Three totally different gamers may have received NBA Most Valuable Player this season. But the candidate that finest match my definition of “value” this season, and whose worth has been substantiated by two playoff rounds, didn’t hoist the award on Monday.
Denver’s Nikola Jokic took the crown, in response to ESPN, over Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo. (Yes, the three most dominant gamers within the league all hail from abroad.)
The league is predicted to make the official announcement throughout Monday night time’s playoff video games.
Jokic’s identify reigning supreme a second consecutive season ought to remind you that an ostensibly widespread opinion isn’t all the time the prevailing thought.
I voted for Embiid as MVP as a result of he’s probably the most dominant participant we’ve seen since Shaquille O’Neal. Like Jokic, Embiid performed first half of the season with out his co-star (Ben Simmons), then needed to carry the Sixers within the second half of the season with James Harden not shouldering his load till Game 4 of the second spherical.
If you can fuse Shaq and Kobe into one hooper, you’d most likely get Embiid: the Cameroonian legend who can dominate on the low block, shoot over you within the excessive put up, knock down an open three and nonetheless take you off the dribble.
None of that features the worth he brings defensively, which has been on show in every of the Sixers’ final two playoff video games. The 76ers had been useless within the water, down 0-2, with Embiid nursing an orbital fracture, recovering from a concussion and taking part in with a torn ligament in his thumb. With him again on the ground, rocking a black protecting masks, the collection tied at two-apiece. Embiid, one of the best participant on the court docket, shifted the momentum in his workforce’s path.
But the MVP, and its accompanying league-wide awards, are regular-season honors in a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league. Jokic has completed nothing these days as a result of his shorthanded workforce proved no match for the Golden State Warriors.
Meanwhile Embiid and Antetokounmpo stay on nationwide tv, dominating their opponents with brute power and talent that’ll pave a definitive path to the Hall of Fame.
Jokic is undoubtedly a worthy MVP. If Larry Bird was Serbian, he’d most likely look and play one thing like The Joker. The Nuggets had been in place to compete for a playoff spot as a result of Jokic was on the ground. The identical may also be mentioned of Antetokounmpo’s Bucks and Embiid’s 76ers. Remove both from the equation and each franchises don’t go attempting to find playoff wins.
Maybe it’s not the end result that’s jarring, however the timing of its announcement. Why wait practically a month after the common season to announce outcomes that may be tabulated in a single day? (Ballots for voting members had been due April 12.)
While we’re as regards to NBA awards votes, right here’s how I voted for:
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
1) Joel Embiid (PHI) 2) Nikola Jokic (DEN) 3) Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL) 4) Devin Booker (PHX) 5) Kevin Durant (BKN)
The Nets misplaced 11 straight and fell from first to tenth with Durant out of the lineup with an MCL sprain again in January. If that’s not worth, I don’t know what’s.
It’s additionally precious being one of the best participant on one of the best workforce within the league.
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
1) Ja Morant (MEM) 2) Darius Garland (CLE) 3) Jordan Poole (GSW)
This was nearly as robust as voting for MVP, as a result of I used to be searching for someplace to sneak Desmond Bane onto this poll, too. Morant developed from a star to celebrity season-over-season in Memphis, whereas Garland took the reins from the injured Collin Sexton to fill in as a star in Cleveland. It’s against the law Poole didn’t end third and missed out on the spot to San Antonio’s Dejounte Murray, who continues to be who I assumed he was: a 3rd tier level guard.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
1) Marcus Smart (BOS) 2) Bam Adebayo (MIA) 3) Mikal Bridges (PHX)
I assumed it was abominable that extra voters selected Rudy Gobert over Miami’s Adebayo on DPOY ballots, however like MVP voting, to every their very own. I’m glad to be a part of the motion that ushered in our first guard to win the award since Gary Payton within the ‘90s. Smart is as advertised, as is Phoenix’s Bridges.
SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR
1) Tyler Herro (MIA) 2) Kevin Love (CLE) 3) De’Anthony Melton (MEM)
If there’s an award for deepest workforce within the NBA, the Grizzlies are most likely top-three, and never No. 3. Melton torched the Nets for 22 factors in March when Morant wasn’t on the ground. He’d been a gentle presence for Memphis this season, however that was positively an outside-the-box choose that simply may have gone to Phoenix’s Cameron Johnson.
I discovered it laughable Herro wasn’t the consensus Sixth Man by basketball pundits given he’s the second-leading scorer on the highest seed within the East.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1) Scottie Barnes (TOR) 2) Evan Mobley (CLE) 3) Cade Cunningham (DET)
I watched Barnes strip Durant on back-to-back possessions and made my thoughts up at that second I used to be watching the Rookie of the Year. Mobley’s a franchise cornerstone in Cleveland, however Barnes had the higher opening season in my guide.
COACH OF THE YEAR
1) Taylor Jenkins (MEM) 2) Monty Williams (PHX) 3) Ime Udoka (BOS)
I worth coaches who do extra with much less, and for the Grizzlies to go 20-5 this season in video games with out Morant is a direct nod to the teaching Taylor Jenkins has completed this season. Monty Williams’ Suns are one of the best workforce in basketball and he’s greater than deserving of the honour, however I don’t assume the Grizzlies are purported to be right here.
FIRST TEAM ALL-ROOKIE
1) Jalen Green (HOU) 2) Cade Cunningham (DET) 3) Ayo Dosunmu (CHI) 4) Scottie Barnes (TOR) 5) Evan Mobley (CLE)
SECOND TEAM ALL-ROOKIE
1) Jonathan Kuminga (GSW) 2) Herbert Jones (NOP) 3) Josh Giddey (OKC) 4) Chris Duarte (IND) 5) Franz Wagner (ORL)
FIRST TEAM ALL-DEFENSE
1) Bam Adebayo, Bam (MIA) 2) Jaren Jackson Jr. (MEM) 3) Rudy Gobert (UTA) 4) Mikal Bridges (PHX) 5) Marcus Smart (BOS)
SECOND TEAM ALL-DEFENSE
1) Herbert Jones(NOP) 2) Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL) 3) Robert Williams III (BOS) 4) Fred VanVleet (TOR) 5) Jrue Holiday (MIL)
FIRST TEAM ALL-NBA
1) Giannis Antetokounmpo (MIL) 2) Jayson Tatum (BOS) 3) Joel Embiid (PHI) 4) Devin Booker (PHX) 5) Luka Doncic (DAL)
SECOND TEAM ALL-NBA
1) LeBron James (LAL) 2) Kevin Durant (BKN) 3) Nikola Jokic (DEN) 4) Ja Morant (MEM) 5) Trae Young (ATL)
THIRD TEAM ALL-NBA
1) Bam Adebayo (MIA) 2) DeMar DeRozan (CHI) 3) Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN) 4) Stephen Curry (GSW) 5) Chris Paul (PHX)
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Source: www.bostonherald.com