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After this previous Saturday night's action, every NBA team has played at least 41 games - mathematically the halfway mark of the regular season. Through the first half of this 2017-18 season, there are have been surprises, disappointments and plenty of storylines. It's often these storylines that determine in a voter's mind which player deserves which award.
While the season-break (All-Star weekend) is still more than a couple of weeks away, given the mathematical significance of 41 games, let's take a look at the frontrunners for each of the top six season-ending awards
Sixth Man of the Year - Lou Williams, LA Clippers
So early on in the season, everybody was buying Tyreke Evans' case for this award but the last few weeks have changed who's the favorite. There were murmurs of Dwyane Wade being in the conversation as well, given how well the Cleveland Cavaliers' second unit was playing up until mid-December.
Past few weeks Tyreke Evans has begun starting games for the Memphis Grizzlies, which makes him more and more ineligible for the award with each game. In addition, Lou Williams, although coming off the bench, has got a lot to do with the LA Clippers' current hot streak of winning 12 of their last 15 games.
During these 15 games, Williams is averaging 29.3 points per game while his season average is 23.2. He has started the last six games (13 overall this season), with injuries cutting through the team's backcourt depth. Unless he keeps starting games, Williams could go on to win his second Sixth Man of the Year award, after earlier winning the award in 2015 with the Toronto Raptors.
Coach of the Year - Brad Stevens, Boston Celtics
Gregg Popovich is a perennial contender for this award. Come-what-may, he seems to find a way to get his San Antonio Spurs clicking and winning. But as mentioned earlier, these awards are so much to do with storylines and right now Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics runs away with it.
The Celtics suffered a huge dent in their championship hopes on opening night when Gordon Hayward was lost for the season. But all Stevens and the C's needed was one more night to re-group and they were fine. Boston just dropped the next game but since then they've gone 34-9 by relying on their depth and young wings. Not to mention, their star offseason acquisition - Kyrie Irving but at the end of the day, the players only execute what the coaching plans for them.
And Stevens has done a marvelous job of doing that.
Apart from Pop, Dwane Casey, coach of the Raptors, is also a possible candidate but that's all that he is - a candidate. At the end of the day, Casey had all of the current talents even last year. All he did was introduce a new system (which is no walk in the park) to the team but to do that when you are missing an All-Star is what swings the pendulum towards Stevens.
Rookie of the Year - Donovan Mitchell, Utah Jazz
This 2017 Draft Class is one of the best in quite a few years with a lot of players making headlines for all the right reasons. Yet, the race for the Rookie of the Year comes down to three - Ben Simmons, Jayson Tatum, and Donovan Mitchell.
My pick is Donovan Mitchell - 19.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
A lot of that decision comes on the back of how much each individual contributes to the team and whether it's efficient or not. Among the three candidates, Mitchell has the least number of wins but his contribution stays consistent whether the team wins or losses. Having said that, his performances in wins has been exceptional, to say the least, which is very un-Rookie-like.
Early on in the season, Ben Simmons was running away with this award and pundits might still give it to him but his performance and impact on the result of the game is disappointing when Joel Embiid doesn't play. Meanwhile, Tatum has been very impressive but in comparison to Mitchell, his efficiency is coming at a lower usage rate.
Defensive Player of the Year: Al Horford, Boston Celtics
So we've gotten used to the Boston Celtics being among the top teams in the league, almost forgetting sometimes that they are playing without an All-Star - Gordon Hayward. Through 45 games, they are 34-11, cruising through most of the wins but quite a few of them are close calls.
So how do you win games when you are missing a very important offensive piece? You play good, hard, defense and always keep yourself in the game. That's what the Celtics have done. Their defense is the best in the league with a rating of 99.7.
And while Kyrie Irving carries the team in late-game situations with his offense, the veteran Al Horford is the team's anchor on defense. He's versatile to an extent and helps the team to play an efficient small-ball by playing the center position. Although a more glamorous name (Kevin Durant) has some backing for this award, it's currently Horford's to lose.
What makes Horford the frontrunner are injuries to the perennial frontrunners - Kawhi Leonard and Rudy Gobert. Draymond Green hasn't been as assertive this season as previous season and there's no real matter to Durant's case other than his blocks average.
Most Improved Player of the Year: Victor Oladipo, Indiana Pacers
2016-17 stats: 15.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.2 steals, 44.2% shooting, 36.1% 3-point shooting
2017-18 stats: 24.3 points*, 5.2 rebounds*, 4.0 assists, 2.0 steals*, 49% shooting*, 41.6% 3-point shooting*
*career-high
The stats speak for themselves.
More or less, this award is given to those players whose numbers see an appreciable increase across multiple categories and obviously these improved numbers also positively impact the team. And so far this season, Victor Oladipo is the front-runner for this award and by a long margin.
This award had a lot of candidates after the first month of the season - Aaron Gordon, Kristaps Porzingis, and D'Angelo Russell - but only Oladipo has been able to keep his performance and positive impact consistent right up until mid-Jan. The other players either fizzled out (Gordon), were ruled out due to injury (Russell), or simply didn't have the same impact on the team in terms of win-loss as Oladipo did (Porzingis).
Now, some have point fingers at Russell Westbrook. Blaming him for possibly holding back Oladipo last season but in fact, the transformation after the Oklahoma City Thunder was eliminated by the Houston Rockets in the Playoffs. Oladipo worked on his diet and fitness, which is helping him put up the numbers he is right now in Indiana.
Another huge factor is the opportunity. A majority of the players that receive this award are those that didn't completely get the chance they deserved and then grabbed it with both hands when the opportunity was handed to them.
MVP: James Harden, Houston Rockets
A month and a half into the season, three players clearly emerged as the frontrunners for the MVP award - James Harden, LeBron James, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Right now, it's a two-horse race between Harden and LeBron with Antetokounmpo in the shadows as a dark horse. Both Harden and LeBron have significant pros and con's on their case for the award.
Right now, my pick is James Harden, who leads the league in points averaged- 32.3 and ranks third in assists - 9.1.
From a win-loss perspective, he has a better crack at it with his Houston Rockets at 30-12 while the Cleveland Cavaliers are at 26-17. However, what must be remembered is that Harden hasn't played since the new year and when he has played, the Rockets are 26-9.
When Harden was ruled out for more than a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury, the attention shifted to LeBron. It was his award to lose and by the looks of it, he is losing it. In 2018, the Cavaliers have gone 2-5 and in the last 10 games, they are 2-8. No doubt, the numbers he is putting up are superhuman, especially at his age (33) but it has got to positively impact his team's results.
Guess the Lakers players!
