My official NBA awards ballot in the year of Giannis

My official NBA awards ballot in the year of Giannis

My official NBA awards ballot in the year of Giannis
NBA

My official NBA awards ballot in the year of Giannis

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Did you see that block Giannis Antetokounmpo had the other night? You know the one I’m talking about, when he snuffed Joel Embiid at the rim and started a Milwaukee fast break in the other direction. Actually that generic description doesn’t really do that block justice, so let’s rewind.

That’s Joel Embiid, all 7-feet and 250 pounds (plus) of him, rolling to the basket with a clear lane and an easy jam. And there’s Antetokounmpo, standing all the way across the paint. It takes him one step and a hop to cover that ground, and when he does, he’s ready to meet Embiid before he even gets to the paint.

Embiid sees Antetokounmpo coming and adds a little extra to his launch, but it’s already too late. Embiid goes high, but his opponent goes higher. Embiid brings down the hammer, but Antetokounmpo is too strong. He redirects the ball so that it glances harmlessly against the rim where it drops into his hands. As Embiid grabs his back in a heap on the floor, Antetokounmpo is off racing down the other end of the floor.

Antetokounmpo had four more blocks that night, all of them impressive. He had 45 points and 13 rebounds too. And six assists. And was a plus-9 in 35 minutes in a game the Buckswon by six on the road to clinch the best record in basketball. As closing MVP statements go, it was a hell of a finish.

All season long we’ve had moments and games like this. Antetokounmpo plays out of his mind one night and James Harden does him one better the next. Each night you think, well, there’s your MVP right there. And then the other one does something even better and your mind changes again.

Because he’s a scorer, Harden’s moments feel iconic. His shots literally win games down the stretch. Antetokounmpo’s moments are more sublime. A chase-down block here or a staggering Euro-step dunk in transition over there.

His moments are the reason his team wins games, but the Bucks don’t just win games. They blow teams out. A lot of Antetokounmpo’s best moments happen earlier in games mainly because his presence isn’t necessary down the stretch. The Bucks do their work and sit back and watch garbage time with their friends. They make it look easy when it’s not.

Harden’s Rockets have had to scratch and claw their way out of a hole since November, weathering injuries and the rugged Western Conference. It’s hard winning games that way and they’ve done it as well as anyone over the second half of the season because Harden is an offensive machine.

Harden’s had the second-best scoring season in 50 years as Matt Moore pointed out. He was the MVP last season and he’s been even better this season. His step-back is unstoppable. His floater is lethal. His playmaking is essential. He lives at the free-throw line. He’s unguardable, basically. And his defense is better than it has been, particularly in the Rockets’ scheme.

I voted for Harden last season and would have no problem doing so again this season. Except for Antetokounmpo.

It’s not just that his Bucks have been the best team in the league. They’ve been the best team in the league by a significant margin and the primary reason for that is Antetokounmpo. He keys their top-ranked defense with his ability to cover ground and control the paint. Antetokounmpo is a completely different offensive player than Harden — apples and pomegranates — but he’s incredibly efficient.

Antetokounmpo put up 27.7 points points, 12.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists while shooting 58 percent from the field. You have to go back to Kareem, Wilt, Elgin, and Oscar to find players who put up those kind of stat lines, and none of them shot 58 percent.

Harden’s scoring broke basketball. Antetokounmpo is dominance personified on both ends of the floor. They are both historic players and completely deserving of the MVP, which is a subjective award and ultimately up to the individual whim of the voter. So I keep coming back to this: Antetokounmpo made his team the best in the league because of his dominant two-way performance.

The rest of MVP ballot is fluid. For most of the season I’ve had Paul George penciled in third place. His late season slide caused me to reassess, but I’m sticking with him in that spot because of how great he was over the first five months.

I have Steph Curry fourth because we shouldn’t take him or the Warriors for granted just because we can. Fifth place could go in a number of different directions. I settled on Nikola Jokic just barely ahead of Embiid and Damian Lillard.

MVP
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee

James Harden, Houston

Paul George, Oklahoma City

Steph Curry, Golden State

Nikola Jokic, Denver

ALL-NBA
Why, yes, I do have LeBron James as a third-team forward even though his 55 games played gives me pause, as does the Laker second half collapse. The argument for James is straightforward: 28-8-8. Also, he’s freaking LeBron. Come on.

The center spots were the toughest to pick. As with the MVP vote, I have Jokic barely over Embiid. The third-team center spot is brutal, but I’m going to reward winning and pick Rudy Gobert. Karl Anthony-Towns is one of the 15 best players in the league and even though I could make him a forward, we all know that he’s not.

I’m fully aware that voting, or not voting, for Kemba Walker and Bradley Beal impacts their chances at getting supermax contracts in the offseason. I don’t like it, and I wish the NBA would separate contractual matters from media voting. I can also say with confidence that neither situation influenced my vote.

In the end, I slotted Russell Westbrook into the third team and voted for Walker ahead of Beal. May they both find themselves in better situations than what they had this year. If you want to know if I considered somebody not mentioned below, the answer is yes. Of course I did.

First Team
Guards: James Harden, Steph Curry

Forwards: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Paul George

Center: Nikola JokicSecond Team
Guards: Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving

Forwards: Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard

Center: Joel Embiid

Third Team
Guards: Russell Westbrook, Kemba Walker

Forwards: LeBron James, Blake Griffin

Center: Rudy Gobert

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Giannis Antetokounmpo
Over the weekend I constructed arguments in my head for the following players: Gobert, Antetokounmpo, and Paul George. I would have made one for Embiid as well, but he’s played fewer games than the others and that has to matter.

PG spent most of the season atop my unofficial DPOY list, but his late-season slide caused me to reassess the field. George is a steals and deflection machine, whose strong on/off splits highlight his importance on one of the top defensive teams in the league.

Gobert is Gobert. He’s a defensive system just by taking the floor and he makes everyone around him better. Look at the defensive metrics of players like Derrick Favors and Joe Ingles, fine defenders who look like Ben Wallace and Sidney Moncrief next to Gobert.