Jalen Williams’ self-serving co-DPOY idea actually makes a lot of sense

Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win's basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here's Prince J. Grimes.

Marcus Smart and Gary Payton. Those are the last two guards to win the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award. The only two to win it in the last 36 years since Michael Jordan in 1988 (an award that was recently called into question).

If you've ever felt like voters had a big man bias, I can see how you arrived at that conclusion.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jalen Williams has an idea to fix it: give out two Defensive Player of the Year awards. Williams also lobbied for a third All-Defensive team.

"I think they should add a third team and I think there should be two Defensive Players of the Year," Williams said on The Young Man and The Three podcast. "This is not a diss to any big that gets it, because every big that has gotten it is deserving. ... But defense is very different for certain players."

It's a great point and the idea isn't terrible either. Oftentimes the DPOY goes to a big, and it's usually someone blocking or deterring a ton of shots at the rim. It's an impact that any casual observer of the game can notice, including voters. However, it ignores the work players do on the perimeter to fight around screens and deny the shiftiest players on the court.

That's why it was so refreshing when Smart won the award three years ago (even if some people didn't completely agree with it). Players who care enough to give maximum effort on the perimeter deserve recognition too. That recognition incentivizes more players to care.

And it's not like a second DPOY would be a participation trophy. It'd be more similar to the NFL's Offensive Player of the Year award, which usually goes to a running back or wide receiver because everyone knows the MVP is a quarterback award. In a similar way, DPOY is becoming a big man award.

Now, look, it's not a coincidence this idea is coming from Williams, who happens to play on the best defensive team in the NBA. Of course, he thinks there should be a second DPOY and a third All-Defensive team. Of the top nine favorites to win DPOY at BetMGM, only three are non-bigs and they all play for the Thunder: Lu Dort (+2500), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (+2500) and Williams (+6000).

There would also be some things to iron out, like whether the awards would be separated by front-court and backcourt. Or would wings like two-time Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard be grouped with guards as simply perimeter defenders.

But those things don't make the idea any less worthy of consideration. Williams might be on to something with this one.

NBA reschedules postponed games

Three games on the NBA calendar were postponed due to the Los Angeles-area wildfires and another game was postponed by the winter storm in Atlanta. Adding those games back to the calendar required some shuffling that will see 10 ten games involving 10 different teams rescheduled.

On Wednesday, the NBA announced nine of those new dates, with the 10th to be determined at a later time.

• Hornets at Lakers moved from 1/9 to 2/19

• Rockets at Hawks: 1/11 to 1/28

• Hornets at Clippers: 1/11 to 3/16

• Spurs at Lakers: 1/11 to TBD

• Bulls at Clippers: 1/21 to 1/20

• Wizards at Jazz: 1/23 to 3/19

• Jazz at Lakers: 2/11 to 2/10

• Wizards at Clippers: 3/16 to 1/23

• Wizards at Trail Blazers: 3/18 to 3/17

• Clippers at Jazz: 3/19 to 2/23

LA WILDFIRES: Wembanyama, Paul's nice gesture for JJ Redick's kids

Shootaround

-- Jontay Porter's gambling co-conspirators don't appear to be the brightest group. Here's Blake Schuster with more.

-- Victor Wembanyama was stunned to see his jersey from a fan swap is already up for auction

-- Jamal Murray said he didn't know about Shaq's challenge prior to his 45-point game

-- Deion Sanders got an assist from Shedeur after asking for Greg Anthony's blazer

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Jalen Williams’ self-serving co-DPOY idea actually makes a lot of sense