In The Spirit Of The Recent GM Survey, Here Are My NBA Awards Predictions
Who doesn’t love a good debate? I mean this is the internet right? Where everything I think has to be wrong and everything you think is clearly right. Well with the NBA putting out their GM Survey yesterday, it got me thinking. What were my own choices for the NBA Awards this year?
MVP
1. Giannis
2. Anthony Davis
3. LeBron James
4. James Harden
5. Kevin Durant
Sooner or later Giannis is going to make that major leap into an MVP candidate, so why can’t it be this year? The Bucks look to finally have a good coach, he looks about as unstoppable as ever, and frankly I’m tired of hearing that “one day” Giannis will be this MVP caliber player. I say he makes that jump this year if the Bucks are in fact for real.
Defensive Player of The Year
1. Joel Embiid
2. Kawhi Leonard
3. Rudy Gobert
4. Al Horford
5. Anthony Davis
Look we can be honest, the GMs leaving Embiid off their list was a crock of shit. People understand he was a ridiculous defender last year right? Obviously I’m assuming health in these rankings, and if he’s healthy, Embiid should have another dominant defensive season. Of players that played at least 63 games like Embiid, he was 7th in Drtg at 99.7, and outside of Covington, nobody came close to his 30 minutes a night. I feel like people are sleeping on Embiid’s defense for some reason and I have no idea why.
6th Man
1. Lou Williams
2. Terry Rozier
3. Eric Gordon
4. Fred VanVleet
5. Will Barton
As long as Doc gives Lou Williams the green light, this is his award to lose. Already a what, top 15 scorer last year I can’t see that changing. Obviously no Jamal Crawford as impacted my rankings, because the second he signs with a team he gets a spot out of respect.
Rookie Of The Year
1. DeAndre Ayton
2. Luka Doncic
3. Miles Bridges
4. Marvin Bagley III
5. Colin Sexton
Ayton has to be the leader in the clubhouse for obvious reasons, and nothing we’ve seen so far this preseason makes me want to change my mind. He’s been a monster, but I also think we shouldn’t sleep on Miles Bridges. Sure there may be some recency bias in there for me, but he looks READY. If he has a huge year and the Hornets make the playoffs, it wouldn’t surprise me if he gets the nod. Same with Doncic. If not, Ayton wins it.
Most Improved Player
1. Markelle Fultz
2. Dejounte Murray
3. Dennis Smith Jr
4. Jonathan Isaac
5. Donovan Mitchell
Usually to win this award you need a big time statistical jump. Look at the winners over the years and you usually see a massive increase in points. Oladipo’s win last year is what I am sort of basing this off of. If Fultz can go from the 0.0 points he averaged last year to like 12-14 this year, that’s good enough for me. Hell, he may win it by default because he had to improve for him to finally get on the court. I’ve blogged before how I wish he dominates mostly because I want a legit BOS/PHI rivalry, but he sort of does fit the criteria of past winners so that’s where I’m leaning as of now,
Coach Of The Year
1. Quin Snyder
2. Brad Stevens
3. Mike D’Antoni
4. Steve Kerr
5. Erik Spoelstra
What, you thought I was going to go Brad here? Look, if everything he’s already done hasn’t won him the award in the past, what makes you think things will be different this year? Sure we all know he’s the best coach in basketball yet he can’t not be disrespected when it comes to this award. I predict more of the same no matter how many games the Celtics win.
So please, tell me how terrible my predictions are, but then you have to also give me who you would have for every spot. List them in the comments below, tweet me, whatever. I just want to have a nice little fun spirited basketball debate on this beautiful Thursday. Hell you can even get crazy and give me your All NBA teams too if you want, I won’t complain. So who you got?