Molten Defensive Team of the Year picks locked in

The Molten BBL Defensive Team of the Year features the league’s top stoppers as voted by BBL head coaches and captains, including a Great Britain international paint protector and one of the country’s all-time defensive greats who features for the third year in a row.

Jamell Anderson – Cheshire Phoenix

A mainstay of the Molten BBL Defensive Team of the Year, Great Britain international Jamell Anderson appears for the fourth time in his career – and third season in a row – which moves him level in third with Zaire Taylor for career appearances. He was fourth in the league in steals with a career high 1.9 per game, and also had career highs with 3.5 defensive rebounds and 14 total blocks on the season. Anderson has guarded all five positions on the floor for the Nix this year, most significantly taking on opposition bigs in the final month due to injury woes among Cheshire’s ranks as the team have gone their furthest in the BBL Play-offs since 2016.

Larry Austin Jr. – Cheshire Phoenix

Talismanic guard Larry Austin Jr. makes the Molten BBL Defensive Team of the Year for the second season in a row, after setting the tone as captain for Cheshire’s defence all season as they achieved their highest BBL Championship finish since 2015. He led the league in steals by a long way with 2.6 per game and is among the best in the league in turning his hard-nosed defence into instant offence, peaking at seven steals in a sensational near quadruple-double of 25 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds against Surrey Scorchers in April.

Prince Onwas – Caledonia Gladiators

Experienced forward Prince Onwas was a do-it-all glue player for Caledonia Gladiators all season as they finished fourth in the BBL Championship and won the BBL Trophy, as he was second on the team in total minutes played. Onwas averaged 4.0 defensive rebounds and a team-high 1.3 steals per game and proved consistently hard for opponents to score on as he regularly took the hardest defensive assignments for his team, while coming up big at both ends on BBL Trophy Final day at the Emirates Arena.

Anthony Roberson – Manchester Giants

The defensive lynchpin for Manchester Giants, Anthony Roberson joined in the summer after three campaigns for the Oklahoma City Blue in the NBA G-League and brought a fearsome defensive reputation with him. Tough at both ends of the floor, he was third in the BBL for blocks with 1.5 per game, including numerous highlight chase downs and twice blocking four in a game in two victories over Sheffield that ultimately secured the head-to-head between the teams and thus sixth place for Giants. He was also fourth leading rebounder in the BBL with 7.5 per outing, while defence runs in the family as brother André is a former NBA All-Defensive Second Team selection and Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.

Josh Sharma – London Lions

British big man Josh Sharma is the paint protector on the league’s top defensive team and was a near-unanimous selection for the Molten BBL Defensive Team of the Year. In his first campaign on these shores, the former Utah Jazz NBA Summer League representative was second in the league in blocked shots with 1.9 per game in under 20 minutes of action, with a massive season-high of six blocks to go with 28 points and eight boards against Manchester Giants in December. Sharma formerly led Stanford and was eighth in the Pac-12 for blocked shots during his stellar collegiate career.

A full record of votes can be found below: