availability. Through no fault of his own Shea Ili has been absent for long stretches of the season – and regardless of how that’s impacted Melbourne United’s performances, his sample size of games is nearly half of Dererk Pardon and Antonius Cleveland.

He entered the season on the sidelines with concussion, and unable to overcome the symptoms of severe head knocks has been one of the hard luck stories of the season.

The NBL is a better competition when Ili is on the court and making plays, but unfortunately he might not have been able to do that enough this season to take home the Defensive Player of the Year.

The expert says: "It's a testament to what his peers think of him to have missed so many games – he’s only played 14 – and to be a finalist in this category. Shea Ili, when he’s out on a basketball court he’s probably the best defender on that court. He’s just a winner. While we credit offensive players for taking and making game-winning shots he makes game-winning plays at the defensive end. I always say Shea Ili isn’t guarding one player on the floor, he’s guarding two, three or four players at once. You’re always wary of where he is on the floor, and you want to keep the ball as far away from him as possible." – Damian Martin

Of the 14 games Melbourne United has won this year, an injury-curtailed Shea Ili has played in 11 of them.

Dererk Pardon

The stats: 12.6PPG, 8.0REB, 0.9AST, 1.0BLK, 0.6STL

Why he wins it: Dererk Pardon’s nomination is a hark back to the old school generation of defensive centres.

His no-frills, no-nonsense style has anchored the best defence in the competition – the Breakers give up nearly three points per game fewer than their closest contenders.

While he only averages one block a game, Pardon is so big and strong that anyone taking him on in the lane needs to pull out something spectacular to get through him. If affected shots was a measured statistic it’s likely he’d be leading the league by some margin.

Why he doesn’t: In the total opposite trend to the NBA, the NBL doesn’t traditionally award the Defensive Player of the Year award to centres. In fact, only four of the last 22 winners of the award have been listed at over 200 centimetres tall – and two of those were Torrey Craig and Simon Dwight, both listed as 201 centimetres, or six feet, seven inches.

Only two genuine bigs have won the award since 2000, Chris Anstey and Andrew Bogut. And with Darnell Mee and Mike Kelly dominating the award in the years before that, that record extends for even longer.

Can Pardon break the mould and earn a notch in the tally for big men league-wide?

The expert says: "Whenever you have a quality big defender like Pardon it means everyone else on the floor is just that little bit more confident to crawl up and in and be a bit more disruptive defensively, because they know they’ve got him behind them to fix the mistakes they might potentially make by being overly aggressive. He’s a huge reason why I think New Zealand are one of the best, if not the best defensive team in the league. Pardon has just been so consistent at protecting the rim, backing up his teammates, and sliding his feet to block shots." – Damian Martin.

Should Dererk Pardon win Defensive Player of the Year, he would break the mould of guards generally taking home the award.