Artest: Defensive Player of the Year

Artest won DPOY. Ben Wallace finished 2nd and my Theo Ratliff 3rd.

well it should be that way. It's a lot harder to stop someone like Kobe Bryant or T-Mac than it is to stop other centers. Anyone can jump like a frog and block things near the rim. A real defender can shut down the person he's guarding....and Artest is the best in the league at that.

As much as i hate the little dirty ball player...Bowen should have gotten some serious recognition too. And Doug Christie can lock an offensive player pretty well too.

Agreed. Artest did improve though from his previous amounts of T's and flagrants.

...the same day he was suspended for 1 game

I think they cancelled that ban. I read somewhere that the ban was not the right call so they took it away from him. What he do anyway? Flagrant foul or something?

stepping off the bench onto the court.

ESPN still says he's suspended for a game

you might be thinking about Richard Jefferson who did the same thing, but no suspension

I found the article and found what I had misread. The article came before the official announcement and it said that the league planned on giving Artest a 1 game suspension but then changed their minds and decided not to give him it. I guess they changed their minds again in time for the official statement.

Then, yesterday morning, Artest said he got a phone call from the NBA league office with the news that there would be no suspension. No one else on the Pacers was similarly informed and Artest may have been premature in his interpretation. There was nothing out of the league office to confirm the statement and NBA spokesman Tim Frank said yesterday that a decision should come today.

But this article came before the official release.

No, No! Wallace deserved it again, I think.

I think Artest did deserve it this year. Wallace hasn't done as great this year (as great) and Artest stepped up even more.

Maybe, but had Artest not toned down his temper, he wouldn't have gotten it. So I guess that's a plus for him, and there's no denying that he is a very good player.

I think Al Harrington should have got the 6th man. Does anyone know who got it?

i'm not sure if they gave that award out yet

Antawn Jamison got the award. I thought Manu should have got it and then either Al or Antawn.