On Thursday, we checked in on the state of the NBA’s Most Valuable Player race. Today, with the second half now in full swing, we’re taking a look at where things stand with the rest of the league’s awards for 2020/21, starting with one that looks like a runaway…
Rookie of the Year
Since LaMelo Ball entered the Hornets‘ starting lineup at the start of February, he has averaged 19.8 PPG, 6.8 APG, and 6.1 RPG on .456/.437/.846 shooting in 16 games (33.7 MPG).
Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton has had a good year, and No. 1 pick Anthony Edwards (Timberwolves) is among the dark-horse candidates to make a second-half push for this award, but as long as Ball stays healthy and doesn’t experience a major slump, it’s hard to see how he’ll lose this race.
Defensive Player of the Year
The Jazz have the NBA’s best record and have a two-time Defensive Player of the Year anchoring their defense, which makes Rudy Gobert the leading candidate for this award for the time being. If Utah holds onto the Western Conference’s top seed, voters may be inclined to give Gobert the nod at DPOY to make up for the fact that he and Donovan Mitchell are unlikely to get many top-three votes for the MVP award.
Still, there are plenty of other viable candidates here. Sixers stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons will be in the running. Last year’s winner, Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, could receive consideration again. And it’s a safe bet that Myles Turner‘s eye-popping block numbers (3.4 BPG so far) will help earn the Pacers center some votes.
Sixth Man of the Year
Like Gobert, Jordan Clarkson has the Jazz‘s league-best record working in his favor. He has also been the NBA’s top bench scorer so far this season, with 17.9 points per game on .447/.370/.967 shooting, making him the favorite for Sixth Man of the Year honors.
Rockets guard Eric Gordon is right behind Clarkson in scoring (17.8 PPG), but has missed some time with injuries this season and has started nearly half his games. Raptors big man Chris Boucher, Bulls forward Thaddeus Young, and Heat guard Goran Dragic could gain traction, but right now it looks like Clarkson’s award to lose.
Most Improved Player
Rockets center Christian Wood looked like the frontrunner for this award until he was sidelined by the ankle injury that has cost him the last 14 games. Now, Jerami Grant, the player the Pistons essentially signed in place of Wood, may be the favorite — he has nearly doubled his scoring average this season, from 12.0 PPG to 23.7 PPG.
A few Eastern All-Stars – Knicks forward Julius Randle, Bulls guard Zach LaVine, and Celtics wing Jaylen Brown – could make strong cases for this award, as could Boucher, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and multiple Spurs youngsters. If Randle or LaVine helps his team lock up a playoff spot, it’d make a compelling case, but Grant’s ability to rack up big numbers on a rebuilding Detroit squad may give him the leg up.
Coach of the Year
The Coach of the Year award often comes down to which team overcame the most obstacles and/or most significantly outperformed their preseason expectations. Based on those criteria, Doc Rivers (Sixers), Tom Thibodeau (Knicks), and James Borrego (Hornets) may be the best candidates in the East so far, while Quin Snyder (Jazz), Monty Williams (Suns), and Terry Stotts (Trail Blazers) deserve consideration in the West.
I don’t get a sense that there’s an overwhelming favorite for this award yet, so the second-half results will be crucial. If a team like the Spurs, Bulls, or Grizzlies has a strong second half, candidates like Gregg Popovich, Billy Donovan, and Taylor Jenkins could make plenty of voters’ ballots.
What do you think? Who would be your award-winners for 2020/21 so far, and who do you expect will ultimately take home the hardware? Which awards are the easiest and most difficult to pick a winner for at this point?
Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
MVP Joel Embiid
DPOY Rudy Gobert
6th Jordan Clarkson
Rookie LaMelo Ball
MIP Jerami Grant
Coach Monty Williams
I like your top 4, I think if the knicks or bulls make the playoffs Lavine or Randle win most improved though, if they both do I give the edge to Randle, for some reason I don’t think they give it to a guy scoring completely empty points when they can give it to a big market player on a playoff team
Totally agree about Randle. No one expected him to do what he’s doing. Jerami Grant has more opportunity with the Pistons and that’s why his scoring is up. Randle has been with the Knicks for some time now and he has blossomed under Thibs.
I would agree particularly with Randle but you can’t deny Grant has improved the most in terms of production. It obviously helps that he’s on the worst team in the league but I think you have to factor in Randle and LaVine where both really good last year. Randle was almost 20-10-3 last year and LaVine was 25-4-5. Whereas Grant was his teams 4th option.
He’s up 11.7 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 0.3 blocks.
Whereas Randle is up 3.3 points, 1.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists. And LaVine is up 2.9 points, 0.4 rebounds and 0.9 assists.
So they might be empty numbers Grants putting up but even if he was on a good team he would still be having really great numbers and improvement from last year
Also – the Nuggets offered Grant a bit role on that team, and when he signed for Detroit, the haters piled on arguing he would fail.
If Grant doesn’t get MIP (Randle has a legit case himself), then they should make an award for putting your money where your mouth is and give it to him.
I liked the Monty Williams shout!
But what about the following Midseason NBA Awards:
Draft Mistake of the Year
Least Defensive Player of the Year
Last Man off the Bench
Most Un-Improved Player of the Year
Why Does This Coach Still Have a Job ??
1- No clue/too early
2- Trae Young
3- Always Dudley
4- RoCo
5- Luke Walton
I like this idea but I’d make a couple adjustments.
Draft mistake Pistons should’ve taken Tyrese Haliburton
Least defensive has to be Enes Kanter
Instead of last man off the bench I’ve changed it to don’t let this man off the bench award which goes to Frank Ntilikina. Why give him minutes when you have Rose Quickly and Rivers?
Most unimproved LaMarcus Aldridge career lows in all categories nearly
Why is this coach still in the league? Scott Brooks
ROY — LaMelo
MVP — Jokic
DPOY — Embiid/Simmons
SMOY — Boucher
MIP — C-Wood
COY —Doc
COY …. I agree with those picks. Still a ways to go
MIP …. Wood not playing takes him out. Randle should be in there more than Zach. But I got Grant leading. He’s made the biggest turn around. He’s big time right now. If Wood plays second half. Could be back in
ROY ….. still a ways to go. Ball is leading and is looking better and better.
6th nan…. Clarkson is looking good now
DPY ….. gotta go with Rudy. With Ben still in running
The drumbeat on 2 of these awards has been underway for so long, that it would be hard to deny right now, and maybe even at the end of the year regardless of what happens between now and then. Anyway, if the season ended today:
MIP is Randle. Wood has played only half the season, and shouldn’t be in the conversation. Grant was a better player than Randle last year, and not as good a player this year. FWIW, I love Grant as a player, and he’s made a significant career jump to being a starting SF, but he was a real good player last year and, with the reversion already well underway, there may not any statistical case for any year over year improvement.
6th man of the year is on the Jazz, it’s just not Clarkson. This award encourages more lazy voting than any other. It was seemingly handed to Clarkson 10 games into the year. Still, his second unit teammate, Ingles, is a more complete player and a far more critical piece to the Jazz and having a better year.
What do you mean about Grant? He’s hardly slowing down and he’s increased his per game numbers in nearly every category. Imo it should go to Grant if he keeps up his form; even playing for a bad team nearly doubling your scoring average from 12 to 23.7 shouldn’t be glanced over…there have been plenty of other players given big roles on bad teams and not nearly seen as much of an impact jump as Grant has. If the writers want to give it to a guy on a playoff team/team that just missed, I can see the Randle getting the nod. Assuming both guys keep up their form and their teams stay in relatively the same spot, I think you could make a valid argument for Randle or Grant.
Also by what standard are you saying that Ingles is having a better year? Don’t get me wrong, I think Ingles is an underrated rotation player and he’s definitely very important to what the Jazz do but I wouldn’t say he’s having a better year than Clarkson.
Fair questions.
Grant’s PPG are up big. But his shooting percentages (across the board, 3pt, 2pt and TS%) are down year over year, and falling. Earlier in the year he was maintaining (roughly) the same percentages over higher usage; which is impressive. He’s still having an impressive season, but “most improved” when there are guys like Randle who went from a liability on the court to a star on the same team? Not for me (and it has nothing to do with being a Knick fan).
Ingles and JC are both having great seasons. But JC’s is really just about scoring a lot with decent percentages on high usage. He isn’t much of a facilitator or defender. Ingles is the team’s 3rd facilitator, and the guy that permits a backcourt of DM and JC to see the time it does without it becoming an iso fest. In terms of scoring, I’ll just give one stat. TS% – right now, Ingles is over 70%. If it finishes up that way, with his assists and number of 3 pointers, it could be an historically significant season. I don’t think JC’s season is quite on that level.
I don’t like Grant for MIP. He went from being more of a role player on a winning team to the go to guy on a horrible team.
Rudy getting DPOY would be an absolute joke. He gets lit up every time he plays a legit center. Since when are other awards a consolation prize for not being considered for MVP?
Randle has come into his own in a tough situation. Vast improvement. COY, Stotts. He’s managing a winning record in the west with 4 of his 5 starters out.
MIP: Grant was never laughed at like Randle. Grant has been hitting 3s & rebounding for years; he was just young on teams that did not need his scoring. I predicted he would average over 20 last year but the Nuggets were precious about their PFs, MPJ for being young and Millsap for being old. Grant got mad and bolted to a team that would play him no questions.
So for quality I root against him?— lol. Please not ShaiGA either, good from the getgo but undernoticed, maybe bc a name too long to throw out in conversations.
Randle has had prominent doubters. In LA people made fun of his size & build, looking more like a football player, being a tweener, stuck with being the physical guy and sometimes awkward. But he played happy and got a chance in Nola. In NY he got the fan response, “All that cap money, and this is all we got?” Supposedly teammates didn’t like him and he forced the ball.
Chris Wood, not enough PT, though he does have remarkable effect on his team.
Lavine & Brown would just about have to win titles to get MIP.
DPOY: Much has been made of Embiid & Jokic taking it too Gobert. (Not the award!) I prefer Simmons, raising the team.