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End of Year NBA Awards

Even though my Tar Heels won their sixth national title last night, the utter lack of coherent play made me crave the fluidity of the NBA. So, let's talk awards.

Rookie of the Year - Malcolm Brogdon
Malcolm Brogdon edges out Dario Saric for me, sheerly because he's arguably the third most important player on a solid playoff team in Milwaukee. On the year, he's putting up nearly 11 points, a shade over 4 assists and almost 3 rebounds on 27 minutes a game, on 45.7/40.4/85.6 shooting splits and guarding point guards and bigger shooting guards on the other end. He's essentially the type of role player combo guard that every team with championship aspirations desires, and his contract's not even for a million dollars a year. It's not outside the realm of possibility that Brogdon develops into a 50/40/90 shooter who provides tough defense, essentially an offensively gifted Patrick Beverly, beside the offensive machinery on this team. I started out the year salivating over Matthew Dellavedova as the off-ball point guard in a stretchy, switchy Milwaukee team, and now I'm salivating over an even brighter future for this team. An offensive juggernaut lineup in Brogdon, Middleton, Giannis, Parker, and an ever improving Maker with the ability to downshift into a maniacal defensive lineup of Brogdon, Middleton, Snell, Giannis, and Henson.

Others considered: obviously Saric but his stats are quite empty, Rodney McGruder but c'mon, and Jamaal Murray but Brogdon's doing the same offensively plus more

Most Improved Player of the Year - Giannis Antetokounmpo
I'll keep this short. Same minutes per game as last year, but his scoring jumped 6 points, his rebounding jumped 1 (over an already high 7.7 average in 2015-16), and his assists per game increased by 1. It's becoming clearer and clearer that the Bucks are the next Eastern conference superpower, given they figure out how to integrate Jabari Parker without sacrificing their defensive integrity.

Others considered: Nikola Jokic but his stats can be attributed to his minutes hike, Isaiah Thomas but I'm weighting Giannis's overall contribution over Thomas's scoring mastery, Rudy Gobert but his offensive liabilities are hard to overlook

Sixth Man of the Year - Eric Gordon
It isn't often that a team's second scoring option is the first man off their bench. Gordon again looks like the offensive talent that he was with the Clippers, running pick-and-roll with Blake Griffin in Los Angeles. And over all else, he isn't a defensive liability and he's been healthy this season.

Others considered: Andre Iguodala but his on-court impact is overhyped since he's always playing with two of the best fifteen players in the league, Lou Williams but most of his damage was done with a bottom 3 team in the league

Defensive Player of the Year - Draymond Green
Green finally deserves this award over Kawhi Leonard, shoring up this Warriors team's league best defense. What needs to be considered heavily is that this year's team lacks the frontcourt depth that Bogut and Ezeli afforded but is on par in terms of overall defensive and rim protection statistics as last year's historic team. Green's ability to be both a perimeter and post defender finally swings the vote in his favor over Leonard.

Others considered: Kawhi Leonard but his numbers have slipped slightly, Rudy Gobert but Green's switchability is more impactful

Most Valuable Player - Kawhi Leonard
I want to start this blurb off by asking the league and those associated with it to switch the narrative from the number-whoring story of empty triple-doubles versus pace-inflated offensive statistics to the fact that we have a clear-cut MVP. It's Kawhi Leonard. There shouldn't be any debate. Westbrook's late game heroics that are only necessary because of his stat-chasing ball-hogging and Harden's mastery of the D'Antoni offense that fat Raymond Felton and fat Chris Duhon both flourished in are cute. But the idea that the Spurs have this beautifully constructed supporting cast is so off-base.

Let's a quick, albeit stupid, thought experiment: we'll take these three MVP candidates off their teams and let's pit the three teams against one another.

Thunder's best lineup: Christon, Oladipo, Roberson, Kanter, Adams
Rockets' best lineup: Beverley, Gordon, Ariza, Anderson, Capela
Spurs' best lineup: Mills, Green, Ginobili, Aldridge, Gasol

Granted, the Thunder lineup is probably the worst out of the three, but Oladipo is an above average creator. The key here is that the Spurs' lineup isn't distinguishably better than the other two. In fact, gun to my head, I'd rank that Spurs lineup between the Thunder and the Rockets ones, and a whole bar below the Rockets lineup and just a shade above the Thunder's.

Sure, the Spurs rely a lot on Pop's brilliance and their veteran savvy, but Leonard's defensive versatility and offensive proficiency takes the Spurs from a middling lottery team (is their lineup, on paper, without Leonard, too much better than the Nets' lineup?) to a 62-64 win team.

Others considered: Russell Westbrook but triple doubles are kinda stupid, James Harden but defense is half the game.

Note: let's also talk about how LeBron's playing at probably 70 or 75 percent and putting up 26.4/8.7/8.5 on 54/37/67 shooting splits. Ew on the free-throw shooting, but still an amazing season.

Third Team All-NBA
G: John Wall
G: DeMar DeRozan
F: Jimmy Butler
F: Draymond Green
C: Karl-Anthony Towns

Two points here: I picked DeRozan over Chris Paul because the Raptors may be objectively better than the Clippers and DeRozan has shouldered a heavy burden offensively after Lowry's injury. It's been an amazing year for him.

The last center position was tough to decide, but I pick Towns over Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic because of the obscene stats he's putting up that have been talked about ad nauseum in most NBA circles.

Second Team All-NBA
G: Steph Curry
G: Isaiah Thomas
F: Kevin Durant
F: Giannis Antetokounmpo
C: Marc Gasol

I wish I could pair Gasol/Conley as a pair that serves as one player on an all-NBA team. Conley's stats never jump out to you, especially because of the litany of point guards in the league. But Gasol wouldn't be quite Gasol without Mike Conley and vice versa.

First Team All-NBA
G: Russell Westbrook
G: James Harden
F: LeBron James
F: Kawhi Leonard
C: Rudy Gobert

I hate positional requirements, but in terms of centers (or make-shift ones in the form of Anthony Davis), Rudy Gobert's stout defense, rebounding, and improved offensive game slots him in as the best center this year.

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