DeAndre Jordan has had an outstanding season, in which he is doing his best to persuade the Los Angeles Clippers that he is worthy of a max contract. A Defensive Player of the Year award would certainly help his case.
DeAndre certainly has a shot at winning the award. the 6’11” center has averaged an league-leading 14.9 rebounds to go along with 11.4 points and 2.2 blocks. He has also shot an absurd 70.7% from the field, which also leads the league.
Jordan has had several notable people endorse him for the award throughout the year.
First, per Rowan Kavner of the Clippers organization, on March 11, Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said of Jordan:
“He’s having a great year, probably the best defensive big in the game.”
Then on March 29, Jordan got another endorsement, this time from Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens:
Stevens: “I don’t think there’s any question [DeAndre Jordan] is the best rim protector around & there’s a reason why he’ll be up for DPOY.”
— Ben Rohrbach (@brohrbach) March 30, 2015
The most recent endorsement of Jordan came from Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott. Following from Dan Woike of the Orange County Register:
“When you drive to the hole, he scares the hell out of a lot of people,” Scott said before Tuesday’s game. “… He changes shots and he changes guys’ minds about going in there because he’s such a presence.”
Scott said more about Jordan, per Arash Markazi’s twitter page.
Byron Scott on DeAndre Jordan: “I think he is the Defensive Player of the Year.”
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) April 8, 2015
DeAndre certainly has a case for Defensive Player of the Year, and his own head coach Doc Rivers believes that he deserves the award as well. So, if you’re counting, that’s 4 head coaches now who believe that DeAndre Jordan deserves to be Defensive Player of the Year, and there are most likely plenty more who haven’t spoken on the subject.
