Nine players are "fighting" for the EuroLeague Best Defender Trophy

Perhaps the post-season award that is least influenced by statistics, the Best Defender Trophy is voted on each year by Turkish Airlines EuroLeague head coaches after they see which players their teams had the toughest time to score against. Blocks, steals and defensive rebounds are all important, but the intangibles of a player's role within the strongest team defenses are more difficult to measure without a court-side view of all the games. Check out some of the players whom the coaches are sure to consider when voting for the cherished Best Defender Trophy this season.

Bryant Dunston

Only two people have won multiple Best Defender awards in the past, and Bryant Dunston of Anadolu Efes Istanbul is one of them. He was voted the honor by EuroLeague head coaches in 2014 with Olympiacos Piraeus and 2015 with Efes. This season, Dunston is ranked first in in total (36) and average blocks (1.64). He has had both a steal and a block in half of his 22 games played. He is also the only EuroLeague player to block 5 shots in two games this season and now ranks fourth all-time with 172 career rejections.

Adam Hanga

Voted the Best Defender Trophy winner by the EuroLeague had coaches last season, Adam Hanga of FC Barcelona Lassa continues to impress with his versatility to guard virtually any position on a basketball court. Although Barcelona has struggled to win, its sixth-ranked defense speaks for itself. While playing more minutes than any Barcelona player, Hanga leads the team in blocks with 15 and steals with 18. Always punching above his height, Hanga ranks second among all EuroLeague guards and forwards in blocked shots.

Kyle Hines

A previous Best Defender Trophy winner, when he and CSKA Moscow won the title together in 2016, center Kyle Hines has been an anchor in the team's efforts to stop opponents for five seasons now. Hines currently ranks eighth in total steals (25), which is first among centers, and has blocked 19 shots, good for a ninth-place tie in the rankings. His presence in the paint is a main reason why CSKA's defense allows the league's fifth-lowest percentage (50.1%) against two-point shooters and blocks the third-most shots, 3.8 per game.

Charles Jenkins

Although all of his defensive expertise is not counted statistically, the fingerprints of point guard Charles Jenkins are all over Khimki Moscow Region's success as the EuroLeague's fourth-strongest defense this season. His presence as the lead defender on the ball has the team ranked second in steals (7.5) and in turnovers (13.2) forced on their opponents. Jenkins leads all active EuroLeague players with a career rate of 2.58 steals per 40 minutes and has collected the second-most steals (141) since joining the competition in 2013.

Kostas Papanikolaou

The fact that forward Kostas Papanikolaou logs the most minutes for the very best defense in the EuroLeague says it all about what this energetic two-time former champion means to Olympiacos Piraeus. Papanikolaou has recorded the most steals (19) and second-most defensive rebounds (92) on the team, but his true impact defensively is hard to quantify. It suffices to say that his efforts have everything to do with the Reds holding opponents to a league-low 33% three-point shooting and fewer than 7 shots made from the arc per game.

Vincent Poirier

It's rare for a EuroLeague rookie to lead his team's defense as Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz center Vincent Poirier does whenever he's on the floor. The long, mobile center has rejected more shots this season (21) than all but five other players, but his status grows when measuring blocks per 40 minutes (2.3), in which he ranks third. In Baskonia's 411 EuroLeague games this century, only one player on the club has blocked more shots than Poirier's 5 against Efes in December. And he ranks fifth in defensive rebounds per 40 minutes (7.77), too.

Chris Singleton

No defense is complete without a steal, block or rebound that changes possession to the defensive team, and Chris Singleton does plenty of all three for Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens. He is tied for the league lead in defensive rebounds with 5 per game and is tied, as well, for the ninth-most blocks so far, with 19. This season, he has also posted career highs in steals (5), blocks (4) and defensive rebounds (11). Most importantly, Singleton plays the most minutes for the EuroLeague's third-ranked defense. Enough said.

Walter Tavares

Since playing his first EuroLeague game ever in mid-November, big man Walter Tavares of Real Madrid has proven himself a force to be reckoned with by any offensive player who dares to attack the basket. The EuroLeague's tallest player, at 2.20 meters, Tavares is threatening the league lead in blocks per game (1.63) but is already the runaway leader if prorated over 40 minutes (3.29). He has blocked at least one shot in nine straight and 14 of his 16 games so far and is now tied for second in the league with multiple blocks in seven games so far.

Brad Wanamaker

A non-stop ball-hawker for the second-ranked defense in the competition, point guard Brad Wanamaker of Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul has become the first line of resistance for the defending champs. Wanamaker has made more steals (35) this season than any other EuroLeague player. His three games with 4 or more steals are a EuroLeague high, as well. In his first season for Fenerbahce, nobody has played more minutes for Fenerbahce boss Zeljko Obradovic, and that alone proves that Wanamaker has the right defensive chops.