Last season the Defensive Player of the Year title was give to a guard for the first time since 1996 when Gary Payton received the award. This time Marcus Smart was the one getting it.
Lakers newcomer Patrick Beverley thought he deserved the award as well. Talking with Draymond Green on his podcast, the point guard admitted that he was pissed off seeing Smart win it, not because it was him who won it, but because Pat Bev felt deserving it as well.
“Part of me was pissed the f*ck off, Dray, I ain’t gonna lie, bro,” Beverley said. “I’d be a fool not to sit from a competitor standpoint, I’d be a cap sitting on here telling you I wasn’t pissed off at that. Not from, like, ‘I don’t want him to get it,’ from, like, ‘Damn, I’m glad a guard got it, but damn I’ve been sitting right here, I’ve been sitting here for years.’
“But I respect it, a guard got it. So now I’m like ‘Okay, what do I have to do now? Do I have to block more shots? Do I have to…? F*ck that, you have to win more. Okay, you got to win more and be more healthy. F*ck playing 65 games, f*ck it you got to play the whole 82, Pat.’ And that’s kind of been my thing.”
