Houston Rockets point guard Patrick Beverley has his eyes on what he believes to be a very attainable prize.
In a recent interview with Sean Deveney of Sporting News, Beverley was clear that his goal for the season is to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award and expressed confidence in his ability to do so.
“That is one of my biggest goals,” Beverley said of DPOY honors. “I feel like I am the best defensive player in the league right now. I hope the whole world sees it. If we win games, more and more people see it.
“But the last guard to get the Defensive Player of the Year award was Gary Payton. Why not me?” he continued. “I have the same type of killer mindset that he had, the lateral quickness and quick hands. The swagger also. That’s one of my goals, my biggest goal. If I can get a goal like that, I will put my team in a position to win a lot of games.”
The 28-year-old Beverley doesn’t just talk the talk, but he walks the walk as well. Beverley missed the first 11 games of the season with the Rockets posting a defensive rating of 105.4 over that stretch (19th in the league). But in the 15 games since Beverley’s return, that number has fallen to 104.3 (13th in that span). He’s also allowing his man to shoot 5.8 percent worse than average when defending him (ninth in the NBA amongst qualified players) and notably held Stephen Curry (9-for-22), Damian Lillard (7-for-20), and Russell Westbrook (8-for-25) to poor shooting nights in a trio of victories for Houston over the last month.
Beverley will face some stiff competition for the award from rim-protecting condors like Rudy Gobert and all-around earth destroyers like Draymond Green. But with the added oomph he’s playing with this year, Beverley should be more than able to hold his own as he attempts to scale the DPOY summit.
Image Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
*Stats courtesy of NBA.com*
