The 2022-23 season is the first time since the NBA officially had a "double best" team selection in 1969, in a single season, no player in the league has been selected for the "double best", which has something to do with the fact that Alphabet Brother failed to make the best team. Why hasn't the alphabet brother, who has been selected for the "Double One Formation" for 4 consecutive years, continued the magic?
Since 2019 to 2022, Alphabet Brother has been selected for the "Double One Team" for 4 consecutive years, and in addition to the Alphabet Brother, the last time a player in the league was selected for the "Double Team" was traced back to 2020's "Thick Eyebrow Brother" Anthony Davis, Alphabet Brother was selected for the "Double One Team" 4 times, and has been able to rank the joint fourth place for all players in NBA history, second only to Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and LeBron James, why Alphabet Brother was not selected for the "Double Team" in 2023"What about?
Was Alphabet Brother bad last season in the regular season? In the regular season last season, the 28-year-old alphabet brother participated in 63 regular season games, averaging 31.1 points, 11.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.8 blocks per game with 55.3% shooting, and set a new single-season high in his 10-year NBA career with a plus-minus of +5.4.
In fact, last season Brother Alphabet was still selected for the All-NBA team, which is also the judges' affirmation of his performance, but he was not selected for the All-Defensive Team last season. Last season, the Bucks averaged 48.6 rebounds per game, including 37.5 defensive rebounds, limiting opponents' two-point shooting to just 51.4%, the best of any 30 teams in the league, and the Bucks also limited opponents' shooting percentage to 45.6% of the second-lowest of the league's 30 teams, allowing opponents to average only 21.0 free throws per game to rank second in the league. The Bucks have such a defensive effect, why did Alphabet Brother, who was previously named to the All-Defensive First Team for four consecutive seasons, not even make the All-Defensive Second Team in the 2022-23 season?
One obvious reason is that the Bucks already have 2 players named to the All-Defensive Team, Joe Holloday and Brooke Lopez, both of whom were named to the All-Defensive First Team. There are only five times in NBA history when no fewer than three players have been named to the All-Defensive Team in the same season, with the only time in nearly 40-year history being in 1996 when Jordan, Pippen and Rodman were selected.
Why did Holloday and Lopez both make the All-Defensive First Team but Alphabet not the All-Defensive Team? You know, this is the first time in his NBA career that Lopez, who likes to float outside on offense, has been named to the All-Defensive First Team. However, judging from the defensive data, it is not unjust that Alphabet Brother lost the best defensive team.
During last season's regular season, Lopez averaged 22.6 shots per game, the most of any player in the league, while limiting his opponent's shooting percentage to 46.0 percent, down 4.4 percentage points; Holloday ranked second on the team in 13.9 shots per game, while Alphabet averaged only 12.7 shots per game. From this statistic alone, Alphabet Brother's defensive motivation is not as good as Lopez and Holloday.
Alphabet still has good defensive skills, but his willingness to defend has dropped significantly compared to before, and his average steals and blocks per game in the regular season last season equalled his 10-year NBA career single-season record, and it is not too surprising that he was not selected to the All-Defensive Team. Of course, Alphabet Brother is still young, and there is still a possibility of being named to the All-Defensive Team many times. He scored higher points than both Adebayo and Dillon Brooks in last season's All-Defensive Team selection, only to be squeezed out of the forward position. Last season's regular season record was the first in the league by the "black eight" for the alphabet brother is too hurt, his technical shortcomings may be difficult to improve, does he still have a chance to lift the Bill Russell Cup?