NBA Regular Season Awards: Part 2

Here’s my picks for MIP. Note: I made my picks for these awards before any of the awards were announced. The only reason I’m putting these posts after the fact is because I didn’t have enough time to write them up all at once.

MIP

1. Goran Dragic
2. Lance Stephenson
3. Gerald Green

The criteria for this award is extraordinarily ambiguous. It’s unclear whether it’s intended to be for guys who are making comebacks from injury or guys that went from fringe players to formidable or even just good players becoming great. Voters are usually subjected to just go with whatever they think, so that’s what my standard will be. In my opinion, players who are high lottery picks are outside the scope of this award. Anthony Davis this year is a perfect example. He was the number 1 pick in 2012 and, after winning a national championship at Kentucky, playing 12th man on Team USA at the London Olympics and a fairly successful rookie campaign sans the couple of injuries, has fulfilled (and slightly exceeded) most growth expectations one would expect from a player picked first in the draft. Here’s his per game stat-breakdown from year 1 to year 2:

Year 1 (12-13): 64 GP, 13.5 PTS, 8.2 REB, 1.0 AST, 1.8 BLK, 1.2 STL, 51.6 FG%, 75.1 FT% 21.80 PER, Hornets Record: 27-55

Year 2 (13-14): 67 GP, 20.8 PTS, 10.0 REB, 1.6 AST, 2.8 BLK, 1.3 STL, 51.9 FG%, 79.1 FT%, 26.54 PER, Pelicans Record: 34-48

When I compare, the most noticeable increase is in his PER, which jumps from 15th in the NBA to 4th. The other noticeable number is the team record, which only increases 7 games and is still good for 10th worst in the league. Obviously, there are other factors that go into the team’s winning, which specifically for him include his teammates around him dropping like flies (Holiday and Gordon), generally poor, incompatible guard play and the fact that the Western Conference basically had 9 of the top 11 teams (borderline 10 if you include the Pacers after their historic fall from grace). However, if I’m doling out the MIP award to a player already expected to make all these jumps and widely considered one of the best draft prospects of all time, his team really needs to win more games, no excuses. I know many NBA media members (and those with ballots) voted for AD and he ended up coming in 2nd place, but I personally don’t feel he is deserving because for him to even be eligible in my opinion, he would need to put in a truly amazing season that defied almost every expectation, which were already high.

I picked Goran Dragic to win because in his 7th NBA season he moved from being an average starting point guard in the league to an All Star (even though he was snubbed, which wasn’t his fault). Going from a guy that averaged around 8 points per game for a significant chunk of his career to a go-to guy on a 48 win team is pretty unbelievable. The entire Suns storyline this year is pretty unbelievable. At the beginning of the season, most picked them to have one of the worst records in the league and accused them of tanking. Instead, they remained competitive the entire season, including when their second best player, guard Eric Bledsoe, went down with a knee injury and missed much of the middle third of the season. Dragic put the team on his shoulders and put on some truly epic performances against the great, complete teams of the West. Had the Suns been in the Eastern Conference, they would have been the 3rd best regular season team and since I’m writing this after the playoffs have started, I feel pretty good saying they would now probably be the second best since the Pacers have completely collapsed and are about to blow round 1 to the 8th-seeded Atlanta Hawks, a team missing its best player and that’s GM has openly stated he didn’t care whether the team made the playoffs.

I voted Lance 2nd because he made huge strides this season playing on one of the best teams in league (at least for most of the season). As a middle second round pick with a considerable personal baggage, the fact that this guy is still in the NBA, let alone starting on a championship contender and a fringe All-Star is remarkable. I voted Gerald Green 3rd because he also showed significant improvements as a scorer and contributor to a good team. He went from a borderline out-of-the-league guy to someone who can put up big scoring numbers and be counted on in crunch time. I think this award’s place is to show how guys with low expectations or less opportunity make the best of a situation, significantly improve and also contribute to winning. The award loses its prestige if it just rewards high picks and players who are already known to be good and appear poised for long, successful careers.

 

COY

1. Jeff Hornacek
2. Gregg Popovic
3. Tom Thibodeau

I picked Hornacek over Popovic because, while most wouldn’t disagree that Popovic is the best coach in the league, Hornacek greatly exceeded expectations this season. In the preseason, many pegged the Suns to be terrible this year; tanking for a high pick and accumulating assets for the future. Instead they had a top-10 record and may likely have been the 3rd best team in the Eastern Conference (maybe even 2nd with the Pacers collapse). While it’s a very fair to argue that Popovic still did a better job, as his team had the best record in the league and was seemingly unaffected by injuries and frequent lineup changes all season, I like using this reward coaches who truly defy expectations. Popovic is already considered the best coach in the league by most and at times it seems like he’s coaching and managing his team on an entirely other level, however this award is not something that matters to him or his legacy. He cares about championships, which is what he, his players and everyone else will truly measure him by. This award is a good way to reward Hornacek, who’s fantastic job this year might otherwise be forgotten. I voted Thibodeau 3rd because the job he and Joakim Noah did this year keeping the Bulls competitive (4th in the East) despite Derrick Rose (out for the year) and Luol Deng (traded for no current assets) being gone.

 

DPOY

1. Joakim Noah
2. Roy Hibbert
3. Andre Iguodala

This is not an award I can speak that closely to, but I think Noah’s job anchoring that strong Chicago defense gives him a push over the other candidates. Hibbert also had a good regular season, but his incredibly weak post All Star break performance hurt him (and his team). I voted Andre third because with the advent of modern stats and the strong indicators derived from them that suggest that simply having a decent big-man to protect the rim is a significant defensive boost, great perimeter defenders like Iguodala are a rare breed and big advantage if effective. Andre was one of the best and most effective (at least statistically) defensive players this year and personally, defending wing players and swingmen (which are usually the other team’s best, craftiest and most athletic players) is a much tougher job than just standing in front the basket well.

 

Sixth Man

1. Taj Gibson
2. Jamal Crawford
3. Manu Ginobili

This was a tough pick for me because both of the top 2 guys, Gibson and Crawford, are deserving of this award in my opinion. Both players had to pick up their play to fill absences left by mid-season injuries. Both put up significant numbers off the bench and were always crunch-time guys for their teams, which both had good records. For me, it ultimately came down to which player was more vital to the team’s success, and that was Taj Gibson. With Rose and Deng gone and Boozer seemingly ineffective in late game situations, Gibson assumed a huge role. His toughness and maturity at the end of games helped the Bulls achieve a 48-win record, which is pretty incredibly considering the players they lost for the season (to injury and trade) and its overall underwhelming talent.

 

Feature photo – Christian Petersen/Getty Images North America