Lu Dort explains why perimeter defense is important as rim protection

Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in EnglishLooking at the history of Defensive Player of the Year winners, Lu Dort has quite a mountain to climb if he wants to bring home the trophy. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the honor is usually won by a power forward or center who protects the paint.After all, defense is nearly impossible to fairly measure. Unlike offense, defensive variables are intangibles the average NBA fan can’t spot at first glance. That’s why only seven guards have won the award in its 42 years of existence.Marcus Smart was the last to do it in the 2021-22 season. Dort hopes to be next in line. He headlines one of the best defenses ever. The Oklahoma City Thunder cruised to a 68-14 record in the regular season favoring that side of the ball.There’s a reason only a handful of players scored 30-plus points against the Thunder this season. Dort’s value only multiplies tenfold at the biggest stage. He’ll likely get his flowers this year with an All-Defense Team honor, but OKC believes he should also win Defensive Player of the Year.According to Dort, the stigma surrounding perimeter defenders should change. They’re equally as important as your textbook shot-blocker because most of the NBA’s premier scorers carve up defenses from the outside.”A lot of people have said the game has changed. There’s way more in the game now than just blocking shots at the rim. There are so many teams I played a lot of actions in the perimeter,” Dort said. “Guys running down screens, pin-downs, all types of stuff. Those stuff are hard to guard. That’s the only thing I would say. A lot of stuff happened in the perimeter and not just at the rim.”A lot of nuances are involved in defense. They don’t get the same highlight reels as an isolation scorer or pick-and-roll maestro but navigating over screens and shutting out the opposition’s best scorer equally contributes to winning basketball.Just a shame such a coveted award might be decided because Draymond Green better marketed himself than the other candidates during the last two months of the season.