I don't have myspace so I missed the announcement

Well earned! Joins Darnell Mee on a record five DPOYs, how many will he have by the end of his career?

Onya Damo

Well done to him, going for a double hat trick next season

Deserving of the award. At least he had some competition this year.

Interesting that Cedric Jackson didn't even make top three?

Should have been Gladness. Wilson, Jackson and Wilbekin basically dominated Martin this year. Even Dennis had big games against Martin. That leaves Martin dominating Norton, Perry and Ervin.

"Martin exemplifies how our game should be played, with professionalism and passion and he is an asset to this League."

If professionalism is complaining at every call then he is displaying professionalism. I use to give Martin the benefit of the doubt on the foul call but recently he complains even when it is an obvious foul.

Martin is a great player but he is not defensive player of the year this year.

I think he is the greatest defender in league history, but I thought this season he had up and down games. When he was on he won games with his defence, but he had others where he appeared to be struggling with injury, and some where he just got beaten.

Still, I have no issues with his selection, nor would I had Jackson, Ibekwe, Gladness or Wilbekin got it. Some outstanding defenders in the league.

"If professionalism is complaining at every call then he is displaying professionalism "

Are you talking about the same Damian Martin. He has a reputation for NEVER complaining about calls and getting on with the game.

Damo used to never complain, but the past two seasons he has certainly joined in the chorus. That shouldn't detract from how good he is defensively though.

I thought Martin might have got beaten this year. He has been good, but not as consistent as usual.

KJ, Martin does get some preferential calls. He does also sometimes make a (usually brief) sign of some annoyance or disagreement with a call made (but with that irrepressible grin on his face). I think on balance he does that less than most players going around.

His footwork on defence is very good and he has some of the quickest hands I have seen. He always seems to show appropriate consideration and is not a thug defender. I would call him pretty professional.

I agree. The fouls he queries tend to be more subjective than other cases where repeat offenders would always find a chance to complain. Good role model.

"Should have been Gladness. Wilson, Jackson and Wilbekin basically dominated Martin this year. Even Dennis had big games against Martin. "

Have you done the same "analysis" for Gladness as you did with Martin? I know he blocked a lot of shots but did he rarely get beaten by his opponent?

Should've played in Worlds

Nothing ridiculous about Cedric Jackson being a DPOTY contender at all. Ask the players - no way is he closer to Ervin's level. Martin 2.7 SPG, Jackson 2.2 SPG.

Martin had 121 defensive rebounds to Jackson's 129. Jackson ranked fourth for total defensive rebounds behind Daniels, Wortho and Gladness which is great for a guard.

He listed the steals, Jackson was second in the league, he is a dynamic defensive player who turns defence into attack in an instant through steals, deflections and d-boards. He was my pick this year in a tight field.

Is that because I'm a Kiwi?

I suspect Jackson misses out because he gives the ball back too often. More than 3 times a game and 50% more often than he steals it. Martin gives it back less than 2 times per game and well below the rate at which he steals it. Jackson seems to be a bit more of a gambler on defence than Martin. That said, he's very quick and very good at reading the play so it works for him most of the time.

PeterJohn - pretty sure that the number of times you turn the ball over is irrelevant for deciding a defensive player of the year. Jackson tries to do a lot more with the ball than Martin so he's naturally going to turn the ball over a bit more.

Regardless of that defensive player of the year is based on how you play defence, not offence!

"Martin's got nothng,he benefited from ref's calls and Redhage flopping.:)"

What a terrible attempt at humour.

The Cats had some ordinary defensive games this year, but Martin was always in there giving it his all. Plus had some AWESOME games where he literally terrorised the opposing PG.

Gladness is a great defender close to the rime (I had him in my 1st team) but not so great 1-on-1 outside or in transition.
Jackson, hmm, I tend to think that how well you protect the ball is part of defence, but I don't know if that is actually considered. Jackson is certainly flashier, and a much better all-round player, but I think Damo has the edge on defence.
Perhaps the most telling Stat is that for the season Jackson averaged a bit under 3.5 TO's per game, whilst against the Cats he averaged 5 (despite them winning every game.

This award, along with most, is going to be open to opinions.

Players can have high stat numbers in steals or blocks and not necessarily be a good or great defender.

As an example, if a player X is always gambling and going for the steal in the passing lanes then he will likely have a high number of steals (assuming he plays decent minutes).

But on the flipside his opponent may be getting a lot of points or creating scores as player X is not playing good on ball defense.

The same with blocks, a player might get a high number of blocks, say 3 a game, but has given up rebounding position or got called for fouls when he wasn't able to get blocks.

The defensive player award has nothing to do with how many offensive turnovers a player gets.

Martin is one of the only players in the NBL that is able to greatly influence a game with his defense alone.

He gets steals, takes teams out of their offense, challenges shots, defensive rebounds, put pressure on the outlet... He does close to everything.

There was a game against the Kings where he made Perry look scared to have the ball. Martin had 7 defensive rebounds and 9 steals. He dominated the game while only scoring 2 pts.