MVP - LeBron James - Imo one of the easiest MVP races to call in a while. At the start of the season the only person who I thought could possibly challenge Lebron for the mantle was Chris Paul, but his season's been plagued with injuries. He's having another wonderful statistical season plus, as Tiger said, he's had to deal with various key players being injured for lengthy stretches of time.
I think things would have been a bit closer if Kobe could have stayed healthy. Dwight's another good candidate as well.
MIP - Carl Landry. Not only has he gone up in nearly every statistical category, his efficiency is just about the same. Went from being a useful player off the bench to a legit 6th man of the year candidate in Houston, and is now a starting PF in Sacremento were you can expect an 18-6 with great %'s every night. There aren't too many consistent back-to-the basket scorers in the NBA and Carl Landry is now one of them imo.
Rookie - Tyreke Evans - Jennings started the hottest and Curry seems to be finishing the hottest, but Evans imo is the gold standard for rookies this season. Has been great all year and is putting up a rookie season comparable to none other than Lebron; 20-5-5. Like Lebron, Tyreke can just get to the rim at will. I'm really pumped to see what he can do next season. Man was I wrong with this kid.
DPOY - Dwight Howard - D12's definitely the easy choice. Stat's certainly back him up, leading the league in rebounds and block shots.
But alot of Dwight's defensive capabalities aren't translatable into stats. I can't remember where from, but I remember hearing an interview where some hoops guy was absolutely raving about Dwight's defensive capabilities and how he pretty much shatters the standard assumptions NBA teams use when accounting for opposition centres.
He was saying stuff like how in a team's defensive structures, centres are generally responsible for a certain amount of space on the floor, but with Dwight that space is alot larger. I remember being amazed at all this stuff and it made me gain a new respect for Howard's defensive abilities.
Coach - Jerry Sloan - Tough one, several good candidates. I just really like what Sloan has done this season. Having to deal with Deron William's injury, plus the Boozer situation as well as the constant state of flux that is Andrei Kirilenko. I just think it's criminal he has NEVER won a COTY. Then again, in recent times, that ain't such a bad thing.
