One Month into the 2022–23 NBA Season: Awards
It’s been a little over one month into the NBA season. It’s still very early though, and things can change so fast in the NBA.
One minute Dwight Howard is playing for the Lakers, the next minute he’s dropping 38 points, 25 rebounds, and 9 assists for the Taoyuan Leopards in Taiwan.
But is it too early to give out awards at this point in the season?
I think not. Why not show some love and respect to deserving players and teams?
I’m going to be giving out some traditional awards, along with some of my own awards.
Let’s have some fun with it.
MVP (Most Valuable Player): Luka Doncic
Luka has been fantastic for the Mavs this season. As I said in my “Storylines” article before the season started, I had mentioned that Doncic “may be ready to challenge for an MVP.”
He certainly has looked like it a month into the season while putting up some 2K caliber numbers along the way.
The only blemish on his MVP resume is his drop in efficiency from three. He’s only shooting 29% this season, which is a 6% drop from last season.
Stats: 33.5 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 8.1 apg on 49/29/76 shooting splits.
Watch out for: Jayson Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Joel Embiid who are all playing MVP-caliber basketball on winning teams. Steph Curry is also playing incredibly well, but his Warriors are only 8–10. The dark horses for MVP are players like Devin Booker and Donovan Mitchell who could each get some votes in the end. Jokic is the reigning two-time MVP winner, but voter fatigue may work against him.
MIP (Most Improved Player): Lauri Markkanen
A former #7 overall pick out of the University of Arizona in 2017, Lauri has always had high upside as a 7-foot unicorn who can create his own shot on the perimeter.
He fell out of favor in his final season as a Bull, being relegated to the bench and averaging career low numbers. He was rejuvenated a bit with the Cavs last season, but still only showed flashes of the player he was early in his career.
This season, Lauri Markkanen is playing more like Lauri Bird, leading the Jazz to a surprise 12–8 start.
Stats: 22.4 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.4 apg on 54/36/82 (Previous season: 14.8 ppg).
2 man race for MIP? : Watch out for Desmond Bane (24.7 ppg this season, 18.2 ppg last season), who is a very close #2 on my MIP rankings. He’s going to miss a few weeks with a Grade 2 sprain though. Good to see one of my favorite 2020 draft prospects balling.
ROY (Rookie of the Year): Benedict Mathurin
“Another Arizona Wildcat?” ASU fans may be saying in disgust.
You know that meme of Leonardo DiCaprio laughing while holding his drink from the movie Django Unchained? Yeah, that’s me as an Arizona Wildcat fan.
But even the staunchest of ASU fans will find it hard to complain about this pick.
Young, electric Benedict Mathurin has undoubtedly been one of the stars of this young NBA season. For a team widely considered to be rebuilding at the start of the season, the Pacers have defied all expectations by racing out to a 10–6 record.
And Mathurin has played a huge part in their success, making an instant impact from the bench.
Stats: 19.3 ppg on 44/42/83 in only 27.6 minutes per game.
Watch out for: #1 overall pick Paolo Banchero (23.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 3.6 apg), who likely would have been my pick had he not missed the last six games from injury.
DPOY (Defensive Player of the Year): Jrue Holiday
In continuing the recent trend of picking more guards for DPOY, I went with Holiday for DPOY.
Guards and wings are truly underrated when it comes to determining the DPOY. While bigs arguably have the most important role on defense as the primary rim protector, having an elite guard or wing defender makes the center’s job much easier.
Holiday has been one of the best perimeter defenders for much of his career, and it is surprising that he has no DPOY awards to his name.
With Holiday on the perimeter and Giannis doing it all, the Bucks have been the top-ranked team in defensive rating this season.
Stats: Defensive Rating of 98.9, most defensive win shares in the league with 0.207, 1.5 steals per game, 0.6 blocks per game.
Watch out for: Giannis (although having two great defenders on the same team may take away some votes from the other), Mikal Bridges (holding guards to 35.5% FG), and Embiid.
6MOTY (6th Man of the Year): Christian Wood
Christian Wood has had an interesting career, to say the least. He was undrafted, playing for numerous G League teams amid uncertainty about his future in the NBA. He eventually played himself into a contract with the Pistons, then was signed and traded to the Rockets.
He’s played on losing teams for much of his career. After being traded from the Rockets, Wood seems to have bought into his role as a sixth man off the bench for the Mavs this season.
Stats- 16.6 ppg, 7.5 rpg on 57/43/69.
Watch out for: the aforementioned Mathurin, but history is against him (the only rookie to win it was Ben Gordon back in 04–05). Malik Beasley is also having a solid season as the sixth man for the Nuggets (14.1 ppg on 43% 3PT).
COTY (Coach of the Year): Will Hardy
The Jazz weren’t supposed to be this good. After trading their stars in Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, they were supposed to be tanking for Wembanyama.
Enter Will Hardy.
As yet another Gregg Popovich disciple, the 34-year-old Hardy has brought a calm confidence to a young Jazz team needing a fresh start. Players like Lauri and Beasley look reinvigorated. Vanderbilt and Olynyk have helped lessen the impact of Gobert’s departure with solid defense.
So far, Hardy looks like a legitimate COTY candidate with the Jazz second in the Western Conference at 12–7.
Watch out for: Joe Mazzulla (13–3 filling in admirably after the Ime Udoka scandals), Mike Brown (9–6 with the Kings), Chauncey Billups (10–6 Blazers), Rick Carlisle (10–6 with the Pacers).
EOTY (Executive of the Year): Danny Ainge
After what Danny Ainge did this offseason, can there really be any other logical choice for EOTY? When Ainge was handed the reins to the Utah Jazz, he inherited a team with a lot of question marks. Can Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert co-exist? Is this team good enough to go deep into the playoffs?
Ainge answered those questions by trading away both Mitchell and Gobert to the Cavs and Timberwolves, respectively. He also hired the aforementioned Will Hardy to take over for Quin Snyder.
In the haul for Mitchell, he landed three first-round picks, two pick swaps, Sexton, Markkanen, and Agbaji.
Gobert was traded for a massive four first-rounders, a pick swap, Beasley, Beverley (later traded to the Lakers), Vanderbilt, Bolmaro, and Kessler.
Among the players that Ainge received in trades this off-season, seven of them are consistent starters or rotation players: Markkanen, Sexton, Vanderbilt, Beasley, Kessler, Talen Horton-Tucker (acquired in the Beverley trade), and Kelly Olynyk (acquired in the Bojan Bogdanovic trade).
That’s an entirely new team out there for the Jazz, and yet they’re still winning games. This is Ainge’s award to lose.
Now introducing…Unofficial Awards Hour!
The “Send-Stats-Nerds-To-Heaven” Award:
This award is given out to a player with a stat line so aesthetically pleasing that it “sends them to heaven”. These awards are pretty self-explanatory.
The winner? Joel Embiid in a win against the Utah Jazz. He finished with 59 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, and 7 blocks on 19/28 FG.
On the basketballreference website, it’s ranked seventh all-time in Game Score, just behind Devin Booker’s 70-point explosion in Boston.
“Come On, Ref” Award:
I could have made 50 copies of the “Come On, Ref” Award and still wouldn’t have enough to give out. That’s how inconsistent the refereeing has been this season. I do feel for the refs, I really do. Refereeing is not an easy job, especially at the pace of the modern NBA.
But this? Come on, ref!
This award goes to John Goble, the ref who T’d up Jayson Tatum for…clapping? Tatum clapped in frustration after being whistled for a foul during a game versus the Thunder earlier this month, but it was pretty clear it was directed at himself.
However, Mr. Goble saw things differently. No one claps at him and gets away with it. The NBA ended up rescinding the tech a few days later.
“Come On, Kyrie” Award:
In the spirit of the previous “Come on, Ref” Award, this version is for the players. What player has made some befuddling decisions and given his coaches headaches all season long?
Ahem. Drumroll, please.
…
If you guessed Kyrie Irving, here’s a cookie.
Kyrie is one of the most talented players I’ve ever seen in decades of watching basketball, but he’s been equally frustrating off the court.
Being such a “woke” individual, Kyrie loves himself a good conspiracy theory. His history includes being a supporter of Sandy Hook denier Alex Jones, calling the Earth flat and recently causing an uproar with antisemitic comments.
I miss Uncle Drew Kyrie.
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