NBA Midseason Awards

Thought I'd throw together a blog on NBA midseason awards. I think I'll put together a list of nominees for each awards rather than pick one player and cause a worldwide debate (false confidence saying worldwide I know) but here it goes....

MVP:

Besides the obvious nominees (Slim Reaper and King James) who need really no in depth analysis into how good they are. Ultimately we all know it will come down to those two at the top but here are a few names to chew on perhaps:

Kevin Love: Easily the best power forward in the game at 26ppg and 13rpg makes a prime candidate I believe to be in MVP talks. His only downfall however is that he plays for the Wolves who haven't made the playoffs since 2003-04 season. If he had any chance to begin with in winning the award it went away as soon as you look at the Wolves record.



LaMarcus Aldridge: I'll say this every time I talk about Aldridge, he has been the most underrated player in the league for the past few seasons in my eyes. The reason this is so is because of how bad the Blazers have been in recent year. He is finally getting his due since the Blazers are a terrific team this season. Averages 24ppg and 11rpg which is highly respectable when you play alongside a another terrific scorer in Damian Lillard.



Rookie of the Year:

Michael Carter-Williams: Great rookie for an awful team. 17.1ppg which is good for second on the team but is really basically tied for first if we are rounding because the teams leading scorer is Evan Turner with 17.4. He also averages 6 assists per game and 5 boards a game, it really impresses me that at 6'6" he plays the point guard and that adds a mismatch every time he takes the floor. However he only 39% from the field which is well below the league average (45%). Also doesn't shoot the best from the line either (70%) which is below the league average of 75% as well.

Victor Oladipo: I think Oladipo will turn out to be the best player to come out of this draft. Decent stats 14ppg, 4apg, and 4rpg which seem low considering he plays for an abysmal Magic squad who's leading scorer is Aaron Afflalo. Again shoots below league average (41%) maybe its the rookie jitters.



Trey Burke: Another player that I think will turn out well in the league and I think he's in a good position in Utah. Averages 12ppg,5apg, and 3rpg. What jumped out at his stats for me was that he does not even average a steal per game (0.6) which is surprising considering his quickness and athleticism. Out of the three nominees he shoots the lowest percentage at about 37% which clearly needs to be his area of improvement.



Coach of the Year:

Terry Stotts (Blazers): 36-17 record makes for the 5th seed in the West also lead the league in ppg and rpg as a team. Really a good turnaround story here as Stotts is finally able to bring together his talent to win games.

Jeff Hornacek (Suns): The biggest surprise of the entire NBA season is the rise of the Phoenix Suns, with Hornacek in his first season he has led the Suns to a 31-21 record and a team that is 5th in the league in points per game.

Sixth Man of the Year:

Hard to find another nominee besides Jamal Crawford honestly maybe Manu Ginobili but Crawford is the player that comes to mind when I hear sixth man. Averages 18ppg, shoots 41% from the field, and 36% from beyond the arc. Very hard to do as a guy that comes off the bench for a team with Blake Griffin and Chris Paul makes it that much more impressive.

Defensive Player of the Year:

Anthony Davis: Leads the league in blocks with 3 a game. Another interesting stat is Davis only allows 2.8 field goals at the rim per game which is very impressive.

Roy Hibbert: Averages 2.5 block per game to be exact and is second behind "The Brow" in field goals allowed at the rim (4.1 per game).


Most Improved Player:

Lance Stephenson: Lance has improved in every major statistical category from last year. Averaging 14ppg(9 last year), 7rpg(4 last year), and 5apg(2 last year). Has also improved his field goal percentage from 46 to 50% which is highly respectable. He also has improved his maturity level from last year.

Anthony Davis: The Brow is back! The model of improvement in the league this year is Ant Davis. Upped his scoring average from 13 to 20ppg, increased his rebound average from 8 to 10 per game. Also shoots 52% from the field and 76% from the line which are both improvements from last season.


Andre Drummond: First I'll point out that Andre Drummond is roughly two months older than me which means as of now we are both 20 years of age. Drummond is 6'10" 270lbs, I am 6'0" 160 lbs....Genetics I guess. Anyway enough self pity, Drummond has increased his scoring average from 7 to 13 and increased his rebounding number by that same margin. And he even as upped his free throw percentage from 37 to 40%! May not call for a celebration but it's a glimmer of hope.


Goran Dragic: Steady improvement from Dragic lands him on the list. Averaging 20ppg which is up from 14 a game last year also has improved his shooting percentage from 44 to 50% which is very good for a point guard like Dragic. Also is the main reason the Suns are so good this year. He has been leading them all year.

Well I suppose that's all I got for now. Be sure to check out Austen's newest Tuesday blog and watch out for our newest contributor Jaxon.

-NS(@NolanPSchmidt)