Author: Daniel Latto

MADISON- As we have arrived at the NBA All-Star break, it seems an appropriate time to give out awards for players' performances thus far. There has been a lot of impressive play all across the league, and I want to recognize those players who should get halfway awards.

To get things going, I'll start with a fairly obvious one, Sixth Man of the Year. For those who are unfamiliar, this is awarded to the most impactful player who comes off the bench. The reason I say that this award is fairly obvious, even at the halfway point, is because of Jordan Clarkson. To start, Clarkson is leading all bench players with just under 18 points per game. Even more impressive, is the fact that he is second in scoring on his team, the Utah Jazz, who sit atop the entire NBA at 27-9. Not to mention that he is seventh on the team in minutes, amplifying his impact when he is on the court. He also ranks first in offensive real plus-minus for bench players and 17th in the entire NBA. This stat is defined as the player's average impact in terms of net point differential per 100 offensive possessions. Finally, when the Jazz lose, Clarkson shoots 41.84% from the field and 35.61% in 3 point percentage, compared to their wins when he shoots 44.39%, and 37.77% respectively. Not only do his stats dominate other bench players, but his impact on his team is clear in the sense that, when he plays well, the Jazz succeed; which is why I am awarding Clarkson the halfway Sixth Man of the Year.

Sticking with the Utah Jazz, the next award goes to Quin Snyder as Coach of the Year. As I said before, the Utah Jazz have the number one record in the NBA. Along with having the top record, they are also dominating total point differential at +8.8 points. The next closest team is the Suns, who are at +6.4. The Jazz are third right now in total points per game, only behind the Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets. But what is truly remarkable about that is the fact that the Jazz are fourth in allowing the least amount of points per game at 107.8, while neither the Bucks or the Nets are in the top half of the league in opponent's points per game. The Jazz have had only four losses in the months of February and March, which is only one more loss than the 2015-16 Warriors who had the best record ever for a team in the regular season. As the Jazz coach, Snyder's best win percentage in a season was last year at .611. As of right now, they are on pace for a .750 win percentage, a huge increase from last year. This is all happening while the Jazz have the fifth hardest schedule in the league, and they are playing some truly inspiring basketball as a team. Clear and concise, Quin Snyder is the halfway Coach of the Year.

An award that is usually highly debated is the Defensive Player of the Year. After back-to-back wins for Rudy Gobert, Giannis Antentokounpo took the award in a shortened 2019- 2020 season where he also secured Most Valuable Player. So instinctively, your first two thoughts should be Gobert and Antentokounpo. And to be honest, your instincts would serve you correctly. Both players are top 15 in the NBA in blocks, with Gobert being number two in the league, only behind Myles Turner. Antentokounpo is also in the top 25 in steals, and he is the only player in the league in the top 25 in both categories. But neither of these great defenders are getting the award from me. I am going with the dark horse, someone who has never been considered before, Ben Simmons, of the Philadelphia 76ers. Now, statistically, it would be hard to make this argument. Gobert is the defensive anchor for the third-best team in defensive ratings and fourth in points allowed. Looking just at the surface, Simmons' big statistic is that he ranks fourth in steals. However, his impact goes far beyond his stats. Throughout the season, Ben Simmons has been the most versatile defender, guarding players ranging from Damian Lillard to guarding Gobert for part of the recent game against the Jazz. His ability to play positionless basketball on both sides of the ball is really only comparable to the great Magic Johnson. Let's take a close look at that Jazz vs. 76ers game that I just mentioned. His major competitor in the award race, Gobert, played against his toughest matchup he will play against all season at the five positions against Joel Embiid. In this game, Embiid went OFF for 40 points and 19 rebounds on just over 50% shooting, while Gobert was in and out of foul trouble all game, looking tired and helpless against Embiid. Now, Embiid is a front-runner for the MVP, but these are the matchups that a player who prides themselves on defense lives for, like Gobert does. Simmons on the other hand spent the game as the primary defender on the much smaller and quicker Donovan Mitchell. While Mitchell finished with 33 points on the night, it came at the cost of one of his worst shooting performances of the season, at a brutal 12-34 and he was frustrated to the point of getting ejected in overtime. This is not Simmons' first time either playing primary defender against a team's top scorer. Including Mitchell, Simmons has been the primary defender against the opposing team's top scorer nine different times. Just a week before the Utah game, Simmons and the 76ers took on the streaking Mavericks and held them to their third lowest-scoring game of the season. Simmons specifically spent the game guarding the phenom Luka Doncic, where he held him to 3-7 shooting when directly matching up against him and forced four turnovers with just one assist. Simmons has proven to be the most versatile defender in the NBA and when it comes to impact as a defender, Simmons is without a doubt, in my opinion, the halfway Defensive Player of the Year.

Moving onto another highly debated award, I delve into the Most Improved Player. This award is always interesting because you need to take in the player's impact and ability from the year before and compare it to this year's impact and determine who has had the largest improvement from year to year. A lot of people might consider this quite subjective, but of course, I am going to tell you exactly why, with cold hard facts, Julius Randle is this year's halfway Most Improved Player. To start with his team in general, the New York Knicks, have had the biggest turnaround from last year to this year for any team in the NBA. A major reason for that turnaround is the elevated play of Julius Randle. If we look at the stats from last year to this year, his major competitor, Jerami Grant of the Detroit Pistons, has a much larger increase in almost every stat. However, Grant spent last year on one of the more developed teams in the league in the Denver Nuggets as the number three option. Now, he has taken the role as the number one player for the Detroit Pistons, and his increase in minutes and time with the ball in his hand has exponentially increased his statistics. Though, as the number one scorer, he is leading the NBA's second-worst team right now. The Pistons have dealt with injuries and a fairly large roster overhaul, especially after just losing Blake Griffin, but they still remain the worst team in the Eastern Conference. So, while his increase in statistics is truly impressive and nothing should be taken away from that, his impact on his team cannot outweigh Randle's impact and improvement to his team. I have said this before in a previous article, but I will say it again because the stat is that impressive. Randle is on pace for a season of 20+ PPG, 10+ RPG, 5+ APG, and doing it all on 40%+ 3 point shooting percentage. This feat has only been accomplished by one other player in the history of the NBA, Larry Bird. As of now, his plus/minus is at a 4.1, compared to a -0.3 last year. Not only are his stats impressive, like Grant's, but also his impact on his team is amplified compared to Grant, who sits at a 1.8 plus/minus after finishing last year with a -0.5. Randle is tied for fourth in double-doubles in the NBA this year as well as a .7 increase in assist to turnover ratio, meanwhile, Grant only has a 0.1 increase in the same stat. To round off the comparison, looking at how each player has impacted their respective team from last year to this year, the Pistons at the All-Star break were 26-30, with a .464 win percentage. Now, they sit at 10-26, with a .278 win percentage. The Knicks on the other hand were at 11-47, at an abysmal .190 win percentage at last year's All-Star break. Now, they are 19-18 and above .500 at the all star break for the first time since the 2012-2013 season. As I said before, halfway Most Improved Player is a hard award to give out, but I am giving it to Julius Randle.

Now, I get to hand out my favorite award, Rookie of the Year. Not to lose your attention, but were looking at another blowout race, with LaMelo Ball quickly running away with the award. But let's get into it anyways. LaMelo might be the most interesting story in the NBA this year. As one of the most highly anticipated players coming into the season, he has for sure lived up to the hype. After deciding to forgo college and play professionally overseas, there was a lot of speculation about Ball and how he would handle the hype, especially with his infamously outspoken father, Lavar Ball. Well, to say the least, he has lived up to the excitement so far. Compared to his fellow rookies, Ball leads them in points per game, assists per game, rebounds per game and steals per game while being only fourth in minutes per game. Take that in for a second. While he is also leading rookies in turnovers per game, he has the ball in his hands considerably more than any other rookie. Not only are his stats overwhelming dominant relative to his fellow rookies, but also his impact for his team, the Charlotte Hornets, is instrumental. Since becoming a starter due to an injury for Terry Rozier, he has been averaging 22.06 PPG, and only has one game in single-digit scoring. In the last 20 years, only Blake Griffin averaged over 22 points per game as a rookie. Possibly, the most impressive mark he has hit, is that he is the youngest player in NBA history to secure a triple-double, especially in a game where he and the Hornets dominated. The Hornets have a top ten toughest strength of schedule in the second half of the season, so Ball will be challenged, but he has the chance to be a key contributor to a possible playoff team all before he turns 20. As of now though, my halfway Rookie of the Year is unquestionably, Lamelo Ball.

This first half of the season in the NBA has held a lot of surprises for basketball fans and has left us with a lot to look forward to in the second half of the season. We will see how things play out, but looking at the first half of the season, I feel confident in my halfway award winners.