2017 RealGM POY & Awards Voting Thread

[therealbig3]

POY

1. LeBron James - he just continues to prove year after year that there isn't anyone else in the league that I'd take over him. Even I have moments of doubting him every now and then, and then he makes me look like a fool. IMO, the GOAT, and he arguably just had his best season.

2. Stephen Curry - this one is a no-brainer to me. Easily the 2nd best player in the league, and is the one player that gives LeBron the biggest run for his money for POY. He's pretty much just as good as he was last year, he just had a slightly different role and needed to adjust to a new teammate.

3. Chris Paul - missed time is the only reason he drops this low, otherwise he would be in contention for POY. He does amazing things year after year. Was healthy for the playoffs, and he only had 1 bad game against the Jazz. Unfortunately, it was game 7 and it's going to be the only game everyone remembers. But other than LeBron and Curry, there isn't anyone else in the league I would take over a healthy Chris Paul.

4. Russell Westbrook - I'll openly admit, I'm not the biggest fan of Russell Westbrook, but I have to appreciate what he did this year. The numbers are clearly there, including the +/-. He was healthy all year, and he performed admirably in the playoffs...in fact, the Thunder actually outscored the Rockets when both him and Harden were on the court, despite the big difference in teammate quality. I probably would take Kawhi over Westbrook if he was healthy, but unfortunately, he missed the most important games of the year.

5. Draymond Green - one of the most polarizing players in the league. Yes, he's got clear flaws as a scorer and as a shooter, but he's so unique as a point center. Pretty much the only guy who consistently plays C on defense that can run the show as a legitimate PG on offense. He's the best defensive player in the league and is imo, one of the ATG defenders the league has ever seen. Honestly, after you get past the true elite defensive anchors in history, like Russell/Duncan/KG/Robinson/Hakeem/etc, Draymond Green is as good as anyone. The fact that he's a really valuable offensive player, unlike Ben Wallace or Dikembe Mutombo, means he's clearly not just a role player and is a legitimate star.

HM: Kawhi Leonard (missed the WCF, which unfortunately might have lost them the series), Kevin Durant (great player, but he also missed significant time, and I'm honestly not sold on his impact despite the pretty box scores...he's never really shown himself to have the impact of a true MVP-level player, and is one of those guys whose box score numbers and the ease with which he can score points overstate how good he actually is...he's still the same guy he was last year, it's just that his flaws were hidden on GS), James Harden (I feel similarly about him as I do about Kevin Durant, a guy whose box score numbers overstate the amount of lift he actually provides his team...it's also pretty telling to me that his teammates are generally maligned and the consensus seems to be that he "carried" a bunch of scrubs, but those scrubs basically played at the same level with him on the bench vs him on the court, and that CONTINUED into the playoffs...his teammates and coach are very underrated, and Harden himself is quite overrated)


OPOY

1. Stephen Curry
2. LeBron James
3. Chris Paul

Not much to really say here, it's not all that debatable to me. Maybe Westbrook vs CP3, especially considering CP3's missed time, but I think when it comes down to it, I trust CP3 to lead my offense more than Westbrook.


DPOY

1. Draymond Green
2. Rudy Gobert
3. Paul Millsap

Millsap is like the diet version of Green, and is consistently one of the most underrated players in the league. I think him and Jokic in Denver are gonna be great together.


6MOY

1. Andre Iguodala
2. Eric Gordon
3. James Johnson


COY

1. Mike D'Antoni - so underrated this year. It wasn't so much Harden who was their MVP, it was MDA.
2. Gregg Popovich - ol' reliable
3. Brad Stevens - I think people are too easily overlooking how a team that featured Isaiah Thomas as their best player, with IT actually looking like an MVP candidate, won 53 games (yes, in the East, but their SRS was also 8th in the league IIRC). Brad Stevens has been nothing but brilliant ever since taking over in Boston. They continue to overachieve year after year, and I'm excited to see what they can do if they're able to add Gordon Hayward.


EOY

1. Bob Myers
2. Daryl Morey
3. RC Buford

[ardee]

Doc, will he be required to explain his vote? It's not quite not voting LeBron in 09 level, but no Curry this year (and with Wall over him!!) is rough.

If that is the case the people leaving Westbrook off need to do the same.

[ardee]

POY

1. LeBron James: Not much to say. Arguably the GOAT peak. He was still likely the best player in the Finals, ridiculous personal efficiency, Cleveland's record breaking Playoff offense seals it for me.

2. Russell Westbrook: ATG regular season, one of the highest impact years ever IMO. You can pick and watch 10 random games from the season and be convinced he was the RS POY easily. He was still amazing in the Playoffs, just not quite as otherworldly as LeBron.

3. Stephen Curry: Quite incredible in the Playoffs, 28/7/6 on 66% TS is ATG level stuff. His unimpressive RS, however, slides him down here.

4. Kawhi Leonard: He may have had the best Playoffs of anyone up until his injury. Real shame Zaza did what he did, he would have made the voting very interesting if he played the whole WCF, even if he lost.

5. James Harden: This was really tough. Durant was God-like in the Finals while Harden evaporated against the Spurs in game 6, but I'm trying not to let recency bias affect me. What I'm focusing on is the amazing offense the Rockets had in the RS that stemmed solely from Harden. He deserves credit for that.

Super super HM: Kevin Durant

Super HM: Chris Paul

HM: Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokoumpo, Draymond Green

OPOY

1. LeBron James
2. Russell Westbrook
3. Stephen Curry

DPOY

1. Draymond Green
2. Rudy Gobert
3. Anthony Davis

MIP

1. Nikola Jokic
2. Giannis Antetokoumpo
3. Otto Porter

[Joey Wheeler]

Doc, will he be required to explain his vote? It's not quite not voting LeBron in 09 level, but no Curry this year (and with Wall over him!!) is rough.

If that is the case the people leaving Westbrook off need to do the same.

Now there's something that could use some explanation, along with simply ranking Curry ahead of Westbrook for that matter. There were 100 MVP ballots, Curry was in 34 of them, Westbrook in all 100 and won the award by a landslide. In the playoffs, Westbrook led the entire league in ppg (by a massive margin) and assists, while being second in rebounds. Curry's production doesn't really stack up. For all the claims of impact, he also didn't get a single FMVP vote despite his team's dominant campaign.

Basically no one outside the real GM bubble thinks Curry was better than Westbrook this year, so if any vote needs to be scrutinized and explained it's that one. Or we could just drop the hysterics altogether and let people make their choices without requiring them to explain why they left out player A or player B unless they choose to of course.

[kayess]

Doc, will he be required to explain his vote? It's not quite not voting LeBron in 09 level, but no Curry this year (and with Wall over him!!) is rough.

If that is the case the people leaving Westbrook off need to do the same.

Now there's something that could use some explanation, along with simply ranking Curry ahead of Westbrook for that matter. There were 100 MVP ballots, Curry was in 34 of them, Westbrook in all 100 and won the award by a landslide. In the playoffs, Westbrook led the entire league in ppg (by a massive margin) and assists, while being second in rebounds. Curry's production doesn't really stack up. For all the claims of impact, he also didn't get a single FMVP vote despite his team's dominant campaign.

Basically no one outside the real GM bubble thinks Curry was better than Westbrook this year, so if any vote needs to be scrutinized and explained it's that one. Or we could just drop the hysterics altogether and let people make their choices without requiring them to explain why they left out player A or player B unless they choose to of course.

When has popular opinion ever been the right way to try and objectively judge something?

Anyway, will vote soon.

[Joey Wheeler]

If that is the case the people leaving Westbrook off need to do the same.

Now there's something that could use some explanation, along with simply ranking Curry ahead of Westbrook for that matter. There were 100 MVP ballots, Curry was in 34 of them, Westbrook in all 100 and won the award by a landslide. In the playoffs, Westbrook led the entire league in ppg (by a massive margin) and assists, while being second in rebounds. Curry's production doesn't really stack up. For all the claims of impact, he also didn't get a single FMVP vote despite his team's dominant campaign.

Basically no one outside the real GM bubble thinks Curry was better than Westbrook this year, so if any vote needs to be scrutinized and explained it's that one. Or we could just drop the hysterics altogether and let people make their choices without requiring them to explain why they left out player A or player B unless they choose to of course.

When has popular opinion ever been the right way to try and objectively judge something?

Anyway, will vote soon.

Never, we agree on that. Reality doesn't always match public perception, in fact it often does not at all.

However, your contention was that my vote needs to be explained since leaving Curry out of the top 5 is so egregious. My rebuttal is that this particular view of mine isn't even going against the grain; a clear majority of people who voted for official NBA awards didn't have Curry as a top 5 player this year. Him not being on a list isn't noteworthy.

The comparison to Lebron in 2009 makes no sense; Lebron was the consensus best player in the league at the time, he ran away with the MVP and his status was never questioned. You're comparing a guy who's one of the best players ever (Lebron 2009) to someone who's the second best player in his own team.

[kayess]

Now there's something that could use some explanation, along with simply ranking Curry ahead of Westbrook for that matter. There were 100 MVP ballots, Curry was in 34 of them, Westbrook in all 100 and won the award by a landslide. In the playoffs, Westbrook led the entire league in ppg (by a massive margin) and assists, while being second in rebounds. Curry's production doesn't really stack up. For all the claims of impact, he also didn't get a single FMVP vote despite his team's dominant campaign.

Basically no one outside the real GM bubble thinks Curry was better than Westbrook this year, so if any vote needs to be scrutinized and explained it's that one. Or we could just drop the hysterics altogether and let people make their choices without requiring them to explain why they left out player A or player B unless they choose to of course.

When has popular opinion ever been the right way to try and objectively judge something?

Anyway, will vote soon.

Never, we agree on that. Reality doesn't always match public perception, in fact it often does not at all.

However, your contention was that my vote needs to be explained since leaving Curry out of the top 5 is so egregious. My rebuttal is that this particular view of mine isn't even going against the grain; a clear majority of people who voted for official NBA awards didn't have Curry as a top 5 player this year. Him not being on a list isn't noteworthy.

The comparison to Lebron in 2009 makes no sense; Lebron was the consensus best player in the league at the time, he ran away with the MVP and his status was never questioned. You're comparing a guy who's one of the best players ever (Lebron 2009) to someone who's the second best player in his own team.

First: Yes, the point was to say that it's not AS bad as not voting him in '09.

Second: So, you say that public perception often doesn't match up with reality... say that the majority didn't have Curry in the top 5 this year (and therefore that it's egregious for me to want an explanation of your vote)... and then place John Wall [who had no MVP votes, if you're into that] over Curry [who finished 6th, ~30 points behind IT?]

LOL

[kayess]

Votes:

POY

1. LeBron James - On O, he regained his jump-shooting touch, but added a decent pull-up from 3 (which when combined with his driving arsenal, is deadly), and topped it off with a polish on his game that we haven't really seen before. On D, the ability to ramp it up was still there, he's added another year of watching and anticipating schemes... but a combination of age and circumstance ensured that he couldn't replicate his otherworldly '16 Finals impact on D. Taken together, still the best, most impactful player in the world, whose combination of near-peerless reading of the game on O AND D guarantees any random team WILL have a shot at getting crushed by the Warriors in the Finals/Conference Finals, and maybe even steal a game or two. Great year, but adds yet another season in the **** that is his peak discussion.

2. Steph Curry - when you are so good at shooting 3s, and so ridiculously hot when you get going, that you can get Kevin Durant wide open dunks on a fast break, you know you're special. Somewhat ironically, finally proved his supremacy in the Finals where the overwhelming majority didn't even see him as the difference maker for the Warriors. He's still Shaq-inverse, just had to spend the RS adapting to a huge change, but got it going once it looked like the 1st seed was in jeopardy. Terrified of what he'll bring to the floor next year when everyone's clicking... Will they even have to play him 30 minutes?

Clearly the two best players in the league. Gap between these 2 and the next 3.

3. Chris Paul - streak of 1st round losses continues... but he's as impactful as ever per-minute, and was healthy when it mattered. His final 3 game stretch vs. Utah was disappointing overall, but there's still only so much you can do. He can still D up opposing PGs, and squeeze blood from a stone every possession, and that's enough for me.

4. Draymond Green - the second most indispensable player on the Warriors - KD can somewhat provide what he does on O/D, but the Warriors would simply not be a GOAT tier team without him (whereas they can survive losing KD/Klay). Everyone knows the script on him, but here it is anyway: insane play-making on O - and for people who say he can only do this because of the 4v3s Curry provides, watch him when he gets the ball at the top of the key and there's no movement around him. Solid enough shooting, and can put the ball on the floor if necessary. His D continues to impress for the nth straight year. Overall, provides the kind of excellence in all areas that allows a team build gain increasing returns by stacking playmaking+shooting "specialists" to extreme levels, when they should be getting decreasing returns. (Of course, won't hold the fact that GSW "falter" without him or Curry)

5. Russell Westbrook - I really feel for Westbrook - I wanted the impossible to happen and for him to beat the Warriors by himself, but it just wasn't meant to be. Insane season, not just for the gaudy box-scores, but also the ferocity and tenacity he brought every night, translating into great +/- numbers as well. The couple of games in the Rockets series where it went down the wire is the perfect referendum on him: play amazing for 3 quarters, then your **** team loses the lead when you sit. Get back in the game with the chance to still win, utterly crap the bed by forcing **** when your legs are tired, and then lose in the end. Those weren't the typical "missed the last shot but played great in the fourth" performance which players often get unfairly judged for... He was legitimately terrible in a significant chunk of the game. And I'm not putting that to slag on him - I believe that if he can be this impactful while still forcing stupid **** like that... imagine what he could do if he actually optimized his decision making some. Now that's scary.

HM: Durant, Kawhi, Harden

Harden - like him as a player better than Westbrook, but his defense is just too lacking to make up for his superior o
Kawhi - I don't believe he suddenly became a **** defender... but it's clear this year's increased scoring load took a toll on him. I think he has one more leap in him (adding playmaking + the motor to sustain elite two-way play), and after that watch out!
Durant - Got blinded by the box-scores somewhat, admittedly - and overrated his rim protection/defense over-all. Still an extremely unique, amazing player.

OPOY

1. Stephen Curry
2. LeBron James
3. Chris Paul

Not much to say - Curry is the GOAT offensive player, and James/Paul just keep churning out high quality +5-+6 O seasons every year.

DPOY

1. Draymond Green
2. Rudy Gobert
3. [holding this vote for now - will have to read up on AD, and some dark horses like Millsap/Giannis even (??)]

Draymond's combination of at-rim protection and perimeter defense is extremely special. Gobert's impact skews a lot more towards one end - but he can theoretically exert a bigger impact by just funneling everyone towards him (unrelated but - I really, really love that he's becoming so much better on O too - I want him to become a mega-Tyson Chandler).

Unsure who to pick for the 3rd spot, honestly. Can someone chime in with links to discussions on AD/Millsap's D? How about Giannis (I think he got a shout in the discussion hread somewhere - think it was for this AND MIP.

MIP

1. Giannis
2. IT
3. Jokic

All pretty obvious. Giannis' ascension into the cusp of superstardom is amazing to watch. IT legitimately being one of the league's premier offensive players is both a testament to his abilities and extreme persistence, as well as a great environment. Jokic deserves to be in the unicorn group for his vision at that size (just wish he'd improve on his defense in the offseason).

COY

1. Erik Spoelstra
2. Pop
3. Brad Stevens/MDA

You have to have done one hell of a job coaching to take this away from Pop - and boy did Spo coach his ass off this season. He was a significant part of the Heat's turnaround this year. For them to play with the effort they did after that kind of start is incredible; for them to do it while juggling injuries and buying into his system is mind-boggling.

Pop obviously deserves credit for doing as well as they could have without Timmy D, even going up 20 against GSW on the road in game 1 before Zaza literally attempted Kawhi's murder. I just feel like Spo's season was more impressive... Though to be fair, I might be grading on a curve here: it is possible that Pop's absolute coaching contribution trumps Spo's slightly, but Spo outperformed the expectations for him far more.

Brad/MDA imposed their personalities on both of their teams, with very similar results.

[RSCD3_]

Player of the Year -
1. Lebron James: He isn't of the same caliber as he was but changes in the league ball have allowed him to keep and at times exceed his impact and box scores, he's also maximized his instincts in the whole drive and kick offense and has been able to take advantage of the slightest cracks. He still has a gear a notch below his absolute motor of 2009-2013 but he can still use it a lot in the playoffs hence his great numbers. He also greatly improved his shooting ability where teams hhad to play up on him which meant his spacing effect was at an all time high. I felt his defensive impact was strongest since 2013.

2. Steph Curry: He had to adjust the most out of all the warriors and had a "down" year that'd be great for anyone else but he turned it up around spring and kept his rhythm into the playoffs to me he was the Warriors Playoff MVP and he had a great game in all but one of the finals game. The cavs game planning so hard to not let curry beat them allowed Durant to really take advantage if Cleveland's defense.

3. Russell Westbrook: His sheer effort level willing his team to the heights he did was incredible, his play suffered somewhat in the playoffs after being the definition of clutch in the regular season but I think was definitely a collapsing after carrying the team so far collapse not just a revert to bad basketball thing. His efficiency wasn't as bad as people think and he had a great playmaking year.

4. Kawhi Leonard: He'd be one slot higher without his injury, in fact oddly enough I didn't feel the same about lowering him because of the injury as he took a lot of damage on it and still was able to play in the playoffs, and the whole Zaza suspicious closeout is something you cant really predict so aside from that he had a very impressive year. He upped his usage and increased his playmaking responsibilities and played great in the playoffs. Especially on defense, where he admittedly slipped a bit but wasn't a ZERO like some think, where he turned it up and played great on both ends. I look forward to seeing how much more of his potential he can improve. He's a great scorer from anywhere and has tripled his shot creation ability and doubled his ballhandling. His drive game is the weakest part of him offensively and that's the usual largest way to have great impact but leonard being a genius at picking his spot allowed him have a great scoring profile without having a LeBron or Jordan drive. His driving ability compared to George and Durant aren't that separate though, he's really improved.

5. Kevin Durant: I debated long and hard vs harden for the 5th spot but KD's improved defense tipped the scales, he still had a very good offensive season and he performed at a high level in the playoffs and exceeded expectations in the finals by a decent amount, with the coverage you'd expect him to feast but he really chowed down. His rim protection was a nice compliment to his excellent arm based perimeter defense he's always had and though his APG was boosted in the playoffs he made the right read and was generally good at keeping the ball safe. He missed time in the RS and 2 games in the playoffs but he looked good enough that I strongly question that he couldn't come back in only 1 game if his team wasn't as good and the RS missed was significant but not a huge deal breaker, also James harden's injuries in the playoffs effected him throughout and he had a IDGAF level, "is he on drugs" performance in game 6 that was the one of the worst, if not the worst, superstar performance on both ends as I can remember.


Offensive Player of the Year -
1. Curry
2. Harden
3. James


Defensive Player of the Year -
1. Gobert
2. Green
3. Millsap


Rookie of the Year -
1. Brogdon
2. Saric
3. Embiid


Most Improved Player -
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo
2. Joe Ingles
3. Isaiah Thomas


6th Man of the Year -
1. Eric Gordon
2. Andre Iguodala
3. Lou Williams



Coach of the Year -
1. MDA
2. Stevens
3. Spolesta


Executive of the Year -
1. Myers
2. Nelson
3. Morey

[clyde21]

Russell Westbrook not making it out of the first round is why some people are leaving him off some of their ballots (most people are not, and I myself have him 4th). John Wall over Curry is ridiculous, though. More wins, much bigger impact, better stats, better PO performance by a mile, and averaged a near triple dub in the finals. What's the argument for Wall over Curry? I don't see a single one.

[therealbig3]

Lol just let people vote how they want, jeez. If the guy wants to vote John Wall, let him vote John Wall. There's no rule saying he HAS to vote a certain player in.

We all have the right to vote for who we want, unless I'm mistaken?

[eminence]

Lol just let people vote how they want, jeez. If the guy wants to vote John Wall, let him vote John Wall. There's no rule saying he HAS to vote a certain player in.

We all have the right to vote for who we want, unless I'm mistaken?

Hey man, rule #4 - No PJ Brown votes

But on this one yes I generally agree. Let the vote stand, I don't agree with it, but Wall is at least a solid player.

[bondom34]

At least if you want to go through with this, take it to the discussion thread.

[ardee]

Wall did have a better RS than Curry. Obviously Curry wins the PS by more but if you value RS heavily I can see the vote.

[Colbinii]

Player of the Year -
1. LeBron James
2. Stephen Curry
3. Chris Paul
4. Russell Westbrook
5. Draymond Green


Offensive Player of the Year -
1. LeBron James
2. Stephen Curry
3. Chris Paul

Defensive Player of the Year -
1. Rudy Gobert
2. Draymond Green
3. Kevin Durant


Rookie of the Year -
1. Malcolm Brogdon
2. Dario Saric
3. Buddy Hield


Most Improved Player -
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo
2. James Johnson
3. Dion Waiters


6th Man of the Year -
1. Eric Gordon
2. Lou Williams
3. James Johnson



Coach of the Year -
1. Erik Spoelstra
2. Brad Stevens
3. Mike D'Antoni


Executive of the Year -
1. Bob Myers
2. Daryl Morey
3. Dell Demps

[HeartBreakKid]

edit: this thread should just be for votes

delete this if you can mod.

[JLei]

Player of the Year
1. Lebron James
2. Stephen Curry
3. Kawhi Leonard
4. Russell Westbrook
5. James Harden

Struggled with Leonard vs. Westbrook. Ultimately went to the better player and I think the cumulative value of his playoff games helped push him over the top. KD and Draymond were in consideration for the 5th spot. Ultimately went with Harden who was awesome. KD without the missed games would make it.

Offensive Player of the Year
1. Stephen Curry
2. Lebron James
3. James Harden

Harden over Westbrook here even though that might not be correct. IT deserves some mention here while also the run away winner of anti-defensive player of the year.

Defensive Player of the Year
1. Draymond Green
2. Rudy Gobert
3. Anthony Davis

Rookie of the Year
1. Joel Embiid
2. Malcolm Brogdon
3. Dario Saric

Most Improved Player
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo
2. Nikola Jokic
3. Isaiah Thomas

6th Man of the Year
1. Andre Iguodala
2. Eric Gordon
3. Patty Mills

Coach of the Year
1. Mike D'Antoni
2. Gregg Popovich
3. Erik Spoelstra

[Doctor MJ]

So to clarify:

You need to explain your votes, but you don't need to explain everything. If it seems like you're sincere in your vote and you've clearly made some effort to add to the discussion beyond your vote you're fine as long as I see nothing that contradicts the criteria.

~Doc

[Doctor MJ]

edit: this thread should just be for votes

delete this if you can mod.

Actually to clarify:

I'm not looking for debate here because that just makes it harder to count votes and we already have a discussion thread.

But I am expecting voters to elaborate a bit on their thinking. Not asking for a ton, but we want something that when people look back on this in the future they can understand how we came to the conclusions we did.

[Doctor MJ]

POY:
1. LeBron James
2. Steph Curry
3. Kevin Durant
4. Draymond Green
5. Kawhi Leonard

HM: Westbrook, Harden, Paul, Wall, Thomas

It was LeBron vs Steph. This is very close. Realistically this goes to Steph if he had Durant's finals, but as it is I just find LeBron's year more impressive.

Durant's 3rd. There are parts of me that dislike this because you can't come to this conclusion by any unbiased quantitative algorithm, but Durant is a Top 3 player and in the future no one's going to think of this year as some kind of disappointment for Durant. It may well define his career.

The year where it all went right for Draymond. He had more cumulative impact over the season than Durant and was key to acquiring Durant in the first place. Can definitely argue he deserves to be higher, but I'd be lying if I thought as much of his abilities as I do of Durant's.

The 5th slot I debated between Kawhi & Westbrook. In the end Kawhi just showed me too much this year to lose out to another player in part because of playoff injury, when those injuries occurred after Westbrook was already out. I think Kawhi is the better player. He was at the heart of the scariest threat to the Warriors. I'd say he deserves the nod.

OPOY:
1. Steph Curry
2. LeBron James
3. Isaiah Thomas

Curry's offensive impact is just so unfair. Teams are terrified of him and it frankly may be giving him more impact than it should. For today though, no one can match what he does for his team's offense.

LeBron's just behind Curry of course, and then we have a more interesting question the next tier down. Westbrook? Harden? Kawhi? Durant?

I went with Isaiah Thomas. I'm convinced he's legit offensively. I gave him an HM spot in my POY list that was probably too generous, but just on offense, I think he's something else.

DPOY:
1. Draymond Green
2. Rudy Gobert
3. Anthony Davis

I don't want to overreact to Gobert's lacklustre playoffs, but Green certainly did his thing on a grander stage.

I'm torn about Kawhi. I do think that his lack of on/off defensive impact this year says very little about how much the Spurs would rely upon his D against serious competition so I may end up giving him the 3rd spot. Davis though has always had the tools, and NO is no longer failing at D.

ROY:

1. Joel Embiid
2. Malcolm Brogdon
3. Jamal Murray

I'm on record thinking about ROY in my own eccentric way. I think most people think ROY is basically the "Most Valuable Rookie", and then interpret "value" by who plays the most like a star, along with who plays the most.

To me the award exists to celebrate new talent, and new talent oftentimes isn't instructed to fit into the team. It's thus an award for me that's more about how your play has excited the basketball world than anything else.

And I get that injuries and missed time deserve to be factored in, but literally this year there's only one exciting rookie, and no one is seriously arguing that what he did is something of a fluke. Embiid is the best player of this bunch, and he almost certainly always will be by a large margin. He's my ROY.

MIP:

1. Isaiah Thomas
2. Nicola Jokic
3. Rudy Gobert

This award is always tough. How much is actual improvement and how much is improved opportunity? Do you include young prospects just making normal improvements?

There's not a single right way to do this but back when Durant missed out on the award in '09-10 in favor of <someone you probably have to look up because he doesn't matter now, just like he never really mattered then>, that just struck me as wrong. Anyway my thinking:

Thomas? I never thought this was remotely possible. This season was crazy. To me he's an easy choice.

Jokic? You can argue this is normal progression given his +/- numbers fro his rookie season, but I didn't see this coming. He is vastly more developed than any other 2nd or 3rd or 4th year player mentally. He's no longer precocious, now he's legit one of the top BBIQ guys in the game.

Gobert. Well Giannis won the award, but to me Giannis was a major candidate last year. He largely did what I was hoping to do this year. Meanwhile, Gobert actually helped a team win more.

6MOY:

1. Eric Gordon
2. Lou Williams
3. Andre Iguodala

I was pretty staunch for Iguodala last year. He still deserves praise, but last year he felt essential to the Warriors in a way he just doesn't now. Meanwhile Gordon's sacrifice basically embodied what Houston did this year, and Lou going from 6th man to 6th man with very different situations is special.

COY:

1. Gregg Popovich
2. Mike D'Antoni
3. Brad Stevens

Every year the question is whether I can justify someone over Pop. I had D'Antoni ahead of Pop for most of the year, but as I look at it now, I just can't defend it.

Stevens remains fantastic. Looking forward to seeing where he goes from here.

EOY:

1. Bob Myers
2. Daryl Morey
3. Dell Demps

Top 2 spots are pretty straight forward.

Warriors got Durant. Yeah that wasn't created specifically by Myers, but everything in GS that caused Durant to run their came out of GS prior smart moves. I don't know how to separate that from the EOY award.

Houston got D'Antoni and some fantastic players to go with D'Antoni's system (Gordon, Anderson, Nene), and got rid of the most toxic asset this side of Austin Rivers. Once again, Morey is high on my list.

I making a change here that frankly is the shameless prerogative of waiting a little while before voting. I don't like events of the present influencing my thoughts on the previous season because it can really distort your perspective, but well, given that Gordon Hayward left Utah, it's hard to place Utah's GM in a top 3 spot here. I don't think he deserves heavy criticism, but Top 3 praise is different.

So now his spot goes to Dell freaking Demps. It's just weird because I still don't buy into Demps as a GM, and I wouldn't bet on Gentry inventing a way for their Davis/Cousins/Holiday superteam to click into contention, which means Demps may well be out of a job a year from now. And yet, just this year? He gave his team another life.