DBB Boredcast 2.0: The NBA Awards Part 1

Every year around this time NBA news outlets start stretching, looking for content while basically nothing is happening. Making lists of this and that, projecting awards, making top 25 lists and all that. So we, for a second year are piling on that bandwagon and doing our version of ESPN’s Summer Forecast. We call it the Boredcast, and here’s part 1 of the NBA Awards.

We gave our writers each three votes, #1 being worth 5 points, #2 worth 3 points, and #3 worth 1. The number of #1 votes is in parentheses.

Rookie of the Year:

Lonzo Ball: (5) 31
Dennis Smith Jr.: (1) 15
Markelle Fultz: (2) 10

Ben Simmons: 7 DeAaron Fox: 3 John Collins: 3 Derrick White: 3

This is Lonzo’s to lose. Not only is he playing under Magic Johnson as Magic 2.0 but he of course is Son of Big Baller so you know there will be no shortage of headlines. The only thing he has to worry about in that respect is burn out from over exposure, in which case Dennis Smith Jr. or Markelle Fultz might step in.

Most Improved Player:

D’Angelo Russell: 7
Zach LaVine: (1) 6
Gary Harris: (1) 6
Marcus Smart: 6

Brandon Ingram: (1) 5, Jaylen Brown: (1) 5, Dennis Schroeder: (1) 5, Clint Capela: (1) 5, Stanley Johnson: 5, Norman Powell: (1), Glenn Robinson III: (1) 5, Jusuf Nurkic: 3, Larry Nance Jr.: 3, Jeremy Lamb: 1, Nerlens Noel: 1, Nikola Jokic 1.

This vote was all over the place as MIP usually would be, considering it’s really difficult to project which young players will finally “get it”. Russell is a solid bet, as he’ll be given as many minutes and as much responsibility as he can handle and will be playing with a Magic Johnson-placed chip on his shoulder.

Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

6th Man of the Year:

Eric Gordon: (1) 14
Jaylen Brown : (2) 12
Lou Williams: (1) 9

Andre Iguodala: (1) 7, Patty Mills: 6, Jamal Crawford: (1) 5, D’Angelo Russell: (1) 5, Greg Monroe: (1) 5, Boban Marjanovic: 3, Dario Saric: 1, Jordan Clarkson: 1, Cody Zeller: 1, Tyson Chandler: 1

Another safe bet in Gordon for this. He’ll have plenty of wide open threes with James Harden and Chris Paul terrorizing the opposing teams in the lane. He’ll have even more threes if Houston can somehow figure out how to offload Ryan Anderson for Carmelo Anthony. Jaylen Brown as runner up is interesting, might be hard to see if Jayson Tatum lives up to his billing.

Defensive Player of the Year:

Rudy Gobert: (3) 27
Draymond Green: (3) 26
Kawhi Leonard: (2) 20
Patrick Beverly: 1

This was a tight race, with the narrative from last year of it being a three man race continuing. I can see Gobert taking this because there’s a Gordon Hayward-sized hole at the top of the Jazz’s food chain and Gobert is the primary player to fill it, even if he does so as a primarily defense first player.

Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

MVP:

Kawhi Leonard: (5) 30
Kevin Durant: (2) 18
Russell Westbrook: 10

Lebron James: (1) 6, James Harden: 4, Giannis Antetokounmpo: 1, Stephen Curry: 1, John Wall: 1, Blake Griffen: 1

This was the most decisive victory in this opening round. With Westbrook and Harden both getting a huge amount of help in Paul George and Chris Paul, Kawhi is the easy call here. San Antonio surprisingly made no big moves and will be relying on Kawhi more than ever with his majorly aging and past their prime teammates.

Coach of the Year:

Brad Stevens: (3) 16
Steve Kerr: (2) 11
Gregg Popovich: (2) 9

Brett Brown: 6, Steve Clifford: (1) 5, Jason Kidd: 4, Mike D’Antoni: 4, Erik Spoelstra: 3, Scott Brooks: 3,

Big year for Brad Stevens as he got a premier free agent in Gordon Hayward and will have to see what to do with Isaiah Thomas. If they don’t make it past Cleveland this may be the year there’s a bit of shade thrown at the golden boy coach for the first time.

Executive of the Year:

Daryl Morey: (4) 26
Bob Myers: (1) 12
Tom Thibodeau: (1) 11

Danny Ainge: (1) 9, Sam Presti: (1) 6, Ernie Grunfeld: 3, Bryan Colangelo: 3, Rob Pelinka: 1, Andy Elisburg: 1

In a summer of incredible trades Daryl Morey started things off with a bang. Sign-and-trading for Chris Paul will be seen as one of the most daring gambles made by a GM no matter what the outcome.

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Who did you see in these spots? Copy/paste the categories and vote your top three below, and look out for Part 2 of 3 soon.

Rookie of the Year:
Most Improved Player:
6th Man:
Defensive Player of the Year:
MVP:
Coach of the Year:
Executive of the Year: