Klay Thompson Taking This Long to Make His First All-Defensive Team is Outrageous
By Sean Facey
At long last, Klay Thompson has finally made his first NBA All-Defensive team.
But it's outrageous that it even took this long for him to get there.
The voters clearly haven't been paying attention to Thompson's defense, which has far and away been good enough to net him the honor in past years when he was snubbed.
Klay Thompson just made the first All-Defensive team of his career.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 22, 2019
Thompson, who was named to the 2018-19 NBA All-Defensive Second Team, has quietly been one of the better defenders in the NBA for most of his career.
In the 2014-15 season, for example, he finished with a 104 defensive rating, 1.7 steals and 1.2 blocks per game, clear evidence of some spirited defense, yet he went unrewarded for his efforts. It's evident that the voters either aren't watching him play or just have no idea what they're talking about.
He routinely sits around 3.0 defensive win shares per season, more than enough to net him some validation.
Mitchell Robinson did not get a single first or second team vote for All Defensive Team. Insane. (Steph Curry got a first team vote, lol) pic.twitter.com/fGrICu9uKJ
— Binyomin Goldgrab (@bgoldgrab) May 22, 2019
For a guy who plays on an extremely offense-focused team, he's been more than impressive on the opposite end of the court.
It's about time that he earned the honor of being named to an All-Defensive Team. Hopefully this puts his name on the map for the voters in future years.