The Defensive Player of the Year award winner was announced earlier this week, with Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics becoming the first guard to win the award since Gary Payton in 1995/96, and only the sixth guard to win it during 75 NBA seasons.
Smart beat Miles Bridges and Rudy Gobert, respectively, winning an honor that he looked to win for many years. A lot of people weren’t happy with the results and even before the final results were revealed, a lot of fans were shocked when some names like Giannis Antetokounmpo or Bam Adebayo weren’t named finalists.
Bam didn’t like the final results and said it was ‘disrespectful’ that he wasn’t even part of the top-3. This wasn’t the only time he called out people for not putting him in consideration for the award, as a new report from Melissa Rohlin of FOX Sports reveals that the Miami Heat center called out Team USA teammate Draymond Green for overlooking his DPOY case on his podcast earlier this season.
For Green, the exposure has been exhilarating. But it can also be tricky, particularly when he offends his peers.
For instance, a few months ago, Miami’s Bam Adebayo was livid after listening to Green’s podcast because he wasn’t named as a shoo-in for Defensive Player of the Year.
So Adebayo gave Green a call.
“He was like, ‘What the f—, you mean nobody has solidified themselves as Defensive Player of the Year?'” Green recalled. “‘Do you not watch me play?'”
It was a fair question. Green hadn’t watched Adebayo play much because Miami’s games often conflicted with him getting ready for his own, a reality he acknowledged to the Heat’s big man.
Bam was confident he deserved better than that after being a good defender with the Heat. Just like other people, he’s trying to win this award and the competition in recent years has gotten more and more intense. Rudy Gobert earned a lot of criticism last year and many thought another player would take his spot this season.
Smart dethroned him, but Gobert still finished among the top 3 defenders in the league. Bam will try to get his revenge next season and prove to Draymond and the media that he belongs to the elite of the league.
