The NBA awards are here! Some of the league’s top honors will be easy to predict winners for, while others could really go either way throughout the night. Earlier in the season, we predicted who we thought would win, and tonight, we’ll find out who actually gets to etch their name in league history.
Here are the big winners from the 2018 NBA Awards show
These players took home the league’s top honors for 2018
Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images
Check out our predictions and who won below.
MVP
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Our vote: James Harden
Who actually won: James Harden
Anthony Davis had as incredible season as you could ask, shlepping a Pelicans team without DeMarcus Cousins to the sixth seed in the West, THEN upsetting the Trail Blazers via a sweep in the first round. LeBron James is LeBron James. Did you see the players around him this season?
Yet still, James Harden is the vote here. Yes, he’s the beneficiary of Mike D’Antoni’s guard-highlighting, perimeter-focused offense. And yes, some of the credit for the Rockets’ wild 65-win season should fall on Chris Paul, P.J. Tucker, and Luc Mbah a Moute’s shoulders. And yes, Clint Capela has been incredible, and Houston is a different team without him on the floor. But The Beard is the person who makes this thing go. He’s paid his dues. It’s time to reward him.
Rookie of the Year
Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Our vote: This is a toss up
Who actually won: Ben Simmons
As incredible as Ben Simmons was in Philly, Donovan Mitchell matched him every step of the way. And if you think those two rookies are in a different stratosphere than Jayson Tatum, well, you didn’t watch much playoff basketball.
Tatum may have only averaged 14 points during the regular season, but he averaged 17 points a game after Kyrie Irving’s season-ending surgery and averaged 18 in the playoffs. That doesn’t take away from Mitchell, who putback dunk his own miss with one hand, or Simmons, who makes everyone else on the floor look like a rookie. It just goes to show you how talented these three players are.
Still, there could only be one. Co-Rookie of the Year awards haven’t been handed out since Grant Hill and Jason Kidd in 1995.
Sixth Man of the Year
John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Our vote: Fred VanVleet
Who actually won: Lou Williams
The Clippers didn’t make the playoffs, and Eric Gordon can straight up shoot the ball. But Fred VanVleet impacts the game in so many ways. It’s time to show the value of a sixth man isn’t solely determined by how many points he gives you off the bench. It should be equal parts tangible impact on the outcome of a game and moral boost he gives your team. VanVleet was the Raptors’ junkyard dog all season long. He defends his man the full length of the court, makes all the hustle plays the Raptors need and still has energy to hit shots and create for his teammates when called on.
He was so good off the bench, the Raptors started to lean on him too heavily. He should be rewarded.
Defensive Player of the Year
Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images
Joel Embiid
Anthony Davis
Rudy Gobert
Our vote: Rudy Gobert
Who actually won: Rudy Gobert
And it’s not even close. I understand analytics aren’t the end-all, be-all of basketball debate, and I rarely use them as the basis for an argument. But this Jazz stat can speak for itself.
Gobert missed 11 games from Nov. 11 through Dec. 1 and 15 games from Dec. 16 to Jan. 19 with a sprained PCL in his left knee. The Jazz went 11-15 through that stretch without him and fell to just the 14th-ranked team in defensive efficiency. UTAH ONLY LOST SEVEN MORE TIMES AFTER HE RETURNED. ITS DEFENSIVE RATING OF 97.5 WAS THE BEST IN THE LEAGUE FROM JAN. 19 TO THE END OF THE SEASON. THEY FINISHED WITH THE FIFTH SEED IN THE PLAYOFFS AND UPSET THE THUNDER IN THE FIRST ROUND BECAUSE OKC COULDN’T CONSISTENTLY SCORE IN THE PAINT.
Most Improved Player
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Our vote: Torn
Who actually won: Victor Oladipo
I get to watch a lot of Nets basketball, and I’ll tell you Spencer Dinwiddie is as deserving of the Most Improved Player award as anyone. He puts in the work, has an incredible amount of confidence and went out there and pulled through for the Nets every night. But he plays for a lottery team that didn’t even have its own lottery pick.
Clint Capela and Victor Oladipo play for much better teams. Capela’s importance to the Rockets’ offense shouldn’t go unnoticed. Without his screens and rim-rolls, corner threes don’t become as easily available. But Capela is a fold in an offense while Oladipo generates offense for himself and his teammates. I think the easy nod here is Oladipo given the wild season he’s had in Indy, especially after he took the Cavs to seven games in the first round.
Coach of the Year
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Our vote: Dwane Casey
Who actually won: Dwane Casey
Look, all three of these coaches deserve this award, and there are several others deserving of consideration who didn’t make the final list, too. What Stevens did without Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, and other key players is nothing short of spectacular. He’s an ATO mastermind, but the award isn’t just his for the taking.
Dwane Casey rebuilt Toronto’s offense and guided them to their best record in franchise history. He just so happened to be fired after LeBron James turned Toronto into LeBronto, but hey, it happens, right? And Quin Snyder took a rookie a rim protector and a bunch of role players and turned them into a team no one really wanted to face in the playoffs.
Other awards being given out are Executive of the Year (Hi, Danny Ainge), the Sportsmanship Award (Kemba Walker won last year), Teammate of the Year, and the Community Assist Award.
See More:
