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We are now just over the midway point of the 82-game NBA regular season, which means it’s time to hand out the ‘halftime awards’ for those individuals that are in the box seat to take home some silverware at the end of the season.
Drum roll please. . .
MVP
While all awards are important, let’s be honest: this is the biggest, as it recognises the best player in the league, and therefore always generates strong debate.
Much like last year, this is essentially a two horse race. However, I still believe its LeBron James’ trophy to lose.
He is unequivocally the best player in the league, and when you factor in his team’s success, his gaudy stats, his two-way game, his impact on a nightly basis, and how much he elevates his teammates’ play, he should win the MVP.
I would happily listen to those that believe Kevin Durant should be in the discussion, because the truth is that he most definitely should be, especially when you analyse his sublime shooting percentages and a Player Efficiency Rating of 30.9, right behind LeBron’s 31.6.
But LeBron’s superior passing and defence ensures that the argument should abate.
Those pushing for Carmelo Anthony are delusional. While he is probably in third place in the race at present, he is a long, long, long way behind the top two.
Rookie of the Year
At the start of the season, it was predicted by many – myself included – that the New Orleans Hornets’ Anthony Davis would take home the ROY trophy in a landslide.
Well, at this stage, the win may be a landslide, but it probably won’t be Davis taking home the hardware. Instead, the Portland Trailblazers’ Damian Lillard will be at short odds to be named the NBA’s best first year player.
Lillard is averaging 18 points and 6.5 assists, all while playing point guard, the toughest position for a rookie.
However, the most impressive aspect of Lillard’s season thus far is that he has the Blazers in the playoff hunt in the tough Western Conference.
Davis has been no slouch, and his 12.8 points and 7.4 rebounds, along with stellar defensive play, have provided the Hornets with everything they expected when they drafted him as the number one pick.
However, the Hornets 17-34 record will count against him.
Defensive Player of the Year
I always find this award one of the toughest to judge because so many pundits want to use statistics to quantify it. Unfortunately, while blocks, steals, defensive rebounds, opponents shooting percentage, etc, can all give an indication of a player’s defensive abilities, it can also be fool’s gold.
In the past, Dwight Howard, Serge Ibaka and Tyson Chandler have all received kudos for their defence, but mainly because it has been easy to point at statistics to vindicate such adjudications.
Yet help defence, quick rotations, hedging, playing the passing lanes, fighting through screens, bumping cutters, making an offensive player work hard for his shots, etc, are all things that don’t show up in the stat sheet.
I’m therefore tempted to select an Avery Bradley, Luol Deng or Andre Kirilenko here, due to their outstanding fundamentals and/or on-ball defence.
However, for his overall defensive capabilities, ability to guard just about anyone in the league, and his propensity to completely shut someone down when needed, I’m going to select LeBron James.
Coach of the Year
Always the most hotly contested award, due to the vast number of variables that can be used to judge the accolade. However, it’s also the one award that traditionally goes to a ‘good story’ as opposed to the actual best coach.
Don’t believe me?
Well, the two coaches widely regarded as the best in the game for the last 20 years, Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich, combined, have just three Coach of the Year awards between them.
Meanwhile, Mike Dunleavy, Mike D’Antoni, Avery Johnson, Sam Mitchell, Byron Scott and Mike Brown are all recent award winners. They’ve all also since been fired, with four currently without a head coaching job.
Once again this year, the candidates are many, and I think I may be guilty of heading down the ‘best story who will probably be sacked within three years’ route. However, I think the most outstanding coaching job so far this season has been done by the New York Knicks’ Mike Woodson.
On paper the Knicks should be poor defensively and disjointed offensively, yet Woodson has them playing great team basketball on both ends of the floor. They rotate sharply on defense, and share the ball on offense.
Combine their impressive performances on the court with the fact Woodson has had to juggle numerous other issues, like the team’s advanced age, JR Smith’s wackiness, New York’s media spotlight, Amare Stoudemire’s return from injury, Carmelo Anthony, and the loss of point guard Raymond Felton, and you get a full appreciation for Woodson’s work.
6th Man of the Year
A quarter of the way through the season, I had JR Smith locked in for this award.
Smith had supplied the necessary scoring punch off the bench that is usually a hallmark of all sixth man award winners. He had also played solid defence, improved his shot selection and passing, and even hit a couple of game-winning shots. What more do you want from your sixth Man of the Year?
Unfortunately, Smith has fallen away just a touch of late, and thus opened the door for other contenders.
Jamal Crawford – no stranger to the award – is averaging 16.8 points as a substitute for the LA Clippers, and has been a vital part of their success so far. His streaky shooting has been more ‘on’ than ‘off’ this season, and his electrifying ball-handling adds a dangerous dimension to the Clippers offense.
To be fair though, Crawford adds little else when he’s on the court.
The Thunder’s Kevin Martin found himself in a tricky position, asked to replace the popular James Harden in Oklahoma City’s second unit, even though he has a completely different skill set.
There were fears the Thunder would struggle after they traded Harden, but Martin has been brilliant, providing 15 points per game, and doing so while fitting seamlessly into the Thunder’s offense.
This is a tough selection, but I’ll choose Martin for now, simply due to the Thunder owning the superior win/loss record.