Well I just disagree with that. Defense is part of the game. If you improve it should be noted. Granted offensive stats get noticed more usually defense still counts for something. If Ariza keeps playing like this it will be hard not to notice, especially on a high profile team.
Disagree if you must, but if you look at...basically any player who has won it recently made notable improvements offensively. Unless Ariza leads the league in steals, it's going to unnoticed, regardless of the market he's in. Especially when people like Nene, Chandler, Mason, etc. are filling the offensive stat sheets.
yeah it's not about what fans think, you have to think about how the voters have acted. They vote for someone's who stats have noticeably increased a lot. Tony Allen is in the same boat as Ariza IMO, both are great sparkplugs off the bench who play very good D, but their numbers are not as huge as the impact they have for their teams and thus the voters will not give them much of a look.
Wilson Chandler is basically playing his rookie year since he wasn't really given an opportunity last year.
In 12 more MPG (and under D'Antoni no less), Chandler is averaging 7 more PPG, 2.3 more rebounds, but double the TOs (1.4 to .7) Harris, is, in 5 more MPG, averaging 8 more points, 1 more assist, while cutting down on TOs too. I'll be hard pressed not to give it to Harris.
