NBA All-Star Break 2017 Superlatives
You try picking the NBA MVP this year. It ain't easy.
As the Association hits its annual All-Star break, we're taking a step back and surveying the league to determine who deserves to be blessed with some hardware—like Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Sixth Man of the Year, to name a few. And truth be told, handing out those awards is pretty easy.
But who deserves MVP honors? You can easily make the case for LeBron James, who is leading the top team in the Eastern Conference despite the Cavs racking up more surgeries than the Nets have wins. You can make the case for Russell Westbrook, who, you know, is only averaging a triple-double. No big deal. You can make the case for Westbrook's former boy Kevin Durant out in Golden State who has clearly been the Warriors' best player on the league's best team. You can make one for Mr. Fourth Quarter, the Celtics' Isaiah Thomas.
But at the (not really) halfway point of the season, we bestowed the prestigious honor on somebody else. He's a deft driver, a deadly shooter, and he's got one hell of a beard. As we enter the All-Star break, the Houston Rockets' dynamic point guard James Harden should be the 2016-17 NBA MVP. Now let us tell you why...
Illustrations by @adameast.
MVP — James Harden
James Harden is the MVP of the NBA...if the season ended today. If you somehow haven't been paying attention, Harden has been dominant for the Houston Rockets this year. He's averaging just under 30 points a game and is flourishing in Mike D'Antoni's system. Sure, Russell Westbrook is also going off this year, but Harden is elevating the Rockets to elite status with 40 victories and third place in the Western Conference. They're a lock for 50 wins on a team that doesn't feature close to the talent of Golden State or San Antonio, and that should mean the MVP is Harden's to lose. —Zach Frydenlund
Rookie of the Year — Joel Embiid
Joel Embiid was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers on June 26, 2014. If that seems like it was a long time ago, that’s probably because it was. Barack Obama was still the president, and Donald J. Trump was still nearly a year away from announcing his candidacy. The only category Stephen Curry led the league in was turnovers, and he’d yet to win a single MVP. The process was not yet trusted. So by the time Embiid made his NBA debut on October 26, 2016, having missed two full seasons, expectations were sky high. Embiid played 22 minutes, scored 20 points, hit a three, grabbed seven rebounds, and blocked two shots in a six-point loss to the Thunder. Expectations met. Despite a minutes restriction and being held out of back-to-backs—and a knee injury that’s sidelined him since January 27th—Embiid has shown himself to be worth the wait, and by far the league’s best rookie. He had his first double double in his third game, 25 points in his sixth. He scored a season-high 33 points along with 10 rebounds against the Nets in December, and 32 points against the Rockets in January. In between, Embiid had 10 straight games of 20-plus points, all while averaging just over 25 minutes a night. It wasn’t enough for the 22-year old to make the All-Star team, but it’s more than enough for him to be the rookie of the year. Finally. (Hi, Rihanna.) —Russ Bengtson
Defensive Player of the Year — Draymond Green
I can make an argument for Kawhi Leonard, who basically ends up guarding the best scorer every night for the Spurs, whether that's LeBron, Carmelo, or whoever. I can also make a case for Hassan Whiteside who is doing man's work down in Miami, grabbing 14.1 boards per game and averaging 2.1 blocks a night for the surging Heat. But we're giving the nod to Draymond Green, despite Leonard's literal grip on the Defensive Player of the Year award the past two seasons. Green just might be the ultimate jack of all trades in the NBA, serving as the anchor to the league's second best defensive squad, according to efficiency rankings. And he's been pretty open about the fact he's low-key gunning to be recognized as the game's best defensive player at the end of the season. Just like Leonard, Draymond usually draws the toughest assignment on a nightly basis. He pulls down more than 8.2 boards a night, averages 1.5 blocks per game, and swipes as many steals a night as Leonard. So the stats are in his favor. His team is obviously the best in the league. And he's a disrupter. That's good enough for me. —Adam Caparell
Sixth Man of the Year — Zach Randolph
Since joining the Memphis Grizzlies, Zach Randolph has been vital to the team's success. His no-nonsense and tough style of play have fit perfectly with the team's grit-and-grind ethos, and his numbers and ability to go get a basket when the team absolutely needs one have led to a lot of Ws. Yet despite all of this, Z-Bo has been overshadowed by nearly everyone else on the Grizzlies, from Rudy Gay (now with the Kings), to Marc Gasol, to Mike Conley, and even Vince Carter's corpse. Randolph is often named well after several players on his team. This year Randolph was forced to check himself by coming off the bench. And what has he done? The same thing he's always done; get buckets and boards to the tune of 14 and 8 off the bench. For a player who had been maligned throughout his career for his bad, "me first" attitude, Z-Bo's play proves that a lot of people got him wrong and, maybe, we should start talking about him more. —Rich Maze Lopez
Most Improved Player — Isaiah Thomas
Can a player have two breakout seasons? We’d call Isaiah Thomas the first, except he managed to get even better after the 2015-16 season when he made enough noise to be named an All-Star for the first time in his career. The 28-year-old Boston Celtics point guard is averaging 29.8 points per game—up from 22.2 points last season—and has scored 20 or more points in 40 consecutive games. After he led the league in scoring (32.9 PPG) and tied for fifth in the East in assists (6.9 APG), it was only right that he was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for January. He’s shooting a league-high 91.8% from the free-throw line, and if that’s not enough, no one is averaging more points in the fourth quarter than Thomas. Even Tom Brady thinks Thomas belongs in the winners circle. —Dria Roland
Coach of the Year — Mike D'Antoni
We are playing in the age of Mike D'Antoni. In today’s 3-point happy NBA, the veteran coach has caught a bad rap stemming from his unfortunate stints with the Knicks and Lakers. Nevermind that he's an offensive genius who turned Steve Nash into a future Hall of Famer, essentially made Jeremy Lin's career, and is now working his magic in Houston with James Harden. Steve Kerr bit D'Antoni's whole style after essentially running him out of town when he was the GM of the Suns once upon a time. He still doesn’t coach defense, which is a legit knock on his legacy, but his vision of space and an open three being the best shot in basketball has revolutionized the game as we know it. Give him the COY right now. Plus, the Rockets with Harden and a bunch of scrubs have 40 wins at the break. They had 41 all of last season. Put him in the Hall of Fame. —Angel Diaz