2017 Orlando Magic Season Review: 2017 Year End Orlando Magic Awards

Defensive Player of the Year: Nikola Vucevic

This may come as a shock to you, but Nikola Vucevic was the best defensive player on this Orlando Magic team.

I know what you are thinking, “Why not Aaron Gordon?”

While Aaron Gordon is the most versatile player on the team and covered the best player no matter the position, his impact on the team defense was not as great as Vucevic. By the numbers, Vucevic had a significantly better season defensively.

Not known as a shot blocker, Vucevic finished the season averaging 1.0 blocks per game, compared to Gordon’s 0.5 blocks per game. That mark for Vucevic is also just behind Bismack Biyombo, who was brought in to be the team’s rim protector.

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Vucevic led the team in defensive rebounds with 8.0 per game while Gordon averaged 3.6. Vucevic also tallied 1.0 steals per game compared to Gordon 0.8. Gordon’s work on the boards was affected by his move to the perimeter the first half of the season.

But the most telling statistic is defensive box plus-minus, where Vucevic posted a team-leading 2.4. Gordon finished with -0.4 rating. Gordon might be the better overall defender, but Vucevic made the biggest defensive contributions and improved greatly on that end this season.

Defensive presence was the biggest knock on Vucevic in previous seasons. While he is not the first name you think of when mentioning the defense, Vucevic has improved greatly on that side of the floor. This increase in defensive response can be attributed to the competition that was brought in behind him, coach Frank Vogel’s work with Vucevic and Vucevic’s individual work and improvement.

There were questions on whether Vucevic would remain with the Magic after the team brought in a defensive specialist in Bismack Biyombo along with Serge Ibaka. But Vucevic stepped up to the challenge and raised his defensive game. Vucevic reacts much better on pick and rolls and shows more purpose when trying to defend the rim.