End of season NBA awards

 Popovich wins COTY, and for me it’s not that close. No one expected the Spurs to be playing for the first seed in the stacked west; Even more so with them heavy minutes to the likes of Dany Green, Kawhi Leonard, Gary Neal, and Blair. 

I’m not sold on Love being the most improved player either. Jarrett Jack (yes, go look up his numbers), Ersan Ilyasova, Anderson, and Lin are all ahead of Love in my book. 

MVP -Lebron

6th Man- James Harden

Worst 6th Man- Lamar Odom

Coach- Pops

Most Improved- Ryan Anderson

Best Benchwarmer- Brian Scalabrine

Rookie of the Year- Kyrie Irving

MVP – Durant (over Lebron due to better record, but not by much)

DPOY – Lebron (most versatile defender in the NBA, one game guards Rose next game guard P. Gasol and does a great job on both)

Coach – Thibs (Having the best record in the NBA with the teams best player only playing 36 games)

6th man – Harden(been the most consistent player coming of the bench all year)

Most Improved – Andrew Bynum (finally healthy and his numbers have all increased. Became one of the most dominant big men in the league)

Rookie of the year – Kyrie Irving (even with injury still the most consistent and most impactful rookie all year)

 +6ppg, + 2 rpg, + 1 apg, 7 more double doubles than he had all of last year, and he is pretty much playing <4 more minutes than last year… Bynum’s improvements are slightly greater but he is also playing 8 more minutes than last year…. I feel like Lin would have locked this up if it wasn’t for his season ending surgery. 

Also what about Lou Williams for 6th man? his PER is only .06 less than harden’s, he plays 5 mins less per game and has double the ast/TO ration… Maybe he would have a better argument if the sixers hadn’t been in free fall for the last month?

MVP- LeBron James (Can you have co-MVP’s, because honestly, both Durant and James deserve it this year, but if it’s going to be a single winner, i see LeBron edging Durant out)

6th Man- James Harden (No competition, has played very well all season)

DPOY- Serge Ibaka (With all this drama surrounding Howard, i can’t see him winning this again, and Ibaka has been outstanding in protecting the paint for the Thunder, 3.6 blocks a game or something isn’t it?)

Coach- Greg Poppovich (no question, no one expected the Spurs to be as good as they are this season)

Most Improved- Andrew Bynum (How is possible for K.Love to win most improvoed 2 years in a row? Not going to happen to whoever suggested it above) Bynum has improved out of sight this season, He’s made it a debate on the best big man in the game, whereas before it was undisputed that it was Howard.

Rookie- Kyrie Irving (despite the injuries, clearly deserves this)

MVP- LeBron James

COY- Greg Poppovich

6TH MAN- James Harden

DPOY- Serge Ibaka

MIP- Goran Dragic

ROY- Isaiah Thomas

 MVP- LeBron James (unfortunately)

I really really hope Ibaka isn’t DPOY.  He’s a very good defender, but gets eaten up by smarter offensive players and doesn’t have the team defensive impact his block numbers indicate yet (check the Thunder’s defensive ratings).  I’d give Igoudala and Lebron a long look for DPOY, but it’s probably Chandler for keeping that Knicks team top 5 in defensive efficiency. 

MIP is probably Ryan Anderson – he’s been stellar all year.  It was Lin, but the injury stopped that.

Rookie is Kyrie and it’s not close, though I love the draft class.  No one is even near Irving’s level at this point.

COY is Pop or Thibs.  Pop’s team was supposed to be done and Thibs showed he’s damn near as valuable as Rose.  These guys are the cream of the crop in the NBA.  I’m leaning Pop right now, but wouldn’t be mad either way.

6th man is Harden, though I feel for Lou who would have won it most other years.

And MVP is Lebron because there are 2-sides to the game.  Bosh and Wade missed time while Lebron had a near historic year that Durant nearly matched offensively.  But then you add in Lebron’s D and, when compared to Durant, who’s good but hardly great on that end, well, Lebron is just better… for now.

MVP – Kevin Durant

ROY – Kyrie Irving

DPOY – Serge Ibaka

COY – Pop

6man – James Harden

MIP – Ryan Anderson or James Harden (is season started three weeks ago, this award is for Avery Bradley)

MVP – Lebron James.  Whether we want to hate on him or not, he is having a historic season in terms of statistics, Miami only goes as far as he takes them, not to mention he is still the best or 2nd best player in the NBA. 2nd place: Rajon Rondo

ROY – Kyrie Irving.  I didn’t think he would be this good this quickly, but when are we ever right about prospects? (I’m looking at you Portland) 2nd place: Isaiah Thomas

MIP – Nikola Pekovic.  He averaged 5 points a game last season, and upped it to 13 this season.  He also did an undaunting task in taking the starting centre position from Darko Milicic. Sorry Jeremy Lin, but you missed too many games. 2nd place: Ryan Anderson

COY – Doc Rivers.  Did anybody really think Boston would still be competing?  I had them finishing 7th or 8th in the East.  He has gotten Rondo to play more under control, and their ball is 2nd to none.  Miami nor Chicago want these guys in round 2. 2nd place: Greg Popovich

DPOY – Tyson Chandler.  He has the Knicks playing defence!  Anybody who can pull of that task deserves this award in my book. 2nd place: Serge Ibaka

6th Man – James Harden.  The new Manu Ginobli of the NBA.  He is a star coming off the bench for a team.  And in my opionion, is a better play maker than Russell Westbrook.  2nd place: Lou Williams

The mip should definetly go to Kyle Lowry imo,

MVP- Durant

MIP- Lowry

COTY- pop

DPOY- Ibaka

6th Man- Harden

ROY-irving

COTY is tough call, maybe an impossible one. Nobody actually assesses the coach’s job, how would you do that? So people use a proxy: the difference between the expectations for team X at the beginning of the season and its results at the end of it. I’m not sure that’s a very good method, mainly because expectations can be flawed.

Look at the Spurs: I’m not critizing Popovitch’s work at all, he’s obviously a great coach, but maybe there’s just a great chemistry in the team, maybe Duncan and Parker have more left in the tank than expected, maybe Green, Neal, Blair and Leonard are underrated, who knows? Since we are unable to assess each and every factor, we simply assume that the coach must have done a great job.

MVP-  Lebron James.  It’s very close between him and Durant, but Lebron has had less help around him (weird to say I know) this year.  Wade has had one of his worst years statistically and Bosh has been struggling since the all-star break, while Westbrook has elevated his game to superstar status and James Harden might be one of the best 6th men is history (spoiler alert).  2nd:  Kevin Durant.

ROY-  Kyrie Irving.  Even with the injury there isn’t much debate here, would have been more interesting if Rubio didn’t get hurt or if Monte was traded earlier freeing up time for Klay Thompson.  2nd:  Klay Thompson

MIP-  Ryan Anderson.  This award screamed Jeremy Lin, until he was hurt and ended up missing almost half the season.  Anderson has drastically increased point and rebounds without hurting his shooting percentages.  He has been a huge steadying force for the Magic who drastically needed one. 2nd:  Andrew Bynum

COY-  Tom Thibodeau.  All he has done is lead his team to the best record in the NBA without last year’s MVP for a third of the season, NBD.  2nd:  Greg Popovich.

DPOY-  Tyson Chandler.  People need to differentiate between blocks per game and defense.  Ibaka leads the NBA in blocks, but in all reality he isn’t that good of a defender (ask Kevin Loves 51 point performance).  Chandler is the anchor for the Knicks defense with great defensive positioning.  He along with Mike Woodson are a huge reason for the drastic improvement in the defense.  2nd:  Tony Allen.

 6th MAN-  James Harden.  No debate here, one of the best 6th men of all time. 2nd:  Lou Williams.

MVP:
1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Kobe Bryant

ROY
1. Kyrie Irving
2. Isaiah Thomas
3. Klay Thompson

MIP
1. Ryan Anderson
2. Ersan Illyasova
3. Andrew Bynum (only number 3 because everyone knew he had this talent, the only questions was could he stay healthy)

6th man
1. James Harden
2. Lou Williams
3. Jason Terry

COY
1. Gregg Popovich
2. Tom Thibodeau
3. Frank Vogel

DPOY
1. Serge Ibaka
2. Dwight Howard
3. Tyson Chandler

MVP:
1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. CP3

ROY
1. Kyrie Irving
2. Isaiah Thomas
3. Ricky Rubio

MIP
1. Ryan Anderson
2. Ersan Illyasova
3. Andrew Bynum

6th man
1. James Harden
2. Lou Williams
3. Jason Terry

COY
1. Gregg Popovich
2. Tom Thibodeau
3. Frank Vogel

DPOY
1. Tyson Chandler
2. Serge Ibaka
3. Dwight Howard

 MVP

1. Lebron

2. Durant

3. Westbrook

ROY

1. Irving

2. Thompson

3. Parsons

MIP

1. Gerald Green

2. Pekovic

3. Epke Udoh

6th man:

1. Harden

2. Dragic

3. Udoh

Coach

1. Popovich

2. Thibodeau

3. Corbin

DPOY

1. Howard

2. Chandler

3. Udoh

Can someone please explain how in the hell Ibaka is a better defender than Chandler, Lebron, Igudala or Dwight?

 he is not even close they are just looking at blocks, like I said Ibaka is arguably the worst defender in the Thunder’s whole starting lineup and also Nick Collison is a better defender than him too.

 "Can someone please explain how in the hell Ibaka is a better defender than Chandler, Lebron, Igudala or Dwight?"

I guess they are factoring in the intimidation factor. The amount of blocks that Ibaka generates can scare some people into not bringing it into the paint or even change their shot. Howard and Chandler aren’t the block specialist that Ibaka is. 

 Coach of the year is bothering me…

The people picking Pops are doing so because of the "expectations"…well, just because alot of people saw the Spurs falling off doesn’t mean they werent good a year ago. They won 61 games. Why people thought they would suddenly stink this year is beyond me. Thibs on the other hand, has his team with the best record in the league, despite the fact 4 of his 5 starters have missed significant time, including the reigning MVP missing half the season. It makes no sense the Bulls are where they are right now. 

Popovich is the best coach every year maybe he did not do a better job than last year but he should win the award every year.

Well playing Rose with a big lead and not resting him proves why Tibbs isn’t COY.

Funny how they were up 12 at the time he got hurt and ended up winning by 12 too.