2014 NBA Award Predictions

As the NBA regular season winds down and NBA teams battle for playoff seeding (as well as lottery tanking positions), awards will soon be handed out. The battle for the top seeds in both the Western and Eastern Conferences have been highly competitive faces with young stars looking to make some noise and older veterans trying to stay at the top of the totem pole. With that said here are my predictions for the 2014 NBA regular season individual awards:

Most Valuable Player - Kevin Durant

It looks like King James, winner of four of the last five MVP awards, will finally be dethroned. When Westbrook went down late last season, Durant failed to will his team past the second round of the playoffs. This season though, Durant has played lights out with Westbrook in and out of the lineup, leading his squad to a 26-10 record. Closing in on his fourth scoring title, Durant has averaged a career her in points per game while becoming a facilitator and averaging a career high in assists per game.


Most Improved Player - Anthony Davis

Last year, Paul George claimed this honor after a break out season. The 'Brow' has been an absolute beast for the Pelicans this season, putting up video game like numbers and displaying his incredible talent in his sophomore campaign. The 21-year old Kentucky product has already become one of the elite players in the game as he has the fourth highest player efficiency in the game. The sky really is the limit for the young big man.

Rookie of the Year - Michael Carter-Williams

Despite the fact that Philly has endured a historically awful season, MCW has certainly been one of the few bright spots. While other rookies such as Trey Burke of the Utah Jazz and Victor Oladipo of the Orland Magic have enjoyed first solid years in the league, Carter-Williams's play this season has been head and shoulders above all other rookies with the highest points, rebounds, steals, and assists per game.

Coach of the Year - Jeff Honrnacek

The Suns are flat out not supposed to be this good. First year Head Coach Jeff Hornacek has done an outstanding job this season, coaching up a team that finished dead last in the Western Conference. Even with their top player Eric Bledsoe missing a large chunk of the season with a torn meniscus, Hornacek's team has a great shot to make the playoffs in the highly competitive West.

Defensive Player of the Year - Joakim Noah 

Likely to be the closest vote, Roy Hibbert seemed like a unanimous choice at the All-Star break, serving as the anchor for a Pacers team that got off to a red hot 33-7 record. Meanwhile, DeAndre Jordan looks like a completely new player under Doc Rivers in Los Angeles, leading the league in rebounds. However, Joakim Noah has been the undisputed defensive leader of a Chicago Bulls teams that has looked relentless on the defensive end of the floor despite the loss of star Derrick Rose to injury again and the Luol Deng trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Hurting Hibbert's chances is his squad's recent struggles as Indy has given up over 101 points per 100 possessions since the break as opposed to just over 93 before.

Sixth Man of the Year - Jamal Crawford

The guy has been one of the best pure scorers in the league for years now. Crawford has been a vital part of an upstart Clipper team marred by injuries in the starting backcourt to Chris Paul and J.J. Reddick. Some may argue that Crawford has started 23 games this season, but even so he has averaged over 17.5 points per game coming off the bench for one of the top teams in the league.

Kevin Durant: NBA MVP?

Kevin Durant has been playing out of his mind ever since the ball dropped to ring in the new year. The man, or beast, that is The Durantula may need a back brace soon because he has been carrying his Oklahoma City Thunder since the loss of Russell Westbrook in late December. Durant has been putting on a clinic since his all-star teammate went down. KD has the four of the highest point totals in the NBA this season and they have all come in the month of January and are all above 45 points.

I'm not going to throw all of the stats at you, but there are a few that jump off the page and need to be noted:

• Durant is averaging 36.3 points in 18 games since Russell Westbrook went down with an injury. The Thunder are 13-5 in those games.

• He's averaging 37 points per game in January on 52.4% shooting. It's the highest scoring month of his career (counting only months in which he played multiple games). Coincidentally, three of Durant's four highest scoring months have come in January. He averaged 32.1 points in January 2010 and 31.6 points in January 2013.

• Durant has twelve straight games scoring at least 30 points. No other NBA player has a streak longer than four games this season. Durant’s five games of at least 40 points are three more than anyone else in the NBA.

• Durant has scored at least 30 points and handed out at least four assists in each of his past twelve games. 

The stats are mind blowing. The guy is second to none right now and is showing no signs of letting off the gas pedal. He looks more determined than ever and I personally cannot wait to watch him down the stretch this season. Durant's torrid pace helped him finish second in the league and first in the Western Conference in All-Star Game voting. He was second to none other than LeBron James who racked up 1,416,419 votes, but Kevin Durant was right behind him with an impressive 1,396,294 votes.

The recently nicknamed Slim Reaper essentially has the MVP trophy locked up in my opinion and it's not even February yet. Barring an unforeseen plummet in his statistics when Westbrook returns, Durant seems to finally be in line for that elusive first MVP award.

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