The NBA All-Defensive teams were released, and one notable omission was Paul Millsap. While he didn’t put up the defensive counting stats of the other of the forwards selected, his overall defensive impact was certainly great enough to warrant a spot on the All-Defensive second team and even more so when durability is factored in.

The starting point for the case of Millsap being robbed of a spot on the NBA All-Defensive teams starts with the Nuggets taking an eight-win leap in the 2018-19 season. Obviously the 2018-19 NBA All-Defensive teams are based off of this current season, but revisiting 2017-18 is needed for proper context. Denver narrowly missed the playoffs with last season’s talented team, with Millsap only playing 38 games. In 2018-19 the veteran played in 70 games, the most he’s played in since the 2015-16 and 2017 seasons. The point here being, Millsap’s presence makes a major difference on D, hence the nickname the “The Anchorman”. And the fact that he played 4 more games than Draymond Green, and 10 more than Kawhi Leonard–the two second Team All-Defensive forwards–should matter for these type of regular season accolades.

Denver finished with the 10th best defensive rating per NBA.com (and 11th per Cleaningtheglass.com ($) ), and a big reason for that was the increased activity level of First-Team All-NBA center Nikola Jokic [Editor’s note: Damn it feels good to write that].

But the main reason Jokic felt so comfortable getting out higher when hedging and recovering on screens was the presence of Millsap, who was always ready to provide The Joker with some assistance protecting the rim.

Per Basketball-Reference, Millsap had a better block rate than Leonard, and the same steal rate as Green. But as mentioned above, no case is as good for Millsap as Jokic’s defensive improvement. Big Honey made the improvements himself, but the tandem of Jokic and Millsap was far and away the best two-man lineup on the Nuggets, posting a +8.8 net rating.

Millsap was an integral part of the offensive-minded Nuggets turning into one of the league’s best defensive units. And since the All-NBA teams are in essence, about capturing what was most important in that particular NBA season, Millsap’s huge defensive contributions in one of the best seasons in Nuggets history should’ve been recognized with an All-Defensive second team selection.