Knicks’ Tyson Chandler wins 2011-12 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award

NEW YORK – Tyson Chandler of the New York Knicks is the recipient of the 2011-12 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, the NBA announced today. Chandler becomes the first player in franchise history to earn the honor.

Chandler received 311 points, including 45 first-place votes, from a panel of 121 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Oklahoma City’s Serge Ibaka finished second with 294 points and Orlando’s Dwight Howard, who had won the award each of the previous three seasons, finished third with 186 points. Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote received.

With Chandler anchoring the middle, New York’s defense improved markedly from the previous season in multiple categories. The Knicks ranked among the top half of the league in several key defensive categories, including opponent turnovers per game (17.0, 2nd), opponent field goal percentage (.442, 10th), and opponent scoring (94.7 ppg, 11th). Opposing teams averaged 22.5 more points and shot .520 from the field when Chandler was not in the lineup. Opponents shot .438 with Chandler in the lineup. In addition, Chandler grabbed 22.1 percent of his team’s defensive rebounds when he was on the floor.

As part of its support of the Defensive Player of the Year Award, Kia Motors America will donate a new Kia Sorento CUV on behalf of Chandler to Art for Life Foundation, which focuses on creating programs that help kids who are undergoing physical, emotional or mental crisis to use art as a way of helping them work through and with their illness. Kia Motors will present a brand new Sorento to the charity of choice of each of five 2011-12 year-end award winners as part of the “The Kia NBA Performance Awards.”  Following this season, Kia Motors will have donated a total of 21 new vehicles to charitable organizations since its support of the NBA’s prestigious year-end honors began with the 2007-2008 season.

The 2011-12 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award is part of a series of on-court performance awards called “The Kia NBA Performance Awards.” The series, currently in its fifth season, is a significant part of the multiyear marketing partnership between Kia Motors America and the NBA, and also includes the Most Improved Player, Sixth Man, Most Valuable Player of the Year Awards, and this year for the first time, Rookie of the Year.  It also includes the Kia NBA Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month which are awarded during the regular season.  For more information on the “The Kia NBA Performance Awards” visit www.NBA.com/performanceawards.

Following are the balloting results for the 2011-12 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. The balloting was tabulated by the independent accounting firm of Ernst & Young LLP.

2011-12 KIA NBA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR RESULTS

 

PLAYER                         TEAM                        1st Place (5 Pts)                 2nd Place (3 Pts)        3rd Place (1 pt)                                        Total Points
Tyson Chandler              New York                             45                                    25                                  11                                                   311
Serge Ibaka                      Oklahoma City                      41                                    24                                  17                                                   294
Dwight Howard               Orlando                                 18                                    23                                  27                                                   186
LeBron James                  Miami                                    7                                      19                                  20                                                   112
Kevin Garnett                  Boston                                   2                                      9                                    7                                                     44
Tony Allen                      Memphis                               4                                      3                                    7                                                     36
Andre Iguodala                Philadelphia                          1                                      7                                    7                                                     33
Shawn Marion                 Dallas                                    2                                      2                                    1                                                     17
Luol Deng                       Chicago                                 1                                      2                                    5                                                     16
Josh Smith                       Atlanta                                   0                                      2                                    3                                                     9
Joakim Noah                   Chicago                                 0                                      2                                    0                                                     6
Marc Gasol                      Memphis                               0                                      1                                    2                                                     5
Chris Paul                        L.A. Clippers                         0                                      1                                    2                                                     5
Avery Bradley                 Boston                                   0                                      0                                    2                                                     2
Mike Conley                    Memphis                               0                                      0                                    2                                                     2
Grant Hill                        Phoenix                                 0                                      0                                    2                                                       2
Iman Shumpert                New York                             0                                      0                                    2                                                     2
Greg Monroe                   Detroit                                   0                                      0                                    1                                                     1
Dwyane Wade                 Miami                                    0                                      0                                    1                                                     1
Russell Westbrook           Oklahoma City                      0                                      0                                    1                                                     1

 

ALL-TIME KIA NBA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS

Season         Winner, Team
1982-83        Sidney Moncrief, Milwaukee
1983-84        Sidney Moncrief, Milwaukee
1984-85        Mark Eaton, Utah
1985-86        Alvin Robertson, San Antonio
1986-87        Michael Cooper, L.A. Lakers
1987-88        Michael Jordan, Chicago
1988-89        Mark Eaton, Utah
1989-90        Dennis Rodman, Detroit
1990-91        Dennis Rodman, Detroit
1991-92        David Robinson, San Antonio
1992-93        Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston
1993-94        Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston
1994-95        Dikembe Mutombo, Denver
1995-96        Gary Payton, Seattle
1996-97        Dikembe Mutombo, Atlanta
1997-98        Dikembe Mutombo, Atlanta
1998-99        Alonzo Mourning, Miami
1999-00        Alonzo Mourning, Miami
2000-01        Dikembe Mutombo, Philadelphia
2001-02        Ben Wallace, Detroit
2002-03        Ben Wallace, Detroit
2003-04        Ron Artest, Indiana
2004-05        Ben Wallace, Detroit
2005-06        Ben Wallace, Detroit
2006-07        Marcus Camby, Denver
2007-08        Kevin Garnett, Boston
2008-09        Dwight Howard, Orlando
2009-10        Dwight Howard, Orlando
2010-11        Dwight Howard, Orlando
2011-12        Tyson Chandler, New York