Our NBA award votes
By Dan Feldman
We voted for the TrueHoop Network Awards, and here are our complete ballots.
Most Valuable Player
Dan Feldman
1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Chris Paul
4. Dwight Howard
5. Kevin Love
Patrick Hayes
1. LeBron James
2. Chris Paul
3. Kevin Durant
4. Tony Parker
5. Russell Westbrook
This award is basically LeBron James and everyone else. The only other player I seriously considered in my top five was Love. I probably went with Westbrook because of this.
Defensive Player of the Year
Dan Feldman
1. Tyson Chandler
2. Dwight Howard
3. Kevin Garnett
Patrick Hayes
1. LeBron James
2. Tyson Chandler
3. Andre Iguodala
I’m tired of the bias against perimeter players in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. I’m fine with Tyson Chandler winning, but LeBron James is the most impactful non-Dwight Howard defender in the league. He’s always in passing lanes, he can block shots and he can lockdown any of the three perimeter positions. Plus, he could probably guard most power forwards in the league effectively.
Rookie of the Year
Dan Feldman
1. Kyrie Irving
2. Ricky Rubio
3. Kenneth Faried
Patrick Hayes
1. Kyrie Irving
2. Ricky Rubio
3. Isaiah Thomas
Choosing who to pick third between Manimal and Thomas was one of the tougher choices on my ballot. Ultimately, I picked Thomas not only because he was very productive, but because of his draft position (last player picked) and the fact that the Kings’ backcourt is loaded with players with better pedigrees — Tyreke Evans, Jimmer Fredette, Marcus Thornton — in front of him, his path to earning minutes as a rookie was harder. He not only earned minutes, he was better than all those guys in front of him.
Sixth Man of the Year
Dan Feldman
1. James Harden
2. Jason Terry
3. Taj Gibson
Patrick Hayes
1. James Harden
2. Lou Williams
3. Thad Young
Seriously, there was no competition for this one. Harden was by far the best non-starter in the league. As for my other picks? Williams and Young were both integral parts in Philly’s surprising start to the season. I had a hard time picking just one of them, so I picked them both. I could easily flip-flop them between second and third though. I could argue Taj Gibson in that mix though too.
Most Improved Player
Dan Feldman
1. Jeremy Lin
2. Nikola Pekovic
3. Ersan Ilyasova
Patrick Hayes
1. James Harden
2. Nikola Pekovic
3. DeMarcus Cousins
Harden went from nice scorer off the bench to a legit ‘third’ for an Oklahoma City big three. Pekovic made the Darko Milicic signing easier to forget. I normally wouldn’t pick a player like Cousins, who should’ve improved anyway from year one to year two, but after Paul Westphal was fired, not only did Cousins production improve immensely, so did his demeanor. He also came into this season in much better shape. So he gets a Most Improved vote for his on and off court improvement.
Coach of the Year
Dan Feldman
1. Gregg Popovich
2. Tom Thibodeau
3. Frank Vogel
Patrick Hayes
1. Ty Corbin
2. Gregg Popovich
3. Tom Thibodeau
Corbin was my choice simply because so little was expected out of the Jazz this season. For them to get to the playoffs is pretty impressive, although since it appears a good percentage of his team might hate him, I might reconsider that vote in hindsight. Popovich is the best in the world and Thibodeau held together a team that dealt with catastrophic injuries. Either are worthy candidates.
Executive of the Year
Dan Feldman
1. Neil Olshey
2. Larry Bird
3. R.C. Buford
Everyone says teams don’t get equal returns when trading a superstar. Olshey took advantage of that.
Patrick Hayes
1. Neil Olshey
2. Masai Ujiri
3. R.C. Buford
You get one of the four or five legit franchise players in he league, you get this award. Olshey did so he does. Ujiri put together an insanely fun team, got out of Nene’s contract before injuries/age could make the return on it less, picked up Andre Miller for the gigantic Ray Felton and drafted one of the most productive players in the draft in Kenneth Faried. Buford always gets a spot in this top three by default.
Sportsmanship Award
Dan Feldman
1. Shane Battier
2. Jeremy Lin
3. Antawn Jamison
4. Luke Ridnour
5. Chris Paul
6. Jason Kidd
Maybe I’m biased and voted for the Michigander, but Battier seems like the type of guy who would never do this to someone.
Patrick Hayes
1. Jeremy Lin
2. Antawn Jamison
3. Luke Ridnour
4. Shane Battier
5. Chris Paul
6. Jason Kidd
Lin dealt with distractions that I can’t even fathom this season, and handled everything remarkably well.
Citizenship Award
Dan Feldman
1. LeBron James
LeBron and Dwyane Wade’s effort to raise awareness to Trayvon Martin’s death was commendable.
Patrick Hayes
1. LeBron James
What Feldman said.
All-NBA
Dan Feldman
First team
- G: Chris Paul
- G: Dwyane Wade
- F: LeBron James
- F: Kevin Durant
- C: Dwight Howard
Second team
- G: Tony Parker
- G: Russell Westbrook
- F: Kevin Love
- F: Blake Griffin
- C: Andrew Bynum
Third team
- G: Kobe Bryant
- G: Rajon Rondo
- F: Dirk Nowitzki
- F: Kevin Garnett
- C: Tyson Chandler
Slotting Griffin, Nowitzki, Garnett and a few other forwards was tough. All were very good, but none great.
Patrick Hayes
First team
- G: Chris Paul
- G: Tony Parker
- F: LeBron James
- F: Kevin Durant
- C: Dwight Howard
Second team
- G: Dwyane Wade
- G: Russell Westbrook
- F: Kevin Love
- F: Dirk Nowitzki
- C: Andrew Bynum
Third team
- G: Steve Nash
- G: Rajon Rondo
- F: LaMarcus Aldridge
- F: Kevin Garnett
- C: Tyson Chandler
Yeah, I left Kobe off. Sue me. Sorry, but I found Nash nearly dragging Phoenix to the playoffs more impressive than Kobe shooting almost the same number of shots per game as the two most efficient scorers on his team combined.
All-Defensive
Dan Feldman
First team
- Tyson Chandler
- Dwight Howard
- Kevin Garnett
- LeBron James
- Andre Iguodala
Second team
- Tony Allen
- Dwyane Wade
- Avery Bradley
- Josh Smith
- Joakim Noah
Shawn Marion just missed my cut, and on a different day, he would’ve made the second team.
Patrick Hayes
First team
- Tyson Chandler
- Dwight Howard
- Kevin Garnett
- LeBron James
- Andre Iguodala
Second team
- Tony Allen
- Luol Deng
- Rajon Rondo
- Chris Paul
- Josh Smith
Putting Allen and Rondo on the second team rather than the first was the hardest thing I had to do in these awards. There’s actually a large number of really good defensive players in the league right now. You could probably make a case for four guys off the the Bulls alone to make it.
All-Rookie
Dan Feldman
First team
- Kyrie Irving
- Ricky Rubio
- Kenneth Faried
- Kawhi Leonard
- Isaiah Thomas
Second team
- Iman Shumpert
- Klay Thompson
- Chandler Parsons
- MarShon Brooks
- Gustavo Ayon
I could’ve gone either way on Brooks and Brandon Knight, but right now, I wish I would’ve voted for Knight.
Patrick Hayes
First team
- Kyrie Irving
- Ricky Rubio
- Kenneth Faried
- Kawhi Leonard
- Isaiah Thomas
Second team
- Iman Shumpert
- Brandon Knight
- Chandler Parsons
- MarShon Brooks
- Klay Thompson
I agree with Dan. He should’ve voted for Knight.