Way Too Early NBA Award Predictions

 To be honest, I was kind of stumped today on what to write about. My guilty pleasure is consuming content predicting who might win the major awards in the NBA so I thought today is a good day to make my uninformed pick for some of the categories. I also didn't want to skip today because Thanksgiving is Monday so I won't be writing then and I get my wisdom teeth out Tuesday so that's another day off. Wouldn't want you guys to miss me too much. I live for this preamble before I get into it, but now lets get into it: 

Coach of the Year: Willie Green - New Orleans Pelicans

This is traditionally the highest overachieving team award so I figured lets give it to the team I am highest on in the West. I think people are forgetting how good Dejounte Murray is. The Pelicans have been missing a true point guard for essentially the entire Zion Williamson era. Dejounte was stuck with Trae Young in Atlanta, a questionable fit even before they took the court. Both of these situations should be solved in New Orleans. I believe Murray will boost the Pelicans offense and defense especially by pushing CJ McCollum into an elite scorer off the bench. Zion looks like he's entering training camp in shape for the first time in his career, something that hopefully helps him stay healthy for the entire season. The Brandon Ingram situation hasn't sorted itself out yet, but if they can turn him into a reputable big man then the Pels will really have a squad on their hands. The west is loaded so I think it's reasonable for not many people to be talking about the Pelicans, but as I said this award is typically for the highest overachieving team which I think the Pelicans can be. 

Rookie of the Year: Zach Edey - Memphis Grizzlies 

This is part Toronto homer pick and part real pick. I will be honest, I had a lot of questions about Zach Edey coming into the draft. Watching him in college it looked like most of his dominance came from being bigger and stronger than anyone else, something he won't have the luxury of in the NBA. Then I saw him play in the preseason and realized I was pretty drastically underrating his athleticism. Edey figures to start for the Grizzlies for most of the year. He's presumably going to be playing with a premier point guard in Ja Morant and his role will be simplified to setting great screens, rolling hard to the rim and grabbing boards. This year's draft class has been touted as weak and Edey is one of the older players coming into the league. With big minutes on the horizon for the big man I could see him putting up the numbers to win the award when the season's over. 

Most Improved Player: Josh Giddey - Chicago Bulls

This award is always so tough to call. I feel like the most improved player is either someone that nobody expected (like the award should be) or a young player who got an increased role or made a standard young player leap. This season I think the biggest increase in role goes to Josh Giddey. The Bulls traded Alex Caruso to the OKC Thunder for Josh Giddey in the offseason, setting up Giddey to run the Bulls offense. Giddey figures to still have the same weaknesses: shooting and defense, but his new role should accentuate his strengths. With the ball in his hands, Giddey is one of the best passers in the league. He's going to be the primary ball handler a lot of the time for a young Bulls team whereas in OKC he had to share a backcourt with superstar Shai Gilgeous Alexander. Giddey is one of the best rebounders at his position in the league, with big minutes on the rebuilding Bulls he figures to grab a bunch of those as well. With his increased role, Giddey can rack up triple doubles and by the end of the season could have a staggering stat line that convinces voters.

6th Man of the Year: CJ McCollum - New Orleans Pelicans

I hinted at it earlier! I think the only issue with this pick is that injuries might force CJ into the starting lineup more often than not. The Pelicans are already facing injuries to Brandon Ingram and Trey Murphy III, two players who have been injury prone throughout their careers. If the Pelicans can stay relatively healthy though, CJ would be so well suited coming off the bench. Still an elite scorer from the mid range, CJ is basically everything you want in a 6 man. He would be able to come off the bench and cook second units regularly, He's a good floor spacer for closing units and will see a lot of time at the end of games when the Pels need offense. If CJ is coming off the bench for most of the season, I think it's his award to lose.

Defensive Player of the Year: Victor Wembanyama - San Antonio Spurs

I love Victor. I think that if he's healthy, the DPOY award will be his to lose for the next decade. The only reason he didn't get it last season is the rest of the team around him wasn't good enough. This season with added leadership from Chris Paul and more actual real NBA player minutes from Harrison Barnes, the Spurs should be better. Most importantly, in Victor's rookie season he averaged 3.6 blocks and 1.2 steals in under 30 minutes per game. It's expected that his workload will increase a bit in his second season as well as his awareness and feel for the game improving, it's not crazy to think these numbers will be even higher. Wemby had a personal defensive rating of 106 points per 100 possessions last season. The Spurs as a whole were all the way up at 116.4. Victor is a 1 man defense and with the Spurs being better this award is going to be undeniably his to lose for the years to come. 

Most Valuable Player - Luka Doncic - Dallas Mavericks 

I actually dislike Luka and his style of play. The heliocentric offense is lame and boring to watch in my opinion. That being said, Luka is currently the best in the world at running a heliocentric offense. There was a good argument for him to win MVP last season averaging nearly a 34 point triple double. Jokic ultimately won the award with the team success on his side. This season, voters will have a hard time giving Jokic his 4th MVP, however deserving he might be. Luka is almost definitely going to have amazing stats once again, the only thing that will hold him back is team success. With the Mavericks making the finals last season and adding sharpshooter Klay Thompson this season, I expect them to come out of the gates confident and on fire. If the Mavs are the 4th seed or higher, Luka will be undeniably the MVP when it's said and done and I will begrudgingly say he deserved it. 

I kinda rushed this one out today but hey at least I made a post like I promised myself! Slow week next week, I don't know if I'll be able to watch the Steelers game so I will feel disingenuous writing a react article, however I will be back at some point to write something so stay tuned!!