2020-21 NBA Awards Picks
The 2020-21 NBA regular season has come to a close, and it’s time to hand out some awards!
Coach of the Year:
Quin Snyder
*Monty Williams has already won Coach of the Year, this was just my prediction beforehand*
This is a really tough one, as it could go to a number of guys. Monty Williams had a fantastic year, leading the Suns to 2nd in the West; Doc Rivers and the Sixers are the #1 team in the East in his first year with the team; Tom Thibodeau has led the Knicks to the 4th seed in the East, something that nobody would have predicted at the beginning of the season.
However, I think Quin Snyder has the slight edge over all of these guys, given that the Jazz finished with the best record in the league even without any SUPERSTAR players. They have a few all-stars and a deep roster with a ton of solid players that Snyder has turned into a title contender. Utah is the only team that is top 5 in both offensive rating and defensive rating this season, and getting great production on both ends of the court is something that is usually a direct result of great coaching.
Defensive Player of the Year:
Rudy Gobert
This is another pretty easy one for me. Gobert’s defensive impact is absurd when you dive into the advanced numbers. Just look at how much higher he is on this graph than everyone else:
(Graph from bball-index.com)
There are many great defenders in the league, but none have the impact of Gobert. He consistently scares opponents away from going to the rim, and also leads the NBA in blocks per game, defensive win shares, D-RAPTOR, and DRPM.
Rookie of the Year:
Anthony Edwards
This one is clearly between Edwards and LaMelo at this point. I won’t be mad if this goes either way (and LaMelo will probably win it), but I’ll give it to Edwards because he played in all 72 games compared to just 51 for LaMelo. I think LaMelo has been better overall when on the court, but missing nearly 30% of the games makes it difficult for me to give it to him.
Edwards wasn’t very efficient this year, but it got better towards the end of the year. He closed out the season averaging 26.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 4.8 assists on 62% eFG over his last 9 games, and he averaged 24 points per game over the last 2 months. He scored 10+ points in each of the final 40 games this season, something that is pretty crazy for any rookie. LaMelo was also great and honorable mention goes to Tyrese Haliburton (who had an awesome first year with the Kings), but I think Edwards should be ROTY.
Most Improved Player:
Julius Randle
Randle has become a star this year, and he was the main reason for the Knicks’ surprise success this season. His production has improved in a number of different stats compared to last year:
2019 2020
PTS/G 19.5 24.1
REB/G 9.7 10.2
AST/G 3.1 6.0
3P% 28% 41%
TS% 54% 57%
WS 2.7 7.8
BPM -0.3 3.7
RPM -0.8 3.4
TPA 67.3 197.2
He has taken on an even larger role, yet has been even more efficient. You can see that his advanced impact metrics are way better, and he made drastic improvements in assists per game and 3-point percentage. Despite taking way more threes than ever before (7.3 attempts per 100 possessions), he is also shooting way better than ever before (41% after never shooting better than 34% in any other season). According to bball-index.com, he went from a 2nd percentile 3-point shooter last year to a 98th percentile 3-point shooter… a complete turnaround that really aided his overall improvement this season.
Sixth Man of the Year:
Jordan Clarkson
I personally don’t think this is that difficult of a selection. Clarkson averaged 18.4 points and was nearly an all-star off the bench for Utah this season. His teammate, Joe Ingles, was also fantastic in the second unit and is in the running for this award. Ingles was more efficient and potentially more impactful overall, but my issue is that he started 30 out of the 67 games he played in. Should he really be considered a 6th man when he’s starting nearly half the time? In my eyes, this should go to Clarkson.
MVP:
Nikola Jokic
Don’t overthink it. The Joker has been the best and most impactful player in the league this season, and he is well deserving of the MVP award. Giannis, Steph Curry, Joel Embiid, and others have had fantastic seasons, but none of them should win this award over Jokic. He has played in every single game, averaging 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 8.3 assists on 60% eFG.
He leads the NBA in almost all of the advanced stats, including VORP, BPM, Win Shares, LEBRON, RAPTOR, and TPA. The Nuggets also went 30-10 over their last 40 games, even with Jamal Murray missing 22 of those games. They started the season 17-15, and finished 47-25 (3rd in the West). Jokic is the MVP and has been for a while. End of story.
