Sam Vecenie and Bryce Simon recently ranked the top 25 defenders in the NBA on the Game Theory Podcast. Coming in at No. 14 was Portland Trail Blazers wing Toumani Camara.
That may seem too high for casuals who didn't frequently watch Portland play last season. The surface-level numbers would agree, as Camara averaged 1.5 steals and 0.6 blocks per game. However, considering Camara was one of ten players to make an All-Defensive Team last season. His ranking is, by default, too low.
A handful of elite defenders -- Anthony Davis, Ausar Thompson, Alex Caruso, and, of course, Victor Wembanyama -- were all left out of last year's awards because they didn't meet the 65-game minimum requirement to be eligible.