NBL Best Defensive Player Award

The National Basketball League Best Defensive Player is an annual National Basketball League (NBL) award given since the 1980 NBL season to the best defensive player of the regular season. At the season's end, each club nominates one player for the award with the head coach, one assistant coach and the team captain then voting in a 3-2-1 format (3 votes being indicative of the most deserving). Voters are not allowed to vote for players from their own team.^[1] Guard Darnell Mee won the award five times between 1999 and 2006, while guard Damian Martin is a six-time winner, having won it five times in a row between 2011 and 2015,^[2] before claiming his record-breaking sixth Best Defensive Player title in 2018.^[3] The winner receives the Damian Martin Trophy, which was named in honour of Martin upon his retirement.^[4]

Winners

Year Player Nationality Team 1980 Ray Wood   Australia West Adelaide Bearcats 1981 Ray Wood (2)   Australia West Adelaide Bearcats 1982 Phil Smyth   Australia St. Kilda Saints 1983 Phil Smyth (2)   Australia Canberra Cannons 1984 N/A N/A N/A 1985 N/A N/A N/A 1986 N/A N/A N/A 1987 Leroy Loggins   United States Brisbane Bullets 1988 Phil Smyth (3)   Australia Canberra Cannons 1989 Phil Smyth (4)   Australia Canberra Cannons 1990 Leroy Loggins (2)   United States Brisbane Bullets 1991 Terry Dozier   United States Geelong Supercats 1992 Terry Dozier (2)   United States Newcastle Falcons 1993 Terry Dozier (3)   United States Newcastle Falcons 1994 Darren Lucas   Australia South East Melbourne Magic 1995 Darren Lucas (2)   Australia South East Melbourne Magic 1996 Isaac Burton   United States Sydney Kings 1997 Mike Kelly   United States South East Melbourne Magic 1998 Mike Kelly (2)   United States South East Melbourne Magic 1998–99 Darnell Mee   United States Adelaide 36ers 1999–2000 Darnell Mee (2)   United States Adelaide 36ers 2000–01 Darnell Mee (3)   United States Adelaide 36ers 2001–02 Simon Dwight   Australia West Sydney Razorbacks 2002–03 Glen Saville   Australia Wollongong Hawks 2003–04 Ben Castle   Australia Brisbane Bullets 2004–05 Darnell Mee (4)   United States Wollongong Hawks 2005–06 Darnell Mee (5)   United States Cairns Taipans 2006–07 Sam Mackinnon   Australia Brisbane Bullets 2007–08 Chris Anstey   Australia Melbourne Tigers 2008–09 Adam Gibson   Australia South Dragons 2009–10 Dillon Boucher   New Zealand New Zealand Breakers 2010–11 Damian Martin   Australia Perth Wildcats 2011–12 Damian Martin (2)   Australia Perth Wildcats 2012–13 Damian Martin (3)   Australia Perth Wildcats 2013–14 Damian Martin (4)   Australia Perth Wildcats 2014–15 Damian Martin (5)   Australia Perth Wildcats 2015–16 Kevin Lisch   United States Illawarra Hawks 2016–17 Torrey Craig   United States Brisbane Bullets 2017–18 Damian Martin (6)   Australia Perth Wildcats 2018–19 Andrew Bogut   Australia Sydney Kings 2019–20 D. J. Newbill   United States Cairns Taipans 2020–21 Justin Simon   United States Illawarra Hawks 2021–22 Antonius Cleveland   United States Illawarra Hawks 2022–23 Antonius Cleveland (2)   United States Adelaide 36ers

References

1. "LISCH DETHRONES MARTIN FOR BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER". NBL.com.au. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
2. . NBL.com.au. 4 March 2015. Archived from the original on 7 March 2015.
3. NBL (27 February 2018). "The award may as well be named after him..." Twitter. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
4. "NBL to Honour Damian Martin". NBL.com.au. 21 July 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020.