NBA Awards a Real Life vs Showdown Comparison

 In this post I am going to look at the award winner for each award, and compare it to who my point system would favor, for some like clutch player, I don't have a comparison, but for MVP, DPOY, Rookie of the Year, 6th man, Most Improved and the All NBA/All Defensive teams, it should be a fun thing to look at. For them to win in showdown terms, they must meet all the qualifications they would need in real life to receive a vote.

NBA Most Improved Player: The award for the player that is deemed to have improved the most from the previous season.
NBA Winner : Tyrese Maxey
NBA Showdown Says: Isaiah Hartenstein
 In NBA Showdown card terms, I look at what their 2023 card was point wise and what their 2024 card is point wise and who had the greatest leap. That was Jalen Johnson of the Atlanta Hawks. Going from a 130 point card to a 850 point card, but he didn't play the 65 games to qualify. While Tyrese Maxey isn't a bad choice by no means, his role went from 3rd option to second, while also being the 1st option while Embiid was out with an injury, he went from a 790 point card to a 1010 point card. Biggest change in point difference was Isaiah Harternstein going from a 220 point card to a 670 point card. For those looking for a more impactful player, Coby White went from a 430 point card to a 750 point card. But Isaiah was huge for the Knicks who lost Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson to injury this season, he filled in and stepped up to help the Knicks claim the 2nd best record in the Eastern Conference.

NBA 6th Man of the Year: To Qualify for the 6th man award, a player must come of the bench in more games than he starts. NBA Winner : Naz Reid NBA Showdown Says: Caris LeVert, Hard to argue against the bench player extraordinaire in Naz Reid who had a tremendous season. In showdown terms, Caris Levert would take the award, he only started 10 of his 68 games and has a very similar chart, with better offensive efficiency. As a Cavs fan it is funny, because LeVert is anything but consistent. In real life this came down to Reid vs Malik Monk and Bobby Portis finishing third in voting, and in showdown terms Monk would have taken the award, but hard to argue with the team success that the Timberwolves had this season. For those curious LeVert didn't receive any votes. 

NBA Clutch Player of the Year: NBA Winner : Stephen Curry NBA Showdown Says: We have no opinion here to measure against. Demar Derozan finished second in voting.

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NBA Coach of the Year: NBA Winner : Mark Daigneault (OKC Thunder) NBA Showdown Says: We can't compare much but the Oklahoma City Thunder had the best record in the Western Conference this season and with a 5440 point salary, which is 13th of total team salaries. OKC doesn't finish in the top 5 for salaries for top 3 players, top 5 players or top 6 players so I would say that is a hell of a coaching job.

NBA Executive of the Year: NBA Winner : Brad Stevens (Boston Celtics) NBA Showdown Says: We can't compare much, but adding Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday to the team sure made an impact and Celtics finished with a 65 win season. Over last years rosters they improved by 320 points and have the 3rd most expensive roster. I am willing to bet if you only take their top 5 players they have the best 5, 4430 points. Heat is the total highest salary, and their best 5 is only 4220, and the knicks are second highest salary and best 5 comes in at 4100. Just after looking at those I will say Celtics best 5 ranks 3rd in the league. Great moves Brad.

NBA Hustle Award: The Hustle Award winner is determined by aggregating the "hustle" stats tracked at nba.com. (i.e., no voting panel.) NBA Winner : Alex Caruso NBA Showdown Says: Hard to argue against a floor leader like Alex Caruso we don't have stats to argue for or against, but a defensive hustler like him would be top of the list, and this strategy card that I made seems to fit Alex Caruso perfectly.

NBA Rookie of the Year: Award for the leagues best rookie, Doesn't have a 65 games played rule. NBA Winner : Victor Wembanyama NBA Showdown Says: My data agrees, Wemby showed he is on track to be the generational talent that many believed he was. I don't have any one to argue should have gotten it over him so, next to him is the card I made at the draft as a projection of what he may be this year. Talk about going above and beyond.

NBA Defensive Player of the Year: NBA Winner : Rudy Gobert NBA Showdown Says: Victor Wembanyama, While Rudy Gobert anchored the best defense in the league all season, his card generated a 13 defensive rating. Only 3 players finished with higher defenses and only 1 of those 3 played the qualified amount of games, and that is Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama and his 14 defense. I understand the argument of how can the DPOY be from one of the leagues worst teams, but if you look at his on/off splits of defensive rating the Spurs go from a 114 Defensive rating to a 119.8 Defensive rating, and their net rating goes from a -3.1 when he is on the floor to a -10 when he is off the floor. While Gobert on the court is a 108.8 and when he is off is a 110.8 Defensive rating. Two very talented Frenchmen on the defensive end, but which one actually made the bigger impact??

While these two did not qualify, they also impact the game greatly on the defensive end

NBA Most Valuable Player: NBA Winner : Nikola Jokic NBA Showdown Says: Luka Doncic, Luka had a magical year, and many other players in the NBA can say that this season too. Giannis Antetokounmpo became the first player in NBA HISTORY to average 30+ PPG and shoot over 60% from the field. Nikola Jokic scored the same amount of points, had higher rebounds and assists per game while also shooting a higher field goal percentage than his 2021 MVP Season. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder to the #1 seed as one of the youngest teams in the league, averaging 30 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.2 assists. Not that he would qualify but even Joel Embiid averaged higher numbers in points, rebounds and assists this season than last years MVP season. Finally Jayson Tatum, the dark horse, was the best player on the 65 win best team in the NBA. Nikola Jokic ended up winning his 3rd NBA MVP, and he now joins an ELITE list, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson and Moses Malone have all won 3 MVPS. Only Kareem, Jordan, LeBron and Bill Russell have more MVPS than the Joker. While Jokers card/chart is nothing to look down on, Luka has the 3rd highest point card of all time, behind Michael Jordans 1988 and 1989 cards, and tying the Jokers 2022 card.

ALL-NBA TEAMS

While the All NBA, All NBA Defense and All Rookie teams haven't been announced yet, I figured I would include who NBA Showdown says should be the teams, and I can look back at it once they are announced.

ALL Rookie First Team
1- Victor Wembanyama

2- Chet Holmgren

3- Amen Thompson

4- Jaime Jacquez Jr.

5- Brandon Miller

All Rookie Second Team
1. Dereck Lively

2.Cam Whitmore

3. Brandin Podziemski

4. Ausar Thompson

5. Trayce Jackson-Davis

10 Rookies with over 400 point cards is a really good sign for the rookie class. Guys like Scoot Henderson and Keyonte George just miss out on the team, but I would look for some nice second year jumps out of those two. NBA ALL DEFENSIVE TEAMS I will say this prior to unveiling the best defenders, 65 Game minimum is counted, and the defensive ratings, while they are now weighted to be even among all positions, centers do still find their ways to the top of these lists. They are also now position less award voting First Team All Defense 1. Victor Wembanyama

2. Rudy Gobert

3. Jusuf Nurkic

4. Isaiah Hartenstein

5. Matisse Thybulle

I think realistically only 2 of these 5 make either of the all defense teams. Thybulle is on a really bad team, and is always overlooked as a great wing defender. Nurkic is a great anchor and rebounder which I think drives up his defensive rating, but isn't a one on one defender or rim protector as a shot blocker. Second Team All Defense 1. Anthony Davis

2. Derrick White

3. Shai Gilegeous-Alexander

4. Alex Caruso

5. Jalen Suggs

There are a ton of 12 defensive players, so I took the liberty of picking the 5 best in my eyes at making the team. I think all 5 of these guys are a lock to end up on an all defensive team. a few other 12 defensive honorable mentions since there isn't a third team, Josh Hart, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Herb Jones. Any of them I could see stealing a spot from the two or three guys on NBA first team that I don't believe will make it, but I will give Hartenstein an outside chance at making 2nd team. 

Now the moment we've all been waiting for, ALL NBA TEAMS, this is super simple, I am sorting by points cost, and if you played 65 games or more, you made it. Now I don't believe this is the correct order, although i think first team might be right or at least 4/5 correct, I bet at least 12-13 of these guys are the 15 that get selected

Third Team ALL-NBA
1. Kawhi Leonard (He Actually played enough games)

2. Jalen Brunson (might make 1st team)

3. Anthony Edwards(if it was just playoffs 1st team)

4. Kevin Durant

5. De'Aaron Fox

Second Team ALL-NBA
1. Anthony Davis

2. Jayson Tatum

3. Domantas Sabonis

4. Tyrese Haliburton

5. Devin Booker

First Team ALL-NBA
1. Luka Doncic

2. Nikola Jokic

3. Giannis Antetokounmpo

4. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

5. LeBron James (Impressive if he makes 1st team, but I think he makes second team, and Brunson takes his spot)

Players that would have been top 15 but didn't play enough games include, Joel Embiid, Donovan Mitchell and Kyrie Irving. So this is my awards comparison post. It was a good time looking into each award, and category. One thing cards don't take into account is team success or the bias of the voters, so these are just straight data driven results.