Last week, I wrote an article about my awards for this season so far. Now, I’m finishing the topic by giving out the Sixth Man of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and the MVP of the League.
First, as a quick reminder, I had Chet Holmgren as the Rookie of the Year, Tyrese Maxey as the Most Improved Player, and Coach Chris Finch as the Coach of the Year.
Now, for the best sixth man, it comes down to which benches are the most effective and which non-starter is playing the best when the game is close in the 4th quarter. The player that fits my criteria the most is Austin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers. Not only does he play around 30 minutes per game, putting up 15 points per game, but he is one of the closers for his team.
In close games, he’s always in and hitting huge shots; unlike the other contenders in Immanuel Quickley or Tim Hardaway Jr, who don’t have the ball in their hands as much or aren’t going to be on as many televised games as Reaves (a sad difference but the reality is that more popular teams get the awards because they get the attention), their ceiling for how much they can impact on the floor is significantly lower than that of Reaves. Due to the reasons above, I believe Austin Reaves will be the Sixth Man of the Year.
Moving on, the Defensive Player of the Year award is my personal favorite, for it credits the player who is willing to do the dirty work - the work others don’t appreciate. Last year, the recipient was Jaren Jackson Jr.; however, his season hasn’t been worthy of the award so far. This year, with the numbers this player is putting up, it’ll be difficult for other players to surpass him if he stays healthy. Rudy Gobert is 3rd in rebounds (12.3), 7th in blocks (2.3), is the leader to the best defense in the league this year, and is a big reason why the Minnesota Timberwolves are the highest seed in the Western Conference. Although Anthony Davis, the Los Angeles Laker, is leading the league in rebounds (12.4) and is tied for 5th in blocks (2.5), he is on a 9th-seeded team, therefore, unless the Lakers improve to a top 5 seed, I have Rudy Gobert winning his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award this year.
There are many individual achievements in an NBA season, whether it’s being an AllStar, a starter, getting a double-double, etc.; however, the best individual award goes to the player that performed the best that season, the player who brought his team the most value, the player that led his team to many victories. This year, I believe that player will be Joel Embiid. Embiid has led his team to a top 3 seed in the league, he is putting up even better numbers than when he won it last year (more points, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals while staying at the same field goal percentage). He’s averaging 35 points per game!! Here’s the kicker though: because of how many games the 76ers have blown out the other teams, meaning he’s only ever needed to enter 14 out of 27 games for the fourth quarter, he’s averaging 35 points in 34 minutes (averaging more points per minutes in a season has only been done by one other player: 1962 Wilt Chamberlain where he averaged 50 points on 48.5 minutes). Historical seasons result in MVPs; Steph Curry became the first unanimous MVP in 2016 for making 402 threes, 100 more than the record; Russel Westbrook won the MVP in 2017 for averaging a 30-point triple-double. Joel Embiid is having an All-Time great season, and I believe he fully deserves to be the 2024 MVP.
With the season about to reach the midpoint, let’s understand that we still have so much amazing and talented basketball to watch, get excited, and hope our team improves.
If you disagree, or I missed something, let me know in the comments. Until next time…
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