With the preseason coming to a close Victor averaged nearly 3 blocks with 5 boards in only 20 mins played. JJJ, the reigning DPOY averaged 3 blocks with nearly 7 rebounds in 28 mins played.
If Victor increases his rebounding numbers and keeps playing at this level do you think he may have a real chance to be the first rookie to win DPOY?
On one hand the stage is definitely set for him to have a shot. The Spurs wore not only the 30th ranked defense in the league, they spent the vast majority of the year as one of the bottom five defenses in NBA history by pretty much every metric.
With him being the only major addition to the team, if they were to make a massive leap, say around 15-10th in defensive rating and did so while he put up really good shot blocking numbers. The narrative would definitely be there
On the other hand, It can’t be overstated how terrible the spurs were on defense last year. It seems extremely unlikely they will finish near the top 10, even though they definitely will improve, and if Victor is putting up crazy block numbers But the team is still bad to mediocre on the defensive side. There’s no way he wins the award.