2021 individual hardware winners projection

[Tr1boy]

MVP: Jokic
DPOY: Gobert
ROY: Edwards
6MOY: Ingles
MIP: Randle
COY: Thibodeau
Executive: Marks

Shouldn't this be "Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant"?

Yup

Steve Nash also deserves credit for coty

He rarely had the big three on the court at the same time

[PhoSita]

Lol I would not give any awards to the nets unless they create a "best team of absolute heels"

Never seen a team so good at leaning into being the unlikeable, obvious villains of the story.

Their court is black and white, their uniforms are black, they play in the snark and irony capital of the world, they constructed their team via back room deals and quitting on other teams, and their trademark is that their main guys all disdain the idea of showing up to work consistently. They also turn their nose up at playing defense.

The perfect team of villains.

[Goldstar88]

COY goes to Williams. Thibs got robbed, IMO. Phoenix has a really talented team with CP3, Booker, and Ayton. I mean, Paul is basically an in game coach.. Good role players too. Thibs has Randle and...... He did a lot more with less. Completely overhauled the culture and made the franchise relevant for the first time in decades.


https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31466502/monty-williams-phoenix-suns-voted-nbca-coach-year-sources-say

[footey]

COY goes to Williams. Thibs got robbed, IMO. Phoenix has a really talented team with CP3, Booker, and Ayton. I mean, Paul is basically an in game coach.. Good role players too. Thibs has Randle and...... He did a lot more with less. Completely overhauled the culture and made the franchise relevant for the first time in decades.


https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31466502/monty-williams-phoenix-suns-voted-nbca-coach-year-sources-say

I disagree. 

Phoenix improved more than any other team record wise this year. The rose to one game out of first place in the much tougher Western Conference.

Which is why I predicted Monty would win.  Thibs did a great job, but he won COY for Bulls in 2011, which is another reason I correctly predicted Monty would win.

[PhoSita]

Monte Williams is a weird way to spell "Chris Paul"

[Goldstar88]

COY goes to Williams. Thibs got robbed, IMO. Phoenix has a really talented team with CP3, Booker, and Ayton. I mean, Paul is basically an in game coach.. Good role players too. Thibs has Randle and...... He did a lot more with less. Completely overhauled the culture and made the franchise relevant for the first time in decades.


https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31466502/monty-williams-phoenix-suns-voted-nbca-coach-year-sources-say

I disagree. 

Phoenix improved more than any other team record wise this year. The rose to one game out of first place in the much tougher Western Conference.

Which is why I predicted Monty would win.  Thibs did a great job, but he won COY for Bulls in 2011, which is another reason I correctly predicted Monty would win.

They improved because they added a hall of fame PG, who is top 5 all time at the position. Their whole roster is superior to the Knicks. Thibs did so much the season with very little talent.

[Celtics2021]

COY goes to Williams. Thibs got robbed, IMO. Phoenix has a really talented team with CP3, Booker, and Ayton. I mean, Paul is basically an in game coach.. Good role players too. Thibs has Randle and...... He did a lot more with less. Completely overhauled the culture and made the franchise relevant for the first time in decades.


https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31466502/monty-williams-phoenix-suns-voted-nbca-coach-year-sources-say

To be clear, this is the award voted on by NBA head coaches.  The traditional award is the one voted on by the media.  Still, I agree with the coaches -- Williams did a terrific job from start to finish this year.

Also, Nate McMillan needs to get some real credit.  The Hawks were 14-20 when he took over, and they finished 27-11.  That has to be one of the biggest mid-season turn arounds ever after a coaching change.

[RJ87]

MVP - Nikola Jokic
ROTY- LaMelo Ball
DPOTY- Ben Simmons (I suspect there's going to be some 76ers animosity around here that keeps more folks from picking him .)
MIP- Julius Randle
6MOTY- Jordan Clarkson
COTY-  Thibs

[celticsclay]

MVP - Nikola Jokic
ROTY- LaMelo Ball
DPOTY- Ben Simmons (I suspect there's going to be some 76ers animosity around here that keeps more folks from picking him .)
MIP- Julius Randle
6MOTY- Jordan Clarkson
COTY-  Thibs

I will admit I generally think Simmons gets a bit overrated on these boards at times (he is a great defensive player). But independent of that  I think it is tough to make an argument to give it to him over Gobert this season especially when he played 14 less games and the jazz have the best record in the league (partly cause Gobert basically didn't miss any time.

[PhoSita]

MVP - Nikola Jokic
ROTY- LaMelo Ball
DPOTY- Ben Simmons (I suspect there's going to be some 76ers animosity around here that keeps more folks from picking him .)
MIP- Julius Randle
6MOTY- Jordan Clarkson
COTY-  Thibs

I will admit I generally think Simmons gets a bit overrated on these boards at times (he is a great defensive player). But independent of that  I think it is tough to make an argument to give it to him over Gobert this season especially when he played 14 less games and the jazz have the best record in the league (partly cause Gobert basically didn't miss any time.

Gobert played more games than Embiid and Simmons, and he's also the key defensive player on his team by far.  The Sixers had the best defense in the league this season, but as often happens with the MVP race, the credit for that has to be shared somewhat between the two stars there, and there's also the fact that both Simmons and Embiid played fewer games.

[RJ87]

MVP - Nikola Jokic
ROTY- LaMelo Ball
DPOTY- Ben Simmons (I suspect there's going to be some 76ers animosity around here that keeps more folks from picking him .)
MIP- Julius Randle
6MOTY- Jordan Clarkson
COTY-  Thibs

I will admit I generally think Simmons gets a bit overrated on these boards at times (he is a great defensive player). But independent of that  I think it is tough to make an argument to give it to him over Gobert this season especially when he played 14 less games and the jazz have the best record in the league (partly cause Gobert basically didn't miss any time.

Gobert played more games than Embiid and Simmons, and he's also the key defensive player on his team by far.  The Sixers had the best defense in the league this season, but as often happens with the MVP race, the credit for that has to be shared somewhat between the two stars there, and there's also the fact that both Simmons and Embiid played fewer games.

I think it'll be tough to knock guys for games missed this season if it isn't a crazy amount since it feels like a guy not missing time due to Covid/injury is an anomaly.

Gobert is a great defensive player for sure, that can't be denied. But Ben's defensive versatility is very important to his team's success on that end.

[PhoSita]

MVP - Nikola Jokic
ROTY- LaMelo Ball
DPOTY- Ben Simmons (I suspect there's going to be some 76ers animosity around here that keeps more folks from picking him .)
MIP- Julius Randle
6MOTY- Jordan Clarkson
COTY-  Thibs

I will admit I generally think Simmons gets a bit overrated on these boards at times (he is a great defensive player). But independent of that  I think it is tough to make an argument to give it to him over Gobert this season especially when he played 14 less games and the jazz have the best record in the league (partly cause Gobert basically didn't miss any time.

Gobert played more games than Embiid and Simmons, and he's also the key defensive player on his team by far.  The Sixers had the best defense in the league this season, but as often happens with the MVP race, the credit for that has to be shared somewhat between the two stars there, and there's also the fact that both Simmons and Embiid played fewer games.

I think it'll be tough to knock guys for games missed this season if it isn't a crazy amount since it feels like a guy not missing time due to Covid/injury is an anomaly.

Gobert is a great defensive player for sure, that can't be denied. But Ben's defensive versatility is very important to his team's success on that end.

Eh, the awards are for which guys managed to provide value to their teams during the regular season.  Sure, avoiding COVID and injuries is more luck than anything else, but that's true in any season.

Gobert provided the most defensive value for his team this season.  It's a close thing for me between him and Embiid, since the Sixers are the #1 rated defense. But it's close enough that I feel comfortable using games played, and the quality of teammates, as a tiebreaker.

[ETNCeltics]

COTY: Williams or Thibs
MVP: Jokic
DPOY: Gobert
6MOTY: Jordan Clarkson
MIP: Randle
ROY: Edwards
GM: I would vote for James Jones or Travis Schlenk, but it'll probably be Bobby Marks

Edwards over Ball??

I can see a case for it, especially considering that Ball missed over 20 games, while Edwards played in every single game.

[colincb]

From ESPN:

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid and Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry are the finalists for this year's NBA Most Valuable Player award.

The top three vote-getters for each of the NBA's major end-of-season awards -- MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player and Coach of the Year -- were announced on TNT's "Inside The NBA" ahead of the Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers squaring off in the Eastern Conference's eighth-place play-in game.

For Jokic, Embiid and Curry, winning the sport's highest honor will be a history making endeavor. Jokic or Embiid winning would mark the first time a center had been named the NBA's MVP since Shaquille O'Neal in 2000. Curry, meanwhile, would become one of nine players in NBA history to win at least three MVP awards, tying him with Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Moses Malone.

Jokic had one of the best offensive seasons in the history of the league, averaging 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and 8.3 assists while shooting 56.6% overall, 38.8% from 3-point range and 86.8% from the foul line. He garnered 90 of a possible 101 first-place votes in ESPN's MVP straw poll last month, and is the heavy favorite to win the award.

Embiid had the best season of his career, averaging 28.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.4 blocks per game for the Sixers, leading them to the best record in the Eastern Conference.

Curry, 33, became the oldest player to lead the league in scoring since Michael Jordan, averaging 32 points per game as he bounced back from missing all but five games last year to play 63 this season. He led Golden State into the play-in tournament, where the Warriors will go up against the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference's eighth-place play-in game Friday night on ESPN after losing a heartbreaker to the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center on Wednesday.

Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, winner of two Defensive Player of the Year awards, is a finalist to win a third this season, joined by Sixers guard Ben Simmons and Warriors forward Draymond Green, the 2017 winner of the award.

A trio of guards -- LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets, Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Tyrese Haliburton of the Sacramento Kings -- topped the voting for Rookie of the Year, while two of Gobert's Jazz teammates -- forward Joe Ingles and guard Jordan Clarkson -- were named finalists for Sixth Man alongside New York Knicks guard Derrick Rose.

The honors for the Knicks didn't stop there.

Rose's teammate, forward Julius Randle, is one of three finalists for Most Improved Player, joined by Detroit Pistons forward Jerami Grant and Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr.

Randle's coach, Tom Thibodeau -- who won Coach of the Year in 2011 -- has a chance to win it a decade later. Thibodeau, Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams and Jazz coach Quin Snyder are the finalists for that award.

The NBA is reverting to its longtime tradition this year and announcing the various award winners during the playoffs, as opposed to the recently created end-of-season awards show. The league did the same thing during its bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, last year.

[Birdman]

MVP - Nikola Jokic
ROTY- LaMelo Ball
DPOTY- Ben Simmons (I suspect there's going to be some 76ers animosity around here that keeps more folks from picking him .)
MIP- Julius Randle
6MOTY- Jordan Clarkson
COTY-  Thibs

I agree with all except maybe Ball as ROY..  he was out awhile & Edwards been playing good, so I may pick Edwards