NBA Award Season + Playoff Picks

The NBA season came and went in the blink of an eye and that blink was way more interesting than the casual everyday blinking as the night-to-night box scores featured some eye-popping numbers by superstars on a nightly basis. The abundance of triple-doubles and 50-point games has led to the NBA dominating headlines even when the NFL off-season has been an unavoidable force during the Goodell-era. Unfortunately, this has led to some lazier headline stories like "Kyrie thinks the earth is flat" and "Are stars resting too much?" and my favorite debate of Harden vs. Westbrook for MVP. There is no wrong choice for MVP between the two, as long as we all have agreed to be anti-KD while his current team doesn't even need him for the best record in the NBA.

Complex

Even though the MVP race has been debated ad nauseam, there are other awards to be handed out in late June during TNT's first ever NBA Awards Show and the races are just as close and undecided in nearly every category. It's a seemingly impossible year for writers to fill out their ballots and even though nobody is asking me to, I might as well go through the exercise of filling out my ballot as well for the world (All 5 of you reading this) to see and criticize or lightly nod in agreement with. Here are my choices for every one of the major awards, a few minor awards and my picks for the first round of the NBA playoffs...

 MVP 

Jesse D. Garrabrant/Getty Images

1. James Harden (29.1 PTS, 8.1 REB, 11.2 AST, 1.5 STL, 0.5 BLK, 27.3 PER, 15 WS)

2. Russell Westbrook (31.6/10.7/10.4/1.6/0.4/30.6/13.1)

3. Lebron James (26.4/8.6/8.7/1.2/0.6/27.0/12.9)

4. Kawhi Leonard (25.5/5.8/3.5/1.8/0.7/27.5/13.6)

5. Giannis Antetokounmpo (22.9/8.7/5.4/1.6/1.9/26.0/12.4)

I had convinced myself that I would stick by James Harden all season once he started playing like Steve Nash way back in October. I went through much of the season loving every minute of Westbrook and Harden (two players I've been very high on, even when they played with KD and were slightly marginalized in the process) putting up triple-doubles until it was obvious that Russ was purposely aiming for the single-season triple-double record and then the novelty slightly wore off for me. Maybe I just enjoy angry Russ too much and watching him get along with Durant for even one second of the All Star Game just took a small bit of fun out of that rivalry for me, personally. I think I might just be the emotionally fragile cupcake that OKC has been referring to all season. I'm so sorry but, Harden made his teammates better and nobody outside of Westbrook looked improved on the Thunder. Blame Victor Oladipo for not turning into Dwyane Wade if Westbrook misses out on his most obvious chance at MVP. I was never as surprised by the triple-doubles as I was by Houston's compitence. In my defense, I've been claiming that Westbrook is a better basketball player than Kevin Durant for years now. 

Shout out to Giannis on winning a rock-paper-scissors match versus Isaiah Thomas, John Wall and Stephen Curry for the #5 slot on my ballot.

Rookie of the Year

Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports

1. Malcolm Brogdon (10.2 PTS, 2.8 REB, 4.2 AST, 1.1 STL, 0.2 BLK, 14.9 PER, 4.1 WS)

2. Dario Saric (12.8/6.3/2.2/0.7/0.4/12.8/1.0)

3. Joel Embiid (20.2/7.8/2.1/0.9/2.5/24.1/1.9, 31 Games)

"The President" Malcolm Brogdon was easily the most consistent rookie in the 2016-17 NBA season and he saved the Bucks from having to throw extra minutes to Matthew Dellavedova. Saric was better than Brogdon over the final three months and Embiid was much better than Brogdon over the first three months but, the Sixers are not going to make the playoffs and I needed at least 41 games from Embiid to consider ranking him higher than two other players deserving of recognition this June. 

Defensive Player of the Year

Brad Rempel - USA TODAY Sports

1. Rudy Gobert (12.8 REB, 0.6 STL, 2.6 BLK, 6.0 DWS, 23.3 PER)

2. Kawhi Leonard (5.8/1.8/0.7/4.7/27.5)

3. Draymond Green (7.9/2.0/1.4/5.4/16.5)

Draymond is still the most valuable Warrior in my eyes but, now it just seems like I've buried Kevin Durant so let me explain... I have yet to see enough of Durant on the court with the Bay Area's previous big 3 to determine whether or not this is HIS team or just a team of phenomenal complementary All-Stars where Draymond is the dam preventing a flood of points and lackluster defense. San Antonio and Utah were constantly holding teams below 100 points and the two most responsible for their lack of watch-ability this season are just as close to each other as the top two MVP candidates.

Sixth Man of the Year

AP Photo/LM Otero

1. Eric Gordon (16.2 PTS, 2.7 REB, 2.5 AST, 0.6 STL, 0.5 BLK, 13.2 PER, 3.8 WS)

2. Lou Williams (17.5/2.5/3.0/1.0/0.2/21.4/6.1)

3. Zach Randolph (14.1/8.2/1.7/0.5/0.1/18.5/3.2)

It was really to have two sixth man candidates play for the same for two months but, it's a blessing in disguise that it only lasted two months as both Gordon and Williams' canceled out each other's value with neither player seeming nearly as efficient as they were prior to the trade deadline. Enes Kanter still gets plenty of attention for this award as an offensive big man but, the man broke his arm punching a chair and I cannot support that shit. Z-Bo played more games and was less of a distraction while Kanter sparked pushing matches with Golden State and team furniture.

Most Improved Player

@Bucks on Twitter

1. Giannis Antetokounmpo (2016: 16.9/7.7/4.3, 18.8 PER, 7.1 WS & 2017: 22.9/8.7/5.4/26.0/12.4)

2. Nikola Jokic (2016: 10.0/7.0/2.4/21.5/6.7 & 2017: 16.7/9.8/4.9/26.2/9.6)

3. Isaiah Thomas (2016: 22.2/3.0/6.2/21.5/9.7 & 2017: 28.9/2.7/5.9/26.5/12.5)

A strange award that tends to rely on a player being mediocre one year, the players that made THE LEAP from solid ball players to superstars are all listed above. Isaiah was already very close to All-Star caliber last year and just lost out to Giannis in my MVP race while Jokic became an NBA God over the final three months with triple-doubles galore. Who knew all he needed was fellow dominant big Jusuf Nurkic to be shipped off? 

Coach of the Year

Pedro Portal/Miami Herald

1. Erik Spoelstra (41-41)

2. Brad Stevens (53-29, #1 in East)

3. Mike D'Antoni (55-27)

With honorable mentions like Quin Snyder, Scott Brooks, Jason Kidd and David Fizdale, there is no more stacked sea of nominees than in the Coach of the Year category. I ended up rewarding a coach that didn't even qualify for the postseason because I had the Miami Heat trying really hard to get to 30 wins WITH Justise Winslow. Winslow tore his ACL and the team let go of Derrick Williams (a real player now on a real contender) and they still finished at .500! Chris Bosh didn't even play a minute! I'm still not totally sure how Spoelstra achieved this feat but, I'm really satisfied to see him get full praise with the Heatles era long gone.

Brad Stevens managed to not rest his men and locked up a 1-seed while D'Antoni just gave James Harden the ball and outright banned the mid-range jumper in a glorious power move that would have made Sam Hinkie proud.

1st Team All-NBA
G - James Harden 
G - Russell Westbrook 
F - Lebron James 
F - Kawhi Leonard  
C - Rudy Gobert 

2nd Team All-NBA
G - Stephen Curry 
G - John Wall 
F - Giannis Antetokounmpo 
F - Karl-Anthony Towns 
C - Anthony Davis

3rd Team All-NBA
G - Isaiah Thomas 
G - DeMar DeRozan 
F - Jimmy Butler 
F - Paul George
C - Marc Gasol

First Round Playoff Picks
Warriors over Trail Blazers in 4
Spurs over Grizzlies in 6
Rockets over Thunder in 6
Clippers over Jazz in 7

Celtics over Bulls in 7
Cavaliers over Pacers in 4
Raptors over Bucks in 7
Wizards over Hawks in 5

And that's as much attention as I can pay to the NBA this weekend. Good luck to the team of your choosing and may the playoffs live up to the expectations set by that wild regular season!