Tale of the Tape - Ili's Best Defensive Player season

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Shea Ili was named the Best Defensive Player of NBL24 on Monday night, and it's a recognition that's seemed well overdue for the fiery Melbourne guard.

Following Melbourne’s Round 19 victory Jo Lual-Acuil Jr expressed his surprise Shea Ili had never been named the NBL’s Defensive Player of the Year. The South Sudanese center can breathe easy now knowing his teammate has finally etched his name on the Damian Martin Trophy.

Ili is the first local player to win the award since Andrew Bogut in 2019, the first Melbourne player to win since Chris Anstey in 2008, and the first New Zealander to win it since Breaker Dillon Boucher in 2010.

Ili’s win came after an NBL23 season in which he was nominated, however his limited appearances due to concussion issues were cited as the reason he couldn’t topple Antonius Cleveland and Dererk Pardon to win the award.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">All grit, all grind ?<br><br>Shea Ili has been named as the NBL24 Best Defensive Player ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheGazeys?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheGazeys</a> live on the NBL website & app ? <a href="https://t.co/jGsiZs2OPD">pic.twitter.com/jGsiZs2OPD</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1759515858345640036?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Melbourne’s league-leading team defence starts with Ili. The New Zealand international is Dean Vickerman’s go-to candidate to shut down the opposition’s biggest stars.

Steals and blocks don’t tell the full story of Ili’s lockdown campaign. His 1.2 steals per game ranks a respectable 11^th in the competition, but where Ili’s true defensive value comes is through his pure effort, grit, determination and willingness to do the dirty work.

It’s no surprise that some of Melbourne’s best and biggest wins have come when Ili has restricted opposition guards shot attempts. Nathan Sobey hit just four of 15 shots in United’s Round 10 win over Brisbane, and MVP Bryce Cotton was restricted to 5-14 shooting in the Round 3 win over Perth.

NBL23 is the greatest barometer for Ili’s importance to Melbourne’s defensive schemes. United won 11 of 14 games in which Ili played last season, but won only four of 14 in which he didn’t feature.

It’s no coincidence then, that in a season Ili managed 26 appearances Melbourne cruised to a 20-8 record.

Lual-Acuil Jr summed up Ili’s impact on Melbourne best following that Round 19 victory, as he said the guard’s influence and in and under style higher up the floor pulled the rest of the team along and gave the team’s bigs confidence to defend more aggressively under the basket.

It’s been a long time coming, but there’s no player more deserving of the NBL’s highest defensive honour than the best defender and defensive barometer for the stingiest defence across the competition.

Past Best Defensive Player winners:

2024 – Shea Ili
2023 – Antonius Cleveland
2022 – Antonius Cleveland
2021 – Justin Simon
2020 – DJ Newbill

Multiple Best Defensive Player winners:

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