Today is the final day of the 2015-16 NBA season, which has been historic on multiple levels. A lot of great performances on the court make this year's award season ripe with viable candidates. Today I will give you my picks for each award and my reasoning behind each choice. Do my picks match up with yours? Let me know in the comments below.
Most Valuable Player: Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
To me, this award is a foregone conclusion. I'm guessing there will be an official MVP voter that will be "that guy" and not vote for Curry, but quite frankly I think the only answer here is Curry. Curry has been the transcendent leader of one of the best teams in NBA history. This season he's been one of the best three-point shooters, one of the most efficient scorers, and one of the top pickpockets in the league. All of those attributes in addition to his leadership and his impact on opponent defensive schemes shows in the advanced statistics, as he leads the league in win shares (17.4), box score plus/minus (12.2), and value over a replacement player (9.5). It's Curry. The answer is Curry. Vote Curry.
Rookie: Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
I'll cop to not watching many Minnesota Timberwolves games, and two of them were TNT-televised matchups against Golden State. But, statistically, KAT leads all rookies in win shares (8.0) and is the only one averaging a double-double this year. So he's kind of a big deal. He's stretches the floor with his shooting range, but can still back a man down in the post, and was one of the top defensive rookies this year. Karl-Anthony is getting his career off to a great start with a smashing rookie year, and he deserves the hardware for his hard work.
Defensive Player: Paul Millsap, Atlanta Hawks
I went with the dark horse candidate for DPOY. Millsap leads the league in defensive win shares (6.0), and he does this on the second-most efficient defense in the league. While Kawhi Leonard is the more likely pick for this award, Millsap has a larger share of his team's defensive wins than Leonard. I'm sure there will be a handful of votes for Millsap, so his efforts won't go completely unrecognized, but I figured I'd also throw my hat in the ring.
Most Improved: C.J. McCollum, Portland Trail Blazers
When the Trail Blazers lost their four key starters over the summer, people reasonably thought that Portland would miss the playoffs this year as they picked up the pieces. The Trail Blazers themselves had other ideas. Not only did they make the playoffs, they clinched a seed in the middle of the Western Conference bracket. While this was a team and coach effort, one of the major reasons for this surprise season was the ascendance of C.J. McCollum. McCollum had a +4.1 win share increase from 2015 to 2016 as he stepped in as the team's second scoring option. Giannis Antetokounmpo is also an excellent candidate for this award. For me, however, Antetokounmpo's massive improvement is offset by the fact that the team around him regressed and will be sitting out this postseason and making it last year. McCollum filled the scoring vacuum and contributed to his team remaining afloat in the West. For that reason, he gets the award.
Sixth Man: Enes Kanter, Oklahoma City Thunder
I had a hard time choosing between Kanter or Ed Davis. Kanter contributes major scoring and rebounding off the bench, and his contributions helped the Thunder become the best non-Warrior/Spur team in the West. Meanwhile, Davis contributes on defensively, on the boards, and in the flow of the offense. Davis is part of the synergistic effort in Portland that kept the team from free-falling. But I went with Kanter because he has a much higher usage rate than Davis, meaning he's called upon more to do his job. Kanter's work also helped his team to a better record that Davis's, even if Ed is more versatile. It was a close call, but I went with Enes Kanter.
Coach: Steve Kerr, Golden State Warriors
The Warriors are 72-9. Enough said. Even though I wish that Luke Walton got official recognition for his interim wins, those victories are still an indictment of the culture that Kerr developed. His ethos was still present even when he was recovering from his surgery, and Walton and the Warriors were able to carry on until Steve returned (I suppose that's why they count those season-opening wins for Kerr). While it's expected that a coach will coach well during a title defense, this team is something that has not been witnessed before - statistically or schematically - in NBA history. There are a number of great coaches that could also get this award, and that's definitely a good sign about the state of coaching in this league. However, if you give me the decision, I'm going with Steve Kerr.
Executive: R.C. Buford, San Antonio Spurs
The 2014 Executive of the Year did it again. This time, he orchestrated the transition from the old Big Three (Duncan-Parker-Ginobili) to a new trio (Leonard-Aldridge-West). In the process, the team pulled off their winningest season. That's saying something for a team that has only missed the playoffs four times since joining the NBA and hasn't won less than 61% of their games since the year before they drafted Duncan. While Golden State made minor changes and simply developed the players they got, and other teams made big moves that garnered decent improvements, Buford scored some big-time signings that still managed to gel well with the Spurs Way. R.C.'s summer acquisitions, his midseason veteran additions of Andre Miller and Kevin Martin, and the emergence of Jonathan Simmons and Boban Marjanovic were all great moves. All of this shows that Buford is deserving of his second EOY trophy.
All-NBA Teams
There were plenty of top-flight players deserving of All-NBA nods this season. I went mostly by win shares, but also factored in if the team was in the playoffs, the teams's record, and if that team improved from the previous season. For that reason, James Harden and Jimmy Butler were left out because their teams underachieved. Klay Thompson and Damian Lillard were unfortunately left out because their team win share contributions were not as sizeable as the other guards on this list for their teams.
First Team
F - Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
F - LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
C - DeAndre Jordan, Los Angeles Clippers
G - Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
G - Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder
Second Team
F - Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder
F - Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors
C - Hassan Whiteside, Miami Heat
G - Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers
G - Kyle Lowry, Toronto Raptors
Third Team
F - LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio Spurs
F - Paul Millsap, Atlanta Hawks
C - Al Horford, Atlanta Hawks
G - Kemba Walker, Charlotte Hornets
G - Isaiah Thomas, Boston Celtics
All-Defensive Teams
For this list I looked at defensive win shares and gave nods to any starters at the top of the list. While the frontcourt was easy to do, the guards on the second team were a little surprise to me. I'm pretty sure there will be two different names in the spots for Danny Green and Bazemore when the awards are announced, but the advanced stats looked good enough for me.
First Team
F - Paul Millsap, Atlanta Hawks
F - Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
C - DeAndre Jordan, Los Angeles Clippers
G - Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder
G - Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
Second Team
F - Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors
F - LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio Spurs
C - Hassan Whiteside, Miami Heat
G - Danny Green, San Antonio Spurs
G - Kent Bazemore, Atlanta Hawks
All-Rookie Teams
The rookie teams were a little tricky for me at first, because it gets a little less obvious once you get past Towns and Porzingis. Jokic was a statistical beast, so I added him. D'Angelo Russell was atrocious in the advanced stats, but he was the only replacement level point guard this year (Mudiay and Okafor were below replacement level, but I'm sure they'll get better down the line). Everybody else were above-replacement-level players that I felt did well this season.
First Team
F - Kristaps Porzingis, New York Knicks
C - Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
C - Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
G - Justise Winslow, Miami Heat
G - D'Angelo Russell, Los Angeles Lakers
Second Team
F - Frank Kaminsky, Charlotte Hornets
F - Larry Nance, Jr., Los Angeles Lakers
C - Willie Cauley-Stein, Sacramento Kings
C - Boban Marjanovic, San Antonio Spurs
G - Josh Richardson, Miami Heat
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