The second week of our 2014-15 NBA Season Preview attempted to cover some of the league's most interesting Shooting Guards, at a position that might be as healthy and stocked with talent as it's been at any point in recent league history. Over the course of the week, we covered players in various stages of development and different team contexts; from my piece on Bradley Beal from Monday, Chris's DeMar DeRozan discussion on Tuesday, Lance Stephenson's new situation in Charlotte Wednesday, Kobe Bryant's legend on Thursday, and Chris's Friday feature on Klay Thompson and his dramatic summer.
Chris and I explained our selection process a bit in this weeks' podcast, Episode 40, and addressed some of the players that didn't quite make our cut. As with last week, we wanted to begin establishing some predictions for the major end-of-year awards, but ones that tied into our Shooting Guard Week discussions. The Sixth Man of the Year Award, along with the Most Improved trophy, are largely dominated by guards over the last few years, so we'll cover those awards here and save the Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year Awards for next week and our Big Man Week. The discussion began on the podcast but we've narrowed down our predictions a bit, by further categorizing these awards.
Compared to the other, major NBA awards, the Sixth Man of the Year and Most Improved distinctions are pretty dependent upon context and situation. Injuries, minutes, and shot attempts play a huge role in which players become favorites and receive the narrative bumps, as well as team win totals and preseason prejudices that impact every award. Chris and I have tried to differentiate between the candidates, from players still on rookie contracts to NBA veterans in new environments, to make this process a bit less nebulous and maybe more structured.
Chris’s Ballot for 2015 Sixth Man of the Year:
- Jamal Crawford
- Ryan Anderson
- Isaiah Thomas
- Draymond Green
- Tim Hardaway
- Isaiah Canaan
- Lou Williams
- Vince Carter
- KCP (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope)
- Nick Young
Chris’s Players Who May Start Too Many Games to Qualify for 6MOY:
- Reggie Jackson
- Markieff Morris
- Taj Gibson
- Tyreke Evans
- Greg Monroe (or will he?)
- Draymond Green (Yes, I put him on both lists)
- Terrance Ross
- JR Smith
- Dion Waiters
- Donatas Montiejunas
Paul’s Ballot for 2015 Sixth Man of the Year:
- Reggie Jackson
- Markieff Morris
- Jamal Crawford
- Isaiah Thomas
- Harrison Barnes
- Lou Williams
- Spencer Hawes
- Thomas Robinson
- Draymond Green
- Glen Rice Jr.
Paul's Players Who Could Win But Might Start Too Many Games:
- Taj Gibson
- Vince Carter
- Tim Hardaway
- Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
- Patrick Patterson
- Kris Humphries
- Donatas Montiejunas
- Isaiah Canaan
- Jodie Meeks
- Ersan Ilyasova
Chris’s Most Improved Players:
NBA Vets with Increased Role/More Visibility:
- Arron Afflalo
- Rodney Stuckey
- Quincy Pondexter
- Jeff Teague
- Jeremy Lin
- James Johnson
- Gordon Hayward
- George Hill
- Markieff Morris
- Thaddeus Young
Rookie-Contract MIP’s (or... ‘of course they improved, they’re under 23’)
- Kawhi Leonard
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Rudy Gobert
- Anthony Bennett
- Jared Sullinger
- Steven Adams
- Jonas Valanciunas
- C. J. McCollum
- Tony Snell
- Alec Burks
Paul’s Most Improved Players:
NBA Vets Who Can Make THE LEAP:
- Ty Lawson
- Lance Stephenson
- Chandler Parsons
- Gordon Hayward
- Derrick Favors
Rookie-Contract MIP’s:
- Ricky Rubio
- Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
- Harrison Barnes
- Mirza Teletovic
- Anthony Bennett
- Moe Harkless
- Alec Burks
- Gorgui Dieng
- Rudy Gobert
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
NBA Vets With Increased Roles:
- Jeremy Lin
- Channing Frye
- Marvin Williams
- Devin Harris
- C.J. Miles
- Evan Turner
- Alexey Shved
- Jose Calderon
- Josh McRoberts
- George Hill
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