Race to MVP - Regular Season Awards predictions
Sept 4, 2012 4:38:17 GMT -5
Post by Tigertecz on Sept 4, 2012 4:38:17 GMT -5
Had enough of the interview type articles? Hopefully this one sparks a flurry of others. In this article I went through all the rosters and stat pages to see if I could predict what the end of season awards would be like. Not only that but also put my reasoning down for each choice too. There's some interesting stuff here too when you actually look at the players.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the read!
Race to MVP - Regular Season Awards predictions
Most Valuable Player: Steve Nash
Defensive Player of the Year: Ben Wallace
Sixth Man of the Year: Michael Redd
Rookie of the Year: LeBron James
Comments: Steve Nash benefits from FBB’s skew towards PGs, but he is also putting up great numbers – 24.9ppg, 4.5rpg, 9.3apg, 1.6spg. In a more traditional MVP race I think I’d be leaning towards Tim Duncan. Best team in the league (currently 33-7) while putting up great numbers across the board – 25.6ppg, 12.1rpg, 4.8apg, 1.4spg, 2.3bpg on 50.9% shooting. DPOY was between Theo and Big Ben, and I went with the latter as he has 3.5rpg more than Theo despite having the same amount of stocks (SPG + BPG). 6MOY is always a guesstimate and I chose Redd who is backing up the 1-2-3 for the Pistons who are fighting for top seed in the East. He is getting 13ppg, 4.8rpg, 3.1apg and shooting good percentages too. ROY went to LeBron James and it was a close one for sure. Melo and Wade are both producing great Rookie numbers, but head to head I went with LBJ, who despite averaging the fewest PPG (18.2 vs Melo’s 22 and Wade’s 21.8), is the better rebounder, passer and his shooting percentages are also better. I wouldn’t be surprised to see either of these three winning the award though by the time the season ends. The numbers for all three are very very similar.
All League First Team
C: Shaquille O’Neal
PF: Tim Duncan
SF: Dirk Nowitzki
SG: Tracy McGrady
PG: Steve Nash
Comments: Duncan and Shaq lead the team in the league with the best record and are the best frontcourt duo around without doubt. Probably the best players at their respective positions and they’re putting up incredible numbers together across all categories. Both players pass at over 4apg and rebound at over 12rpg. Consider they’re both 25+ppg players and shooting over 50% too and it’s a scary partnership. Defensively not too shabby too, I had to keep both of them on the 1st Team. Dirk (33.7ppg) leads the league in scoring by some way (currently 5.4ppg more than both Kobe and T-Mac) on a very successful Pistons team, passes the ball well and also rebounds pretty decently too. Kobe’s the better player than T-Mac by ratings, but statistically speaking they are nearly identical, (28.3ppg is a tie, 7.8rpg vs 7.7rpg, 5.1apg vs 4.7apg, 1.9apg vs 2.1spg). That said, Kobe has missed about 10 games I believe, so I would have thought FBB has T-Mac ahead of him in the awards races too. Very similar production from both swingmen but I believe the injury will have swung the vote. Steve Nash is the best PG in the league by far and is averaging great numbers as previously mentioned.
All League Second Team
C: Yao Ming
PF: Jermaine O’Neal
SF: Shawn Marion
SG: Kobe Bryant
PG: Baron Davis
All League Third Team
C: Zydrunas Ilgauskas
PF: Kevin Garnett
SF: Paul Pierce
SG: Allen Iverson
PG: Chauncey Billups
Comments: The 2nd and 3rd team is a lot harder to predict. There’s a large drop off from the C and SF positions too imo. Ming is the clear 2nd best C in the league for me, but 3rd wasn’t so easy to figure out. I think Big Z will edge out others by FBB’s engine because he’s scoring better than the others. Players like Camby are better defensively of course, but I think Big Z’s 16.0ppg, 10.5rpg, 2.2apg, 1.1spg, 1.1bpg is good enough to snag 3rd Team honours. JO is having a great season and we have a lot of very good PFs in the league. It’s a toss up between KG and JO as Garnett clearly leads the league in RPG (14.1, 1.4 ahead of Ben Wallace). JO averaging nearly 10ppg more than him though gave him the major edge in my book, despite Garnett being better in other categories. Wouldn’t be surprised to see FBB place KG ahead of JO though since it loves combined stats. Iverson is quietly having a good season with 25.3ppg, 5.3rpg, 4.6apg, 2.7spg and I have him ahead of Ray Ray since he also leads the league in steals. B-Diddy and Chauncey round out the PGs for me, both averaging around the 21/8 mark. Kidd’s lack of PPG hurt here, while Bibby and Starbury can’t quite match up on scoring.
All Defensive First Team
C: Theo Ratliff
PF: Ben Wallace
SF: Andrei Kirilenko
SG: Doug Christie
PG: Jason Kidd
Comments: Theo and Big Ben anchor the Suns defensively and they anchor the Defensive First Team too pretty unanimously. Impressive defensive frontcourt combining for 6.2bpg and 2.6spg. AK finds himself in the top ten of both SPG and BPG so can’t bump him off here, while Christie and Iverson battled it out for ballhawk at the 2 spot. I went with Christie for his minor (0.1) edge in rebounds as they have identical SPG (2.7) and bpg (0.2). Kidd takes top spot for the PGs pretty easily both statistically (top PG with 2.3spg) and also with his A+ rating.
All Defensive Second Team
C: Yao Ming
PF: Kevin Garnett
SF: Ron Artest
SG: Allen Iverson
PG: Baron Davis
Comments: Ming isn’t a one trick pony and manages to also grab 1.1spg to go with his 2.5bpg, landing him here ahead of the likes of Foyle and Zo for example. Kevin Garnett narrowly edges out Duncan in my books for Defensive 2nd Team PF due to better rebounds, although that said, Duncan had 3.7 stocks vs KG’s 3.1. I have a feeling FBB will choose Garnett though. Baron Davis is hardly the 2nd best defensive PG in the league with his B- rating, but he is the 2nd PG in the league for SPG only 0.1 behind Kidd… what we have learned is that statistically defensive PG’s are hard to come by.
All Rookie First Team
C: Darko Milicic
PF: Nick Collison
SF: LeBron James
SG: Dwyane Wade
PG: Kirk Hinrich
All Rookie Second Team
C: Chris Kaman
PF: David West
SF: Carmelo Anthony
SG: Reece Gaines
PG: Troy Bell
Comments: Rookie teams are the hardest to figure out since there are no Rookie-only pages to scour through, so it’s quite painful. Some were more obvious than others though. Bron vs Melo is a close one but staying consistent with the rest of the article I have Bron edging out Melo, although it really is a coiln toss. Wade is by far the best SG in this draft year but finding the next best was nearly impossible. Gaines’ impressive 8.2ppg took it lol. Hinrich is having a great season for a young PG in the league though averaging 16.5ppg, 5.4apg, 1.5spg for the Mavs. Meanwhile, Collison and West are having very good debut seasons too, bumping out Bosh with ease. Bosh averages 13.5ppg and 6.8rpg, but by comparison West averages 16.1ppg, 6rpg, 3.2apg and Collison averages 16.6ppg, 8.8rpg, 2.8apg, easily taking top PF honours for the Rookies. Darko is going against real life by actually being decent, winning a Rookie of the Month award for the Bulls and averaging 14.1ppg, 8.5rpg. Very respectable for a Rookie. Meanwhile Kaman on the Lakers is the next best Rookie C I could find with 12.5ppg and 8.6rpg.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the read!
Race to MVP - Regular Season Awards predictions
Most Valuable Player: Steve Nash
Defensive Player of the Year: Ben Wallace
Sixth Man of the Year: Michael Redd
Rookie of the Year: LeBron James
Comments: Steve Nash benefits from FBB’s skew towards PGs, but he is also putting up great numbers – 24.9ppg, 4.5rpg, 9.3apg, 1.6spg. In a more traditional MVP race I think I’d be leaning towards Tim Duncan. Best team in the league (currently 33-7) while putting up great numbers across the board – 25.6ppg, 12.1rpg, 4.8apg, 1.4spg, 2.3bpg on 50.9% shooting. DPOY was between Theo and Big Ben, and I went with the latter as he has 3.5rpg more than Theo despite having the same amount of stocks (SPG + BPG). 6MOY is always a guesstimate and I chose Redd who is backing up the 1-2-3 for the Pistons who are fighting for top seed in the East. He is getting 13ppg, 4.8rpg, 3.1apg and shooting good percentages too. ROY went to LeBron James and it was a close one for sure. Melo and Wade are both producing great Rookie numbers, but head to head I went with LBJ, who despite averaging the fewest PPG (18.2 vs Melo’s 22 and Wade’s 21.8), is the better rebounder, passer and his shooting percentages are also better. I wouldn’t be surprised to see either of these three winning the award though by the time the season ends. The numbers for all three are very very similar.
All League First Team
C: Shaquille O’Neal
PF: Tim Duncan
SF: Dirk Nowitzki
SG: Tracy McGrady
PG: Steve Nash
Comments: Duncan and Shaq lead the team in the league with the best record and are the best frontcourt duo around without doubt. Probably the best players at their respective positions and they’re putting up incredible numbers together across all categories. Both players pass at over 4apg and rebound at over 12rpg. Consider they’re both 25+ppg players and shooting over 50% too and it’s a scary partnership. Defensively not too shabby too, I had to keep both of them on the 1st Team. Dirk (33.7ppg) leads the league in scoring by some way (currently 5.4ppg more than both Kobe and T-Mac) on a very successful Pistons team, passes the ball well and also rebounds pretty decently too. Kobe’s the better player than T-Mac by ratings, but statistically speaking they are nearly identical, (28.3ppg is a tie, 7.8rpg vs 7.7rpg, 5.1apg vs 4.7apg, 1.9apg vs 2.1spg). That said, Kobe has missed about 10 games I believe, so I would have thought FBB has T-Mac ahead of him in the awards races too. Very similar production from both swingmen but I believe the injury will have swung the vote. Steve Nash is the best PG in the league by far and is averaging great numbers as previously mentioned.
All League Second Team
C: Yao Ming
PF: Jermaine O’Neal
SF: Shawn Marion
SG: Kobe Bryant
PG: Baron Davis
All League Third Team
C: Zydrunas Ilgauskas
PF: Kevin Garnett
SF: Paul Pierce
SG: Allen Iverson
PG: Chauncey Billups
Comments: The 2nd and 3rd team is a lot harder to predict. There’s a large drop off from the C and SF positions too imo. Ming is the clear 2nd best C in the league for me, but 3rd wasn’t so easy to figure out. I think Big Z will edge out others by FBB’s engine because he’s scoring better than the others. Players like Camby are better defensively of course, but I think Big Z’s 16.0ppg, 10.5rpg, 2.2apg, 1.1spg, 1.1bpg is good enough to snag 3rd Team honours. JO is having a great season and we have a lot of very good PFs in the league. It’s a toss up between KG and JO as Garnett clearly leads the league in RPG (14.1, 1.4 ahead of Ben Wallace). JO averaging nearly 10ppg more than him though gave him the major edge in my book, despite Garnett being better in other categories. Wouldn’t be surprised to see FBB place KG ahead of JO though since it loves combined stats. Iverson is quietly having a good season with 25.3ppg, 5.3rpg, 4.6apg, 2.7spg and I have him ahead of Ray Ray since he also leads the league in steals. B-Diddy and Chauncey round out the PGs for me, both averaging around the 21/8 mark. Kidd’s lack of PPG hurt here, while Bibby and Starbury can’t quite match up on scoring.
All Defensive First Team
C: Theo Ratliff
PF: Ben Wallace
SF: Andrei Kirilenko
SG: Doug Christie
PG: Jason Kidd
Comments: Theo and Big Ben anchor the Suns defensively and they anchor the Defensive First Team too pretty unanimously. Impressive defensive frontcourt combining for 6.2bpg and 2.6spg. AK finds himself in the top ten of both SPG and BPG so can’t bump him off here, while Christie and Iverson battled it out for ballhawk at the 2 spot. I went with Christie for his minor (0.1) edge in rebounds as they have identical SPG (2.7) and bpg (0.2). Kidd takes top spot for the PGs pretty easily both statistically (top PG with 2.3spg) and also with his A+ rating.
All Defensive Second Team
C: Yao Ming
PF: Kevin Garnett
SF: Ron Artest
SG: Allen Iverson
PG: Baron Davis
Comments: Ming isn’t a one trick pony and manages to also grab 1.1spg to go with his 2.5bpg, landing him here ahead of the likes of Foyle and Zo for example. Kevin Garnett narrowly edges out Duncan in my books for Defensive 2nd Team PF due to better rebounds, although that said, Duncan had 3.7 stocks vs KG’s 3.1. I have a feeling FBB will choose Garnett though. Baron Davis is hardly the 2nd best defensive PG in the league with his B- rating, but he is the 2nd PG in the league for SPG only 0.1 behind Kidd… what we have learned is that statistically defensive PG’s are hard to come by.
All Rookie First Team
C: Darko Milicic
PF: Nick Collison
SF: LeBron James
SG: Dwyane Wade
PG: Kirk Hinrich
All Rookie Second Team
C: Chris Kaman
PF: David West
SF: Carmelo Anthony
SG: Reece Gaines
PG: Troy Bell
Comments: Rookie teams are the hardest to figure out since there are no Rookie-only pages to scour through, so it’s quite painful. Some were more obvious than others though. Bron vs Melo is a close one but staying consistent with the rest of the article I have Bron edging out Melo, although it really is a coiln toss. Wade is by far the best SG in this draft year but finding the next best was nearly impossible. Gaines’ impressive 8.2ppg took it lol. Hinrich is having a great season for a young PG in the league though averaging 16.5ppg, 5.4apg, 1.5spg for the Mavs. Meanwhile, Collison and West are having very good debut seasons too, bumping out Bosh with ease. Bosh averages 13.5ppg and 6.8rpg, but by comparison West averages 16.1ppg, 6rpg, 3.2apg and Collison averages 16.6ppg, 8.8rpg, 2.8apg, easily taking top PF honours for the Rookies. Darko is going against real life by actually being decent, winning a Rookie of the Month award for the Bulls and averaging 14.1ppg, 8.5rpg. Very respectable for a Rookie. Meanwhile Kaman on the Lakers is the next best Rookie C I could find with 12.5ppg and 8.6rpg.
