Quarter Season Awards
It's still too early to draw too many conclusions on the season, but we're at a point where trends are becoming very obvious. The Kings, despite having some very good players, are horrible. The Cavs and Raptors could have been worse than they've been, but are both still very poor. The Warriors started off very strong and have fallen like a rock. There are team trends and there are also player trends, the players who have made the biggest difference on their respective teams. Of course there are the awards which are handed out at the end of every season, and here are the frontrunners for each of those.
Let's start it off with the MVP award. This goes to Dwight Howard at this point. No, the Magic are not the best team in the league right now, but they're right up there, losing twice without him. There is a clear difference between the Magic with and the Magic without Dwight. He has developed his game noticably over the past offseason. It seemed like something that NBA fans would "just say" with the whole Dwight working with Hakeem thing, but it looks like it's really paid off. Dwight now has a much more versatile game on offense, and it is really paying off.
Honorable mention there goes to LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Deron Williams, Derrick Rose, Chris Paul, and Dirk Nowitzki.
Next up will be Rookie of the Year. This is a very tough decision this year. There, at this point, won't be too much consideration as far as games missed goes since it's an 82 game season. That being said, it's between John Wall and Blake Griffin at this point, and Blake Griffin is in front. It's not a blowout by any means, but at this point Griffin is the clear cut favorite. However, there also isn't a whole lot that Wall would have to do in order to take it from him.
Honorable mention goes to Landry Fields.
For coach of the year it's really up in the air. Tom Thibodeau has the Bulls looking like a totally different (partially because they are a totally different team), Stan Van Gundy has the Magic playing well, Doc Rivers has the Celtics playing as well as anyone, and Gregg Popovich has the Spurs playing as well as anyone in the league. However, the pick here goes to someone who has lost a serious amount of talent over the last 365 days, but has his team playing as well as they have over the last half decade. That man is Jerry Sloan. It's long overdue, but this year it wouldn't just be one of those career accomplishment awards, he truly deserves it with his in-game adjustments and his ability to keep the morale high despite too many double digit differences to make up.
Honorable mentions here have already been mentioned, Stan Van Gundy, Tom Thibodeau, Doc Rivers, and Gregg Popovich.
Defensive player of the year is where it gets a bit tougher. The frontrunner as far as who will win it is pretty clear at this point, but who it should be is different. If it's up to me, then the winner is Kevin Garnett, not said with too much praise to him, but he is a great defender. He simply makes sure that Rajon Rondo can gamble all he wants with no worry if the guy he's guarding can get to the hoop, no matter who he is playing down low with. Garnett is that constant. Just look at when the Celtics played the Bulls and Derrick Rose was able to regualrly torch Rondo. Once Garnett shows up it isn't even close to the same, and that's the perfect way to see how good someone actually is on defense. Howard will get the award, much due to individual stats, and Howard is not a slouch in any way on defense either, but Kevin Garnett is still playing on the same level he was in 2009.
The Most Improved Player is an award that is always difficult to pick. You really have to keep an eye on every team and every player in the league to pick this one out. My choice here is one that seems pretty clear to me, Michael Beasley. He has gone from a lost cause to a legitimate threat. It makes you realize that the whole idea of top players going to the worst teams is actually good for more than one side. If Beasley had gone to a team that truly needed him, it looks like he could still have been at least an 18 and 7 player off the bat. Instead he went to a team that tanked the previous year, but now is getting his true chance to show what he can do, which he will likely be able to build off of.
Honorable mention goes to Dorell Wright and Roy Hibbert.
Now, for sixth man, this is the most difficult award to give out. You either have to have someone who you know will remain on the bench at this point, or you have to make a lucky guess. To be safe here, the pick is going to be Jason Terry, but not without good reason. Terry is still playing like he's 28 years old instead of coming close to his mid-30's.
Honorable mention goes to Taj Gibson, Jamal Crawford, and James Harden. It should be said that there is a lot of prediction going into those picks though.
So there you have it. There could be a lot more, but really, by this point who would still be reading? Who is still actually reading right now? There you have it, at one quarter of the way through the season, the award winners.
