NBA Yearly Awards Predictions

In case you missed my team by team breakdown, you can click here, and in case you missed my playoffs predictions, go ahead and click here.

Anyways, here are my predictions for the yearly awards:

All-NBA First Team

G – Chris Paul – He’s the most important player on one of the best teams and will have a chance to average somewhere in the neighborhood of 23 points and 12 assists.

G – Stephen Curry – People are noticing him now. And that’s the most important part of this team. I think he can stay healthy and play 70+ games during the regular season. His 3 point percentage will be very high and he’ll score a lot.

F – LeBron James – This is easy for me, you, and everyone else involved with this decision. He’s going to put up a near-triple-double again this year.

F – Kevin Durant – He’s going to score a lot and be the best player on one of the most important teams. Also, with Westbrook out for the start of the year and no more Kevin Martin, his scoring is going to need to go up for this team to win.

C – Dwight Howard – He’ll get a ton of rebounds and score somewhere in the high-teens. I think this is an automatic selection if he’s the rebounding leader and the Rockets finish in the top-half of the west.

All-NBA Second Team

G – Kyrie Irving – Again, I think Kyrie will become a tier-1 point guard this year and this is where tier-1 point guards belong.

G – Derrick Rose – He’s the closer on the team with a good chance to win the most games in the NBA.

F – Carmelo Anthony – He’ll score a lot again this year and with the Knicks being good again, hard to keep him away from this spot.

F – James Harden – Yes, I know, he’s a guard, but I think people will call him a SF just to fit him in on the second team.

C – Marc Gasol – He’s going to be a very big part of the Grizzlies offense and defense. Plus, centers are a bit thin.

All-NBA Third Team

G – Russell Westbrook – He’ll miss the first couple of weeks and will probably shoot a somewhat low percentage so I think he ends up here.

G – Tony Parker – The Spurs rely on him big time but they’re too much of a good team overall for him to get any higher on this list.

F – Blake Griffin – I think he scores a bit less this year but will still put up some pretty nice numbers.

F – Josh Smith – Got to give it to him for being the best player on a team that I think will turn it around and go to the playoffs.

C – Brook Lopez – He’ll put up good numbers but nothing too spectacular since the Nets have a lot of options on offense.

All-NBA Honorable Mention

Hibbert, D-Wade, Bosh, D-Will, Klay Thompson, David West, Paul George, Al Horford, Kemba Walker (seriously), Duncan, Chandler Parsons, Dirk, Monta Ellis, Zach Randolph, Mike Conley, Kevin Love, Pau Gasol, Damian Lillard, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Anthony Davis.

All-NBA Rookie Team

(Note: this is more of a selection on who will have the most opportunities to play a lot of minutes and not who’s the best player.)

G – Michael Carter-Williams – Yes, I know, this is a bit of a hindsight selection. However, he was always going to start and play a lot for this team. I always had him as an All-Rookie Team player but now I’m thinking of his as rookie of the year material.

G – Trey Burke – He’ll be the starter for the Jazz and that’s all you need to know.

F - Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – KCP is a guard but like Harden will be put here to make him fit. He’ll score a lot and get enough chances to play for the Pistons.

F – Kelly Olynyk – Because who else is Boston going to play...no, but seriously, who?

C – Cody Zeller – I think he’ll get a lot of chances to play next to Al Jefferson, who’ll be the main focus of the defense.

Yearly Awards

MVP – LeBron James – It’s too hard not to select LeBron here. However, I think he is vulnerable to four players taking this from him if they put up crazy numbers: Chris Paul if he leads the league in assists and steals and scores over 24 points per game; Stephen Curry if he averages over 30 points per game while shooting 50%+ from three and 60+ FG % while leading GSW to a first place finish in the west; Kevin Durant or Melo if one of them averages 37+ points.

Rookie of the Year – Trey Burke – It was hard not to choose MCW here…but I think when Burke comes back, he’ll be given a lot of freedom to perform. Also, I just believe he’s a better player than MCW.

Coach of the Year – Mark Jackson – The media loves him and his team has a chance to win the west in the regular season.

Comeback Player of the Year – Derrick Rose – This one is easy.

Defensive Player of the Year – Chris Paul – He gets a lot of attention and gets a lot of steals. Plus, the new coaches in L.A. will help him become an even better defensive player.