According to NBA official sources, Celtics guard Smart was named the 2021-22 Defensive Player of the Season. This is the first time a defender player has been named DPOY after Gary Payton in 1996. As soon as the award was announced, it caused doubts, and many fans believed that Bridges and Gobert were more eligible to be elected. Let's talk about why Smart deserves it.
Gobert missed the award because of aesthetic fatigue and a decline in Jazz records. Gobert has been a DPOY winner for the previous two years, but his performance this season has not improved much compared to the previous two seasons, and the Jazz's decline from the first place in the league last season to the fifth place in the West shows that Gobert's defensive influence is less terrifying.
As for Bridges, there is one statistic that is more dragging their feet. That is, of all the best defensive player candidates, Bridges had the worst performance of limiting the shooting rate of opposing players. So Smart's election is well deserved, and his election has given the Celtics more confidence in defeating the Nets.