RealGM

This is the Official Voting thread. All make post in the thread, but please do not actually post lists unless you are a part of the project.

(And as I say that, I still need to make the list, but many of you have already been notified, so if you know you're in, and you're ready to vote, go ahead.)

Remember:

POY: Top 5 list
OPOY, DPOY, ROY, MIP, 6MOY, COY, EOY: Top 3 list

You need not vote in every award, but for any given award you need to have a full ballot for it to be counted.

Voter list:

Asianiac_24
1. bondom34
2. Clyde Frazier
3. Colbinii
4. Doctor MJ
5. Dr Positivity
6. Dr Spaceman
7. E-Balla
8. ElGee
9. eminence
10. fpliii
11. Fundamental21
12. GSP
13. Hawk Eye
14. HeartBreakKid
15. JLei
16. JordansBulls
17. kayess
18. lorak
19. mischievous
20. Mister Hibachi
21. Nbafanatic
22. Ninja Sheppard
23. NyCeEvO
24. PaulieWai
25. Quotatious
26. RSCD3_
27. SideshowBob
28. Texas Chuck
29. therealbig3

I'll start it up, I've discussed elsewhere, but my ballot (I may edit but will note):

POY:
1. Lebron
2. Curry
3. Westbrook
4. Leonard
5. Durant


OPOY:
1. Curry
2. Westbrook
3. CP3

DPOY:
1. Leonard
2. Green
3. Millsap


ROY:
1. KAT
2. Porzingis
3. Jokic

MIP:
1. McCollum
2. Giannis
3. Bazemore

6MOY:
1.Kanter
2. Iggy
3.Tristan Thompson

COY:
1. Stotts
2. Casey
3. Pop

EOY:
1. Buford
2. Olshey
3. SVG

POY:
1. Lebron
2. Drymond
3. Curry
4. CP
5. Westbrook


OPOY:
1. LeBron
2. Curry
3. CP

DPOY:
1. Drymond
2. Leonard
3. LeBron

ROY:
1. Porzingis
2. KAT
3. Jokic


COY:
1. Kerr
2. Stevens
3. Clifford

POY:

1. LeBron James(yes, I did it)
2. Stephen Curry
3. Russell Westbrook
4. Kawhi Leonard
5. Kevin Durant

OPOY:

1. Stephen Curry (LeBron is much better defensively, that's where his advantage comes from, but I'll still go with Steph as OPOY)
2. LeBron James
3. Russell Westbrook

DPOY:

1. Kawhi Leonard
2. Draymond Green
3. Paul Millsap

ROY:

1. Karl-Anthony Towns
2. Kristaps Porzingis
3. Nikola Jokic

MIP:

1. CJ McCollum
2. Kemba Walker
3. Giannis Antetokounmpo

6MOY:

1. Enes Kanter
2. Andre Iguodala
3. Will Barton

COY:

1. Dwane Casey
2. Terry Stotts
3. Gregg Popovich

EOY:

1. RC Buford
2. Rich Cho
3. not sure

My votes are at the bottom for the poor soul who has to tally this. (ie, you can skip the text and just see my results)



Player of the Year

1) LeBron James - This was a two man race between Curry and James. I had James as the 2nd best player in the league at the end of the regular season. His combination of playmaking and elite scoring (he scored more points in the paint than any other season I think) was an improvement over last season, and more importantly he played amazing defense for a large part of the season. James stepped his game up in the playoffs, and his defense was a thing to behold.

To me, this is pretty much a prime season for LBJ, a clear improvement over last year - and prime James > Stephen Curry

2) Stephen Curry - The gap in offense between him and everyone else is still too large. He lead the league in PPG and TS, which is like finding El Dorado. His off ball play was magnificent, and between him and the Warriors they broke more records than I can count on two hands. Even with his relatively subpar playoffs, he was still a solid 25 point scorer. I do feel like his playmaking took a step backwards, perhaps because he played so much offball this season his decision making regressed. I trust him more as a scorer than the Thunder duo, and his RS was a lot better than Chris Paul's.


3) Chris Paul - Without Blake Griffin he still carried the Clippers to over 50 wins, a team that was shallow even with Griffin. His combination of generalship makes his impact really high and highly portable to playoff play. He was destroying the Blazers putting up 23 points on 7 assist with 1 turnover, it's too bad he broke his hand in game 4. Considering he had a relatively healthy season otherwise and played a buttload of minutes, I don't see the point in penalizing him, especially if I am not going to penalize Curry for missed games.

4) Kevin Durant - As I am writing this post, I am still going back and forth between Durant and Westbrook. I like both over Leonard, because I feel like their offensive abilities are more proven and consistent.

Durant had a rough post season, he just did not shot well, and that's a major difference between him and Westbrook. If Durant is going cold, which he relatively has for a few post seasons, his impact falls off a lot more than if Westbrook isn't making shots. With that being said, Durant DID make up a lot of his lost of offensive impact with defense this year. I'm going to side with the big time scorer here, and put Durant over Westbrook because of two way play, but I can likely be convinced to take Westbrook.


5) Russell Westbrook - A better offensive player than Durant, but much weaker on the defensive side. Westbrook really stepped up his playmaking this season, his ability to read what the defense gives him and make a pass has improved, and Westbrook-Kanter combination is really deadly. Westbrook's ability to control pace, pass and finish in the paint makes him a better offensive threat than Durant, but despite an improvement on defense, he still doesn't bring enough impact for me to put him over KD.

Offensive Player of the Year


1) Stephen Curry - Curry was the GOAT shooter last year, and his shooting this year blew all of that stuff away. Truly magnificent scoring ability, the guy beat his own 3 point shooting record by like a 100 3s or something.

2) Lebron James - Consistent scoring in the post season, he played more inside than last year. His post game and slashing is as aggressive as his prime seasons, and he still has amazing passing ability that makes his half court offense perfect for the playoffs.

3) Chris Paul - A lot like James in that he has a good combination of scoring and game managing, but trade dominant paint play with amazing mid range shooting. Paul's ball handling and ability to not turn the ball over might put him over James offensively, but I feel more confident with James scoring ability.

Defensive Player of the Year

1) Kawhi Leonard - A race that is neck to neck between him and Green, I am going to go with my brain and say Leonard, though with the eye test it seems like Green might be better. Leonard anchored an all time great defense, a better one than the 2016 and 2015 Warriors, despite him having overall less defensive talent. Leonard can guard multiple positions if asked and he can lock up perimeter players, which tells me that his defense might have more utility than Green's.

2) Draymond Green - His ability to blow up offensive sets is a thing to be hold, and I feel like his shot blocking was taken up a notch this season. Not much to say here, he was a force in the RS and most of the playoffs other than the Thunder series.

3) Rudy Gobert - Underrated because he missed 20 games and played on a team that barely missed the playoffs (due to the entire team having injury problems), but his rim protection was still as elite as ever. I think overall, I would rather have him anchoring my defense than more perimeter oriented defenders like Millsap and James - those two are good, but they're not Green/Leonard good.

Rookie of the Year


Nikola Jokic - Jokic has the best advance stats by far among the three rookie bigs. Nikola has defensive ratings, and his ORTG is insanely high. Jokic is a very talented passer, and probably a large reason why he was such a good offensive player in his rookie season. If I saw more of Jokic, I might be more comfortable giving him the leg up. This might be a case of Towns and Porzingis hype over shadowing objective analysis.

EDIT: On further look, I think Jokic is clearly the best rookie this season. Really, the only thing Towns has over him other than being the #1 draft pick is a "better" statline, which really has to do with him playing more minutes. Per 36, Jokic has a slightly better statline, impact stats suggest he is much better, he is clearly better defensively, using splits he kinda kills Towns and Zingis as well.


Karl Anthony-Towns - 18 points on 60 TS%, great ability to stretch the floor, double digit rebounding, amazing shot blocking ability. Towns has just had the GOAT one and done rookie season. The only thing that is shaky is that his pick and roll defense is very bad, but it's hard to vote against him given how dominant all his other stats are.

Kristaps Porzingis - People were dead wrong about Porzingis' body not being NBA ready. This guy is a defensive force, his ability to shut down the paint is already amazing. His defensive prowess might make him a better player for a contending team than Towns, but his offensive stats took a big dip in the 2nd half. Porzingis has shown great shooting potential, but he still needs more experience in order to drill those shots.



Most Improved Player

CJ McCollum - He was a 7 point scorer last year, and now he is among the lead leaders at 20.8 PPG per game. His ability to play without the ball, isolate and shoot from a far is insanely valuable.

Jae Crowder - His scoring and shooting made a big spike, and defensively he improved to nearly all-nba defense level. He is now among the best 3 and D guys in the league, where as last year he was more of a rotation player.

Kemba Walker - Walker is now a legitimate scoring threat, when prior years he was just a guy getting a lot of points on a lot of shots. Walker's ability to now isolate and now hit shots makes him a borderline top ten PG, where as before he seemed more like a bench player who got starter minutes.

Sixth Man of the Year

Andre Iguodala - An All-NBA defensive caliber player coming off the bench is hard to ignore. He is still a low tier all-star to me, and even with the decline in his athleticism he is still more athletic than most perimeter players. We saw how much GSW suffers when Iggy is hurting.

Dennis Schroder - Essentially played himself up into being the new starter, replacing an all-star in Jeff Teague. If Schroeder had more minutes, he would probably be an 18/7 type of player with good defense. He also did a pretty decent job in the playoffs considering the competition he faced.

Bismack Biyombo - Biyombo looked like he didn't even belong in the league when he was on the Bobcats/Hornets. He played much improved ball through out the RS and helped contribute to the Raptors 2nd seed berth. Biyombo's rebounding and defensive ability really got noticed when Jonas got injured and he totally destroyed the Heat, and absolutely dominated Love on glass in the Cavs series.

Coach of the Year

Brad Stevens - Stevens got 48 wins with only one low tier all-star and a rag tag bunch of NBA rejects. Guys like Evan Turner are now getting 6th man of the year votes. The Celtics are among the best defenses in the league despite being one of the worst teams in protecting the paint, and they're not near the worst offensive teams despite not little 3 point shooting and no legitimate star - if the Celtics did not play amazing team ball, they would be as bad as the Sacramento Kings.

Stan Van Gundy - The Pistons are one of the strongest 8th seeds the East has had in an incredibly long time. He's essentially restructured his offense in Orlando which perfectly tailors his center star in Drummond. Despite Drummond shooting a low TS, you can still feel his impact given the Piston's spacing. I also thought SVG used his rookie, Stanley Johnson very well, and Johnson is going to get developed into a legitimate weapon. The Pistons swept the Cavs in the RS, and even though they got swept played them hard in every game. SVG is the best thing to happen to the Pistons in a very long time.


Rick Carslile - This is kinda the "ol faithful" vote. I feel like he did well with what he had, if he had more talent, he likely would have gotten way more press. I am starting to believe that he is a better coach overall than Greg Popovich, I feel like his playoff hiccups are noticeably lower.

Executive of the Year (I put franchises instead of executives, since it can be confusing on who is calling the shots for certain teams)

Spurs - They re-signed Leonard and Green if I can recall, and got the biggest free agent in LaMarcus Aldridge. They also signed a solid starting PF in David West to the vet minimum. Add on to that, they got guys like Martin, Miller and Boban at the end of their bench. They brought over an athletic rookie in Jonathan Simmons in his mid 20s, who played meaningful minutes for them in the first half of the season. They stacked their team incredibly well, and pretty much did everything a team could want in the offseason.

Pistons - They made a great draft pick in Stanley Johnson, who has immediately helped them. The Pistons also managed to land Tobias Harris in a trade, as well as a Marcus Morris for a 2020 2nd round pick.

Knicks - This might be a little controversial, but I thought they had a very good free agency. They got a franchise changing pick in Kristaps Porzingis with the 4th pick in the draft (I think he will be the best player in his draft class). They also got solid signings in Robin Lopez for cheap and Affalo who is pretty decent, all and all, considering the Knicks had little to work with, they went in a pretty good direction this season.



---------------------------------------My Vote---------------------------------------

POY:

Lebron James
Stephen Curry
Chris Paul
Kevin Durant
Russell Westbrook

OPOY:

Stephen Curry
Lebron James
Chris Paul

DPOY:

Kawhi Leonard
Draymond Green
Rudy Gobert

ROY:

Nikola Jokić
Kristaps Porzingis
Karl Towns

MIP:

CJ McCollum
Jae Crowder
Kemba Walker



6MOY:

Andre Iguodala
Dennis Schroeder
Bismack Biyombo

COY:

Brad Stevens
Stan Van Gundy
Rick Carslile

EOY:

Spurs
Detroit
Knicks

POY:

1. LeBron James
2. Draymond Green
3. Stephen Curry
4. Kevin Durant
5. Russell Westbrook

OPOY:

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

DPOY:

1. Draymond Green
2. Kawhi Leonard
3. LeBron James

ROY:

1. Kristaps Porzingis
2. Nikola Jokic
3. Justise Winslow

MIP:

1. Steven Adams
2. CJ McCollum
3. Kemba Walker

6MOY:

1. Andre Iguodala
2. Tristan Thompson
3. Shaun Livingston

COY:

1. Clifford
2. Stotts
3. Kerr

EOY:

1. Buford
2. Cho
3. Ainge

fpliii wrote:ROY:

1. Kristaps Porzingis
2. Nikola Jokic
3. Justise Winslow

No KAT?

POTY:
1. Stephen Curry
2. LeBron James
3. Kevin Durant
4. Russell Westbrook
5. Chris Paul

OPOTY:
1. Stephen Curry
2. Russell Westbrook
3. Kevin Durant

DPOTY:
1. Kawhi Leonard
2. Draymond Green
3. LeBron James

ROTY (I was going to leave this one out because I thought it was too obvious but since people want to be cute with RAPM)
1. Karl Anthony Towns
2. KP
3. Jokic

Quotatious wrote:

fpliii wrote:ROY:

1. Kristaps Porzingis
2. Nikola Jokic
3. Justise Winslow

No KAT?

I think he has the most potential of any rookie by far (I'm very happy he'll be playing under Thibs next year), but team defense (especially in the PnR) was a big problem. I was pretty impressed with Winslow's defensive IQ (smart rotations, and in the playoffs when Miami went with that weird scheme with he and Deng playing out of position, I thought he was pretty poised). I like KAT's offensive skillset a lot though; I could change my mind on him vs Winslow before voting is closed (EDIT: I have to admit, some of this vote is maybe overrating AD early in his career by sweeping his defensive flaws under the rug and not wanting to make the same mistake, but maybe this isn't completely fair to KAT).

---

EDIT: Some other notes, first POY/OPOY/DPOY:

• Curry (and CP3): I was pretty worried about his injury for awhile (and was considering leaving him off my ballot entirely), but ElGee had a great post that allayed some of my concerns. Originally I figured he should be in the same bucket as say Dirk in 03 (knocked out during the playoffs), DR in 92/TD in 00/KG in 09 (out for the season going into the playoffs) or CP3 this year (month-long injury during the playoffs). But as much as it is luck/good fortune to get injured during the season and come back during the playoffs, the same holds true with getting hurt during early the playoffs vs later in the playoffs. I don't think it was asking too much of his team to finish off the first round series, and once he returned in the second round, even if he wasn't 100% healthy, it was enough to handle Portland. Anyhow, just as lucky as Curry was (I guess not fully lucky, he was hurt enough that it cost GS the title, and perhaps game 1 in the WCF) Chris Paul is in an unfortunate position. Got hurt at the worst time possible, and a month basically made it impossible for his team to proceed in the playoffs.

• LeBron and Green - Wasn't so much about LeBron's jumper. It wasn't there in game 7 after showing up in games 5 and 6. Rather, I think his defensive effort was outstanding. Tremendous rim protection, and crazy motor for the last five games of the series. I was a bit worried about this becoming a down year defensively after the brief lull following the coaching change, but end of the season and in the playoffs he became a monster on that end. Maybe not on the level of 09/10/12/13 because he wasn't the same athlete, but he put so much in on that end, literally was throwing his body out there. As for Green, the OKC series is something that stuck with me. During the Memphis series last year there were some questions about how he can handle big, physical frontcourts. Some of that came up again this year against OKC. I don't think that's a game-breaking issue. You just have to pick and choose when to use small-ball, and it can be effective. He also is pretty awesome, even if he's not the only 'big' out there. What worries me more is the strategy of putting an awesome defensive wing on him. I think LeBron did a solid job (and Kawhi did during the season, and would have during the playoffs had they matched up), but I think it's more so something about KD in particular, the combination of his length and quickness given his size was very tough on Green.

• Westbrook, Durant, Leonard: It's really hard for me to put Leonard in my top 5, I came pretty close when I was considering dropping Curry off, but with him back in the fold there's one fewer spot available. But if a guy isn't a playmaker, I'm very stingy with my rankings. Kawhi did create some opportunities I guess, but a lot of this season and playoffs, was about him hitting shots he found within the offense (almost machine-like in his efficiency), and dominating one-on-one. Of all the players I'm considering, I think he created for others (in terms of playmaking and drawing extra attention) the least of the other guys up here. As for Westbrook vs Durant, I had WB ahead for a big chunk of the season (WB is #2 in my OPOY voting; if CP3 was healthy, I'm not sure who would be ahead, but WB would have a shot). I was incredibly impressed with KD's defense from I believe the game 2 of the San Antonio series on. His instincts were terrific, and his arms were everywhere. As I mentioned before, he made life a living hell for Draymond Green. I've been very impressed with WB offensively though. This season and last, reminds me a lot of pre-Miami LeBron, and of pre-Triangle MJ. Amazing energy, crazy straight line athleticism. Causes the defense to collapse a ton and a legitimately elite playmaker.

Other notes on awards where my opinion differs from the consensus:

• ROY: Got into KAT vs Winslow. Porzingis was incredible. I'm in-market for the Knicks, and watched them the most this year of any team other than GS/SA (thanks Byron Scott), but I was impressed by his functional athleticism and his horizontal defensive instincts for a big. His rim protection and shot seemed to be there too, but I take KAT in both regards.

• MIP: A big part of Adams was the playoffs for me. He really blossomed, and seemed like a legitimate force vs SA and GS. Showed polish and quickness when he had a mouse in the house down in the post, taking advantage of matchups. His length and ability to switch and recover for a big were huge assets, and a big part of why OKC probably is comfortable parting with Ibaka. I'm really excited about watching him going forward. BTW, shout out to HBK on the Schroeder mention for 6MOY. Was considering him here for MIP, but subtly I guess Charlotte overachieving this year, and Atlanta having overachieved last year was an optic that was hard for me to shake. Maybe I'll change my mind before the season is over. I think Atlanta is very happy with how he turned out though, since they can afford losing Teague. Schroeder was supposed to be impressive going into the season, and he got there by the end of the year.

• 6MOY: Iguodala was terrific. I think he's a big part of what makes the Warriors the Warriors, by enabling small-ball obviously, and doing much more. Offensively, he's one of the unsung heroes for GS vs OKC. With KD doing an outstanding job on Green, he really stepped up and was functionally the primary ball-handler and playmaker for big minutes. Even when he had to deal with Durant, the length didn't bother him. Defensively, he hadn't been noted as a KD stopper in the past, but in the playoffs really showed up. Came up with a couple of big steals at the end of one of the games coming back from the 3-1 deficit. Likewise, I think he did a monster job on LeBron, and the fact that he wasn't 100% really brought Cleveland back into the series. LeBron was hitting jumpers in games 5 and 6 yes, but I think if Green played in game 5 or Iggy didn't tweak his back in game 6, Golden State walks away with a title (I wrote on this in the other thread). That being said, I give 100% credit to LeBron and Cleveland for taking a physical game 7, where I think Iggy was close to 100%. Thompson was tremendous in the playoffs. I don't know how much of it was Curry being hampered (and some of it is certainly that, look no further than the end of G7 when he was guarded by Love), but TT stuck with him on the perimeter much better than last year. Very mobile, and physical when he remained inside. Lastly Livingston, while not quite Iguodala, was very valuable to the Warriors. Great ball-handling, and one of the guys who proves that length can be as much of a matchup advantage as power or speed. He looked very spry, and showed flashes of his athleticism that were a throwback to his Clippers days. Was a game-changer in more than one close game this postseason for GS.

• COY and EOY: Clifford and Stotts are obvious picks because of how much both teams overachieved. I had both pegged much lower going into the year. I was low on Dallas too, and while they didn't overachieve as much as CHA or POR, Carlisle deserves a mention for making the playoffs when I figured they'd have a very down year. Kerr, while GS didn't pick up from where Walton left them after its hot start, seemed to be involved in practices and behind the scenes to some extent. With Curry out, GS still managed to perform well in the postseason against two decent (though not necessarily high quality) teams. They got little from the center position after Bogut was knocked out, which hurt with Green being suspended and Iggy tweaking his back in consecutive games, which has me cautious about putting him any higher. As for the executives, Aldridge and Batum were huge acquisitions. San Antonio had the best regular season in franchise history and one of the best defenses we've seen in recent memory. OKC has always been a tough matchup for them, but if Duncan was healthy, that series could have been more interesting. I thought Charlotte was dead in the water when MKG got hurt, but they had a respectable year. Ainge, by holding onto the assets Boston amassed (including the Nets pick, and not making a desperation trade at the deadline for Love or whoever else) earns the last spot. Crowder looked like he might become a legitimate player, so obviously Ainge and Stevens must he seen something there.

fpliii wrote:

Quotatious wrote:

fpliii wrote:ROY:

1. Kristaps Porzingis
2. Nikola Jokic
3. Justise Winslow

No KAT?

I think he has the most potential of any rookie by far (I'm very happy he'll be playing under Thibs next year), but team defense (especially in the PnR) was a big problem. I was pretty impressed with Winslow's defensive IQ (smart rotations, and in the playoffs when Miami went with that weird scheme with he and Deng playing out of position, I thought he was pretty poised). I like KAT's offensive skillset a lot though; I could change my mind on him vs Winslow before voting is closed.

Thanks for the explanation. I still disagree, but at least I can understand where you are coming from. For me, production is more important than impact for a rookie, producing right from the beginning of your career shows that you have a great foundation to build on. I just don't like extreme cases of good production but negative impact (see - Okafor, Jahlil), but Towns was nowhere near as dramatically bad in terms of impact as Okafor. And most importantly, Towns certainly doesn't project to be an "empty stats" guy, while Okafor IMO does. I think impact (as measured by +/- stats) can be just as dependent on team situation, as production can be.

Winslow, meanwhile, is a pretty good defender but I also feel like he had favorable circumstances to show what he can do, with little pressure - he had a solid team around him - Wade, Whiteside, Dragic, Deng, Bosh for half a season, that's a talented team, both inside and outside, so he had a pretty comfortable situation as a small forward. I doubt Winslow would play that well on defense in Minnesota, Philadelphia or New York (I bet that Deng and Wade are pretty good mentors in terms of perimeter defense, especially Deng, who used to be one of the best defensive small forwards in the league a while ago, and a pretty smart team-oriented veteran).

Improving pick & roll defense shouldn't be a problem with Thibs as his coach (and it's great that KG isn't retiring this year, too), but he already has everything else - very good scorer? Yes - 18.3 ppg on 59% TS with 54% FG, 3-pt range and 80+% FT is outstanding for a bigman. Excellent rebounder? Sure, 8th in rebounds per game already. Good size? Absolutely, 7 feet tall and 240-250 lbs, that's Tim Duncan/Patrick Ewing size. Perfect for a center. Very good shotblocker? Of course, 10th in the league in blocks per game. Decent passer, as well. Already four 30+ point, 10+ rebound games in his career. Every indication is that Towns is a superstar in the making.

Basically, Towns just has to pay more attention to details on defense, that's the only thing he really needs to improve by a significant margin, and there are very, very few rookies like that (especially amazing considering that he's only 20 years old - all of the best rookie bigs were 22 or even older - Russell, Wilt, Hayes, S. Haywood, Gilmore, Kareem, Hakeem, D-Rob, Shaq, Zo, Duncan, Griffin - Towns is two years younger than all of them, as a rookie).

I'm surprised so many of you don't have Dryamond in top 5 POY or Kerr in top 3 COY.

POY:
1. Lebron
2. Steph
3. Westbrook
4. Draymond
5. Kd

Brutal leaving out Cp3 and Kawhi. Still dont feel comfortable outside of top 3.

OPOY:
1. Steph
2. Westbrook
3. Lebron

DPOY:
1. Draymond
2. Kawhi
3. Gobert


ROY:
1. Jokic
2. Towns
3. Porzingis

MIP:
1. Adams
2. Mccollum
3. Crowder

6MOY:
1. Iggy
2. Barton
3. Tristan

COY:
1. Stevens
2. Stotts
3. Clifford

EOY:
1. Buford
2. Cho
3. Ainge

POY:
1. Lebron
2. Steph
3. Westbrook
4. Durant
5. Kawhi

Steph really threw this one away. There needed to be a large gap in the playoffs to make up for the difference in the RS, and Steph really blew hard in the playoffs. #5 spot was between Kawhi and Draymond for me and I felt like Kawhi is a better player even though by the numbers, Draymond might be more impactful.


OPOY:
1. Steph
2. Westbrook
3. Durant

These are no brainers to me except maybe CP3 for the #3 spot.

DPOY:
1. Kawhi
2. Draymond
3. Gobert

1&2 are locked for me. Gobert, when healthy, is also in the same category as the first 2.

ROY:
1. Towns
2. Porzingis
3. Jokic

Not much explanation needed IMO.

MIP:
1. Giannis
2. Crowder
3. Mccollum

McCollum had the biggest increase in stats, but I think it had more to do with his minutes. Giannis really took a big leap and is now a borderline superstar level player.

6MOY:
1. Iggy
2. Barton
3. Schroder

COY:
1. Kerr
2. Stevens
3. Clifford

EOY:
1. Buford
2. Cho
3. Ainge

The Will Barton mentions are starting to trouble me. Barton getting 6MOY was a story....in January. The guy hasn't been a serious contender for that since the all-star break. I'm not even if he's clearly better than someone like Evan Turner.

POY:

1. Lebron
2. Curry
3. Durant
4. Westbrook
5. Leonard


OPOY:

1. Curry
2. James
3. Westbrook

DPOY:
1. Leonard
2. Green
3. Millsap


ROY:
1. KAT
2. Porzingis
3. Jokic

MIP:
1. McCollum
2. Giannis
3. Bazemore

6MOY:
1. Iggy
2. Kanter
3. Livingston

COY:
1. Kerr
2. Stotts
3. Lue

EOY:
1. Buford
2. Olshey
3. SVG

I don't see how people can still see Kawhi as a better defender than Green....

POY:

1. LeBron James
2. Stephen Curry
3. Kevin Durant
4. Kawhi Leonard
5. Russel Westbrook

OPOY:

1. Lebron James
2. Stephen Curry
3. Kevin Durant

DPOY:

1. Draymond Green
2. Kawhi Leonard
3. Deandre Jordan

ROY:

1. Karl-Anthony Towns
2. Kristaps Porzingis
3. Nikola Jokic

MIP:

1. CJ McCollum
2. Kemba Walker
3. Giannis Antetokounmpo

6MOY:

1. Enes Kanter
2. Will Barton
3. Andre Iguodala

COY:

1. Terry Stotts
2. Brad Stevens
3. Steve Kerr

EOY:

1. RC Buford
2. Rich Cho
3. Stan Van Gundy

POY
Criteria: Player who helps a random team win the title the most, based on his given play during the season.

1. Steph Curry (~ 0.24 expected titles) -- Had a legit shot at the GOAT peak before the playoffs. Otherworldly offensive season that has been sufficiently documented in his thread and the POY thread. However, in the PS he missed a bunch of time and he also played slightly below his RS level when back IMO. I do not think there was a huge drop-off in his game as the losing bias narrative is now claiming. One of the more portable offensive players in NBA history, as he has incredible gravity, ridiculously insane off-ball and good on-ball as well.

2. Kevin Durant (~0.20) -- Durant had arguably his best season ever. Disruptive defense (29.1% field goal against on 460 outside shots taken against him) and showed a legit ability to protect the rim and play a valuable defensive 4 position. Posted a 5.1 RAPM and elite numbers in spot-up situations (1.13 ppp), post-up plays (1.23 ppp), isolation (0.99 ppp) and even on-ball with the PnR. Also an incredibly portable player who fits into multiple situations. He posted one of the greatest small-sampled WOWY scores ever: OKC was -6 SRS in 7 games without Durant. With him, They were nearly a 10 SRS team, posting a 115 ORtg. His combined WOWY runs in the last 2 years against 3 different controlled lineups: 102 games in the lineup at 9.4 SRS. 18 games out of the lineup, OKC was -0.39.

3. LeBron James (~0.19) -- A tough year to rank James for me. His post-up and isolation games were a little disappointing. As was his shot. His defense came back to a good level, although not the complete anchor he was a few years back -- he looked great physically in the Finals, which was a function of pacing and an easier path IMO. HIs passing / creation were fantastic. Still, as great as he was in the Finals, I think he was a better offensive from '12-'14 in Miami, and perhaps even slightly better his last 2 years in Cleveland. I'll emphasize the obvious here: He played some amazing games in the Finals, but I'm not judging a player on 3 or 4 games, nor am I judging him against 1 opponent.

With regards to portability -- never been a huge fan of James here. He's an interesting player, in that he can take lineups so high without great synergy.

4. Kawhi Leonard (~0.16) -- Elite wing defender in the ballpark of Pippen. Amazing shooter who has a borderline elite self-creation game (isolation and post-up). His weakness to me is passing and creating, which are fairly important.

5. Draymond Green (~0.14) -- Slight nod to him over Westbrook. He's the best defender in the league. I think the lack of big men does allow him to be more impressive, but even with more giants in the league this guy would be a phenomenal defender. He's completely in the KG quarterbacking mold when it comes to rotations / roaming the back line. Great hands and very long for his size (much like Ben Wallace). Offensively, I find his stretch shooting and passing to be uber-portable assets on a less-than-dangerous offensive player. Meaning, he could probably have a sexier stat line if he played on a weak team, but he's more effective on a better team because his passing and shooting cash in on opportunities others have created.

These playoffs tickled all of the rigidity in my rubric -- namely handling injuries / missed time in such a black-and-white way. Is Green a ticking time bomb? If he is, and similar to someone like Rodman we would expect him to miss a game or two, then why are injuries treated differently? Why is someone penalized for the timing of a fluke injury coming in April and not in November? (Wear-and-tear injuries would be different.) I've never been comfortable with how I handled this. In this case, like Curry, I'm just going to penalize Green for the one game.

OPOY
1. Curry -- see above.
2. Durant
3. James

DPOY
1. Green
2. Leonard
3. Rudy Gobert

COY
1. Popovich
2. Stevens
3. Kerr

Wanted to take a crack at this as we haven't done it in the past. Pop is sort of the Michael Jordan here, and I see nothing suggesting he wasn't downright amazing as usual. After that, it gets trickier -- I tend to think of Stevens as the Celtics best player. A brilliant all-around coach, great defensively, solid efficiently as well. I also happen to know these teams are leveraging data to drive their decisions and I'm giving coaches credit for that since they can make smarter, contextual decisions about strategy on the floor.

Carlisle could be there. Budenholzer too. But I went with Kerr, in a Coach K kind of vote. I'm not overly impressed with his in-game adjustments, but the combination of the rhythm n flow offense and the defensive intelligence the team plays with astounding when the tape is slowed down. There's clearly a teaching of principles to me that is advanced, and self-perpetuating on the court.Iggy would be my SMOY probably, but I wouldn't be sure who to fill out after that...

It's interesting how nobody seems to be as impressed with Kerr as Doc is.

toodles23 wrote:It's interesting how nobody seems to be as impressed with Kerr as Doc is.

He's gotten the most first place votes thus far.