"Prediction: Charlotte Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace will finish top-3 in the voting for NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

On one level, that's a "well, duh'' -- those of us who've been watching Wallace for years knows he's one of the league's better defenders. The difference now is Wallace is getting the national attention for what he's doing.

I belong to a notes network, a cooperative among various NBA writers where you keep each other up-to-date on the team you cover throughout the season. This week we exchanged our annual awards ballot (you can read mine in Sunday's Observer). I was pleasantly surprised how often Wallace was listed in the top 3 in balloting for the Defensive award."