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Minnesota Timberwolves Midseason Awards

By Nolan Schmidt

Jan 19, 2016; New Orleans, LA, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett (21) celebrates with forward Tayshaun Prince (12) during the second quarter of a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 19, 2016; New Orleans, LA, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett (21) celebrates with forward Tayshaun Prince (12) during the second quarter of a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 8, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith (5) drives to the basket past Minnesota Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio (9) in the first half at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 8, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith (5) drives to the basket past Minnesota Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio (9) in the first half at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

Defensive MVP: Ricky Rubio

In all reality, this award could also be given to KAT as well, because he has been great on that end of the floor. I think we often overlook how good of a defender Ricky Rubio is, however, and I think he’s deserving of this award.

First off, Rubio leads the team in steals per game, and is in fact third in the NBA in that statistical category. He also has the second-best defensive rating of any Wolves player so far this season.

Rubio also has a 0.5 Defensive box plus/minus rating, which is very good in terms of a point guard. To put that into some sort of context, only eight other point guards have a better DBPM. To further this point, there are only 16 point guards (including Rubio) in the league that have a DBPM over zero.

Sure, Rubio is a risk-taker on defense, and on occasion it can backfire on him, but a lot of those risks turn into steals. In order to be a good perimeter defender in the NBA you have to take some risks. I mean just look at Russell Westbrook, who has the highest DBPM of any point guard. He takes far more risks on defense compared to Rubio, and he is considered to be an elite defender.

Ricky is as valuable of a defender as KAT, if not more so, and that’s why he gets this award.

Next: Least Valuable Player

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