Who should win the NBA year defensive award?
Players, coaches and teams present their best arguments The defensive player of the year, rookie of the year and coach of the year, among others.
The last 10 days of the regular season of the NBA They are full of battles for positioning in the playoffs and the lottery. But this section of the calendar is also the time for another basic end of the season: the pressure to obtain awards.
Players, coaches and teams are presenting their best arguments for the highest individual honors of the League: Most valuable player, defensive player of the year, rookie of the year and coach of the year, inter alia.
On Wednesday we cover the race for the MVPwhen we reveal the third and last informal survey of the 2024-25 season, in which the base of Oklahoma City Thunder, Shai Gilgeous-Alexandermaintained its advantage over the pivot of the Denver Nuggets, Nikola Jokicso it would be his first MVP. Jokic, meanwhile, hopes to get his room in five years, something that only LeBron James and Bill Russell They have achieved. And what about the other three awards? Everyone is still open, with several viable contenders. And, in our weekly tour of the association, we thoroughly analyze the status of each contest and what sources of the League say about who should take the prize.
Who should win the award for the defensive player of the year?
Bontemps: This was supposed to be the first of many awards to the defensive player of the year to Victor Wembanyamaof the San Antonio Spurs, who was second last year, behind his French compatriot Rudy Gobert. But when Wembanyama’s season was interrupted in February after being diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis in the shoulder, the race vanished.
Now, there are several players who could rise with the prize, including Ev Mobley pivots, from the Cleveland Cavaliers; Jaren Jackson Jr., of the Memphis Grizzlies; and Draymond Greenof the Golden State Warriors; as well as the perimeter players Dyson Daniels, of the Atlanta Hawks; and Luguentz Dort, of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Windhorsst: For Mobley and Jackson, winning the prize could also have a financial component. If any of them wins the award to the defensive player of the year or enters an All-NBA team, he may opt for a considerable increase.
This would cause Mobley’s rookie contract to shoot at tens of millions, and Jackson would be eligible for the Supermax, which, in turn, would facilitate the Grizzlies to sign a long -term contract extension this summer. Jackson can currently become a free agent in 2026. By transferring Marcus Smart, Memphis also created more flexibility in the salary limit to potentially renegotiate and extend Jackson’s contract this summer if he does not qualify for the Supermax.
Leaving the money aside, both are legitimate candidates. Jackson, who won the award in 2023, is possibly having the best season of his career, while Mobley, no doubt, made the biggest jump of his four years of career. “When we play against Cleveland, our main priority is to get Mobley out of painting because it gives us many problems,” said a general manager of the East Conference. “It’s a crack.”
“Evan’s impact is immeasurable,” said another executive. “It is a key engine for the entire defense. That is the definition of a defensive MVP.”
Bontemps: Green, the 2017 winner, has seen her candidacy in recent weeks thanks, in part, to the vertiginous ascent of Golden State in the classification. (It is also positive that Green is always willing to amplify his own candidacy in his podcast and in other media).
Daniels, on the other hand, has been a revelation after arriving from the New Orleans Pelicans in the transfer of Dejunte Murray last summer. It is on its way to getting the greatest amount of robberies per game from John Stockton in the 1988-89 season, and its ability to hunt pass lines and wreak havoc has caused rival teams to make sure they have it in their game plans.
“If you have someone who has the ball in their hands, you want him to move away from (Daniels),” said an assistant coach of the east. Playing defensive in the NBA is very difficult. Being able to defend, without being able to control the rivals, is impressive.
Windhorst: And then there is Dort, the goalkeeper of the Thunder who assumes the most difficult tasks in the perimeter for which he has been, by far, the best defensive team of the league (the 105.9 of OKC’s defensive assessment is the best since the bucks of 2019-20) and one of the best in the history of the NBA compared to its competitors. And much of that success is correlated directly with Dort’s ability to put in trouble to the top scorer of the opposite team every night.
“Dort is like a cornerback that closes the game,” said a veteran scout. “For example, when Deion Sanders played, he didn’t have great statistics because he took out the rivals from the game. Dort can get the top scorers from his game.”
“I am not sure that Lu is recognized in the street by the average fan outside Oklahoma,” said another scout. “But believe me, I’ve seen him get into the head of some all-stars.”
Who should win the rookie of the year?
Windhorst: This has not been an exciting class (until now), and this award will probably not be a coronation. That said, it is a real competition. When talking with coaches, waves and executives, it seems that, in his opinion, it is an election between two men: the base Stephon Castle, the fourth election last year by the San Antonio Spurs, and the forward Zaccharie Risacher, the first choice of the Hawks.
Castle has been the favorite in the bets, especially with the additional play time that has been granted after the titular base De’aaron fox The left pinky was injured. He has registered good statistics: 17.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game from the recess of the stars game, although their shooting percentages have dropped, especially from the three -point line. “This feels like (2014), when Michael Carter-Williams won the rookie award of the year and people leaning for the player with the highest statistics,” said a scout. “Castle has had impressive moments and also has the best statistics.”
Bontemps: Castle had an impressive All-Star weekend, receiving the most valuable player of the rising stars, followed by a second place in the Mate contest. That helps him and, as Brian pointed out, he has taken advantage of Fox and Wembanyama during the season, having the ball in his hands regularly and achieving large numbers. Risacher, meanwhile, has made a discreet leap with Hawks in recent months.
Their numbers of the season (12.4 points with 44.9% success in field shots and 34.5% in triples) are not overwhelming. (Its average score would be the lowest fourth for a rookie of the year in the era of the possession clock). But when analyzing Risacher’s performance since January 1, these figures are reduced to 13.7 points with 48.8% of success in field shots and 39.2% in triples, all playing competitive minutes for a team that struggles to qualify for the playoffs.
“Risacher has contributed to a team that will reach the postseason,” said an executive. “I should receive recognition for that.”
Windhorst: The pivot of the Washington Wizards, Alex Sarr, and the pivot of the Miami Heat, Kel’el Ware, also received praise of scouts, executives and general managers I talked to. Another mentioned player, but will not be a true contender for the award, is Jamal Shead, selected in the second round of the Raptors. “He will not be in the conversation for rookie or defensive player of the year, but they are going to write about either, they should mention Shead de Toronto,” said a scout. “He is a defender with the suffocating ball. He can’t throw a lot, but this guy moves his feet like crazy.”
Bontemps: As with the defensive player of the year, this award would probably have won months ago if the base of the Philadelphia 76ers, Jared McCain, would not have suffered a meniscus break that ended the season in December, after averaging 15.3 points per game and 38.3% in three shots (another reminder of how bad the Philadelphia season has been).
An assistant coach also told me that if the base of the Houston Rockets, Reed Sheppard, would have been drafted by any other team, would be a strong prize candidate. But thanks to its elite depth, Sheppard has only appeared in 47 NBA games, with multiple stages in the G League. The assistant mentioned the 25 -point SHEPPARD match against Oklahoma City a few weeks ago as proof of what the third team of the Draft is capable.
Who should win the award to the coach of the year?
Bontemps: Each season, there are at least five or six coaches that deserve this award. And it seems that we have traveled a similar path this year. The fact that one of the main candidates (Kenny Atkinson, coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers) replaced another (JB BickerStaff, coach of the Detroit Pistons) last summer last summer only increases the intrigue around this contest.
Windhorst: Atkinson has supervised the impressive season of the cavs, taking them to an advantage from beginning to end at the top of the Eastern Conference. As a result, it has been the favorite for this honor for months. But within the League itself, there is undoubtedly a great fondness for BickerStaff, since the Pistons have experienced an incredible transformation, going from a 14 -win season to ensure a position among the top 6 in the playoffs.
“That is, how do you not give it to JB?” Said a general manager. That team lost 28 games in a row last year … They did a good job with the template and CADE (Cunningham) made a qualitative leap, but JB deserves a lot of credit.
However, Atkinson has raised Cleveland to another level, giving the Cavaliers a much greater potential than anyone believed possible before the season.
“Kenny has taken great years of practically all the players from his staff,” said a coach. “He has maximized that template with his strategy and his system. That is the definition of a great coach.”
Bontemps: At the same time, it gives the chance that there is another player, the coach of Thunder, Mark Daigneault, who saw his team improve 64-12 with a victory over BickerStaff and the Pistons in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night, six games from the end to become the third team in the NBA history to win 70 games. (Phil Jackson and Steve Kerr won the prize when the 1995-96 bulls and the 2015-16 Warriors, respectively, exceeded the barrier of the 70 victories).
“How does no one consider giving it to Mark Daigneault?” Asked a team president. “They will win 69 or 70 games.”
