my 2019-20 NBA Awards Thread

MVP: Giannis Antetokounmpo

He has improved a ton from last season, and has shown just how dominant he can be. This season is comparable to historic MVP campaigns in the past, most notably 2000 Shaquille O’Neal. Best player on the best team in the league, amazing on both ends.

PPG: Giannis
RPG: Giannis
APG: LeBron
BPG: Giannis
SPG: LeBron
FG%: Giannis
TS%: Giannis
eFG%: Giannis
PER: Giannis
DRTG: Giannis
ORTG: LeBron
OBPM: Giannis
DBPM: Giannis
BPM: Giannis
DWS: Giannis
OWS: LeBron
WS: Giannis
VORP: Giannis
RPM: Giannis
Team wins: Giannis

not a debate

DPOY: Giannis Antetokounmpo

On top of his dominance on the offensive end, he is insane on defense as well. The Bucks have the best defensive rating in the whole league which is primarily because of Giannis’ versatile impact (great perimeter defense, shot blocking, team defense).

Here is how Giannis compares to other DPOY contenders this season. He is has clearly been the best, leading in the majority of categories. Some things that stand out are opposing efficiency in terms of EFG% and rim protection, which are two of the most important things to look at

ROTY: Ja Morant

This is probably the easiest pick to make, as Ja has clearly been the best rookie all season long. Averaging 18 PPG, 7 APG, and 4 RPG on great efficiency (49-37-77 splits) as a rookie puts Morant among the best debut seasons of this generation.

Of course, things would be more interesting if Zion Williamson was able to play the whole season, but his limited number of games assures Morant will be most likely a unanimous pick. Something else to point out is that the Grizzlies are currently a playoff team which is crazy!

MIP: Bam Adebayo

This season, Bam has taken a huge jump from backup center to NBA All Star. Some credit must go to coach Erik Spoelstra who has put him in a great position to showcase his skills (running a system with a ton of spacing), but Bam obviously put the work in as well.

In terms of what he’s specifically improved on, his stats are up across the board (+7.3 PPG, +3.2 RPG, +2.9 APG, +0.3 SPG, +0.5 BPG) but he’s most notably become a dominant defender. South Beach is delighted to have such a good young star to pair alongside Jimmy Butler!

6MOTY: Dennis Schroder

This year there’s a wide open race for this award, but I think Schroder’s contributions to a shocking Thunder team make him worthy to win. His stats are great (19 PPG, 4 RPG, 4 APG on 47-38-84 shooting) and he’s part of the lineup with the best net rating.

Although Schroder has a great case to win, some other notable names to mention are Montrezl Harrell, Lou Williams, Derrick Rose, and Goran Dragic. All of them have played great off the bench and are deserving of the award, so I won’t be surprised if one of them wins instead.

COTY: Nick Nurse

After a championship season in 2019 and losing superstar Kawhi Leonard, the Raptors were expected to take a step back and fall down the standings, but Nurse has done a phenomenal job this year to keep them very competitive.

Even with the most games lost to injury this year by any team, Nurse has enabled even the lowest guys on the depth chart to come in and make an impact. Terence Davis and Chris Boucher are some guys that have helped out the Raptors greatly this year and why they’re so good still!

Thank you guys for reading if you made it this far! I can’t wait to see what happens the rest of this season