The Raptors haven’t won many individual awards over the years. Will this season prove any different? I have a dark-horse candidate for consideration.
The NBA Awards season will shortly be upon us, even though the League has decided to announce all the winners on one night in June. There are two classes of awards, one for players:
- Most Valuable
- Defensive
- Rookie
- Sixth Man
- Most Improved
and the other for suits:
- Coach
- Executive
I’m going to consider if any Toronto Raptors player(s) is an award contender in this post, and then look at the suits on Thursday.
Most Valuable
We pass quickly over this one. Russell Westbrook’s successful quest for triple-double supremacy makes him the favourite. James Harden and Kawhi Leonard have been brilliant (and who can ignore another astonishing season from LeBron James?), but I think Russ has this one tucked away.
None of our guys is even in the conversation, I’m afraid.
Defensive
Measuring great defensive play is most difficult. I suspect the voters default to the gaudy stats, like blocked shots and defensive rebounds. In that sense, your front-runners are Utah’s Stifle Tower, Rudy Gobert, and Hassan Whiteside in Miami. Kawhi Leonard has won this award back to back, and is likely to be the victim of voter fatigue.
Perhaps next season Serge Ibaka (assuming he’s still around) might rediscover his shot-blocking prowess. Until then, we don’t have a dog in the hunt.
Rookie
The 76ers’ Joel Embiid had this one locked up until his latest injury. I can’t see the voters allowing someone who played a mere 31 games to take this trophy. Another Philly guy, Dario Saric, will get some support.
Our candidates are Fred VanVleet, Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam. The latter has been out of the rotation for some time. Poeltl has rewarded his coach’s confidence with respectable play, but he’s not flashy and his stats don’t jump out. Fred has shown why he’s in the big leagues, though I suggest he find a specialty (3-point shooting?) .
The consensus seems to favour Milwaukee’s combo guard Malcolm Brogdon, a choice I wouldn’t argue with. Other candidates include Boston’s Jaylen Brown and Denver’s Jamal Murray in a down year for rookies.
Bold prediction: I like a lot of the kids, despite their underwhelming numbers, and believe this class will look very strong in 3 years. That includes our guys.
Sixth Man
First of all, who’s the Raptors candidate? Patrick Patterson, I suppose, but he certainly hasn’t enjoyed a memorable season. Cory Joseph is usually the first guard off the bench. However, his respectable year is put in the shade by folks like Houston’s Eric Gordon and Lou Williams.
Our guys won’t get a vote – let’s move on.
Most Improved
Finally, we have a candidate – DeMar DeRozan.
I’m serious about this. Our shooting guard has blown past all expectations. His points and rebounds numbers are the highest of his career, while his secondary stats remain solid. In my eyes, he’s taken a big step forward as a defender.
DeMar has done all this after signing his megabucks contract, a time when many players seem content to tread water.
The trade press seems to think this award is Giannis Antetokounmpo’s to lose. I don’t expect DeMar to get many votes – but he should.
Who did I miss, Rapture Nation? Comments please.