Marc Gasol: First European To Win Defensive Player of The Year

Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol has been named the Defensive Player of the Year on Wednesday, becoming the first European to accomplish such feat.

Gasol, 28, becomes the NBA's top defender after receiving 30 first-place votes for 212 points. He emerged as the winner from a solid crop of candidates, which includes Miami's LeBron James, San Antonio's Tim Duncan, New York's Tyson Chandler, and Los Angeles' Dwight Howard.

"I'm the first European ever to accomplish this," Gasol said Wednesday at a news conference held in the lobby of the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn, according to ESPN. "It's really an honor. Now I think my kids will believe me when I tell them I played in the NBA."

Gasol served as the anchor of the league's stingiest defense, helping the Grizz to contain opponents to just 88.7 points per game. When the bruising 7-foot-1 Spaniard is on the floor, the Grizzlies are 6.8 points per 100 possessions better on the defensive end.

"I look at it as the whole team got acknowledged," Gasol told ESPN after capturing his first individual hardware in the NBA. "I think it's a team effort. It's a team game. There's no way around it. That's how we play basketball. We play as a unit. Defensively, you need five guys to play defense. If one of us is not playing defense, we can't do it."

James finished second in the balloting, collecting 18 first-place votes for 149 points. James has been a beast on both ends of the floor all season long, but the Heat star really stepped up defensively as he often locked down the scorers of opposing teams.

"I would like to see him one day achieve the Defensive Player of the Year," Spoelstra told ESPN about James' chances of finally hoisting the Defensive Player of the Year award. "I think he's deserving every year."

Gasol's achievement as the NBA's premier defensive man could be a wake-up call that Europeans are beginning to become a force in defense, erasing the perception that Euro players are 'soft.'

Gasol, the younger brother of Lakers' All-Star forward Pau Gasol, averaged 1.7 blocks and 1.0 steals for Memphis.

"It's great. I texted him and told him I'm proud," Pau told ESPN on Wednesday. "I'm proud of him. It's a great award to receive. Great recognition, a great accomplishment for him and I'm just very proud of what he's been able to do and who he has become as a player and as a person. So, I'm a proud big brother."