With the NBA regular season coming to a close, the team at TTSM has voted and decided on it’s 2019 NBA Awards winners.

Rookie of the Year

Image via ESPN

Luka Doncic has taken the league by storm. The 20-year-old, #3 overall pick, averaged 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists a game…as a rookie, for the Dallas Mavericks. For most of the season, Luka was the clear-cut favorite for this award, but a late surge from Atlanta Hawks Trae Young made this a closer race than some realize but in the end, Doncic deserves the award.

Defensive Player of the Year

Image via Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Paul George made the controversial call of resigning with Oklahoma City before the 2018-2019 NBA season, but it’s safe to say it was the right one. George had a career year, being a candidate for both the MVP and DPOY awards, but PG13 takes home the latter for us. George led the NBA in steals and was top five in defensive win shares, setting the tone for OKC. He was also top 15 in defensive rating and defensive rebounds. The competition was close but George takes it home.

Sixth Man

Image via Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports

“Sixth man like Lou Will.”  Lou Williams is the type of player who could start on most NBA teams, but dude is a bucket off the bench. In 26.6 minutes per game, Lou Will averaged 20 points and 5 assists, helping lead the Los Angeles Clippers to the playoffs in a year almost everyone wrote them off. The competition was relevant, but not too close, Lou Will was a landslide winner in our voting.

Coach of the Year

Image via Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Milwaukee Bucks ended the regular season with the best record in the NBA at 60-22 and a big part of that is credited to Mike Budenholzer. Since taking over the job before the 2018 season, Budenholzer added 16 wins from last years total. He coached the Bucks to lead the NBA in points per game and defensive rating, and also be top five in three-pointers made, blocks per game, field goal percentage, and rebounds per game. The Bucks are entering the playoffs as a team feared on both ends of the floor.

 

Most Improved Player

Image via Yahoo Sports

What an up and down career 23-year-old D’Angelo Russel has already had. From being basically exiled from the Lakers, Russel has reinvented himself and led the Brooklyn Nets to the sixth seed in the playoffs for the first time since the 14-15 season. D-Lo finished the season averaging 21 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds a game, leading him to make his first All-Star team. Russel has put the Nets back on the map.

Most Valuable Player

Image via NBA

Man, what an NBA MVP race we are having this year…some even think co-MVP’s should be awarded-between Giannis Antetokounmpo and James Harden of course- but the former wins it in a close vote between the two. Giannis has elevated himself into a no-doubt top five player in the world and led the Bucks to the best record in the NBA. “The Greek Freak” is just that, a freak, doing it all on both ends of the floor, averaging 28 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists while finishing second in defensive rating. The MVP race will be close, and whoever wins it does so deservingly, but Giannis is still only 24 years old and has a huge future in store for him.

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