But this was a funky draft class (much like the 2013 group), and it might be years before we know who the best player was. But the scoring talent at hand is undeniable. Go Orange. I think there’s a chance we get some Giannis fatigue among voters, but I also don’t see him slowing down anytime soon, and the Bucks still have more to prove. Jayson Tatum. Yet some teams have only been off since October, while others haven’t taken the court since March. Haliburton was taken 12th by the Kings. Posted by u/[deleted] 5 months ago. 2020-2021 NBA Season Predictions. Anthony Davis showed off his clutch gene and skillset during the Lakers' championship run last season, proving he is more than a secondary player. It’s unclear if Herro is still going to be a reserve to open the year (or quickly advance out of a bench role), but you’d have to expect he’s going to play a sizable role for Miami nevertheless. NBA awards predictions for 2021: Who will win MVP, Rookie of the Year and more? SI Fantasy guru Shawn Childs provides his 2021 American League and National League positional cheat sheets with auction prices included! NBA All-Star 2021 experts' predictions: Our insiders pick every event during All-Star Sunday play LeBron defends decision to pick Jazz last: 'We never would've picked them in video games' (0:31) Clarkson is the Jazz bench, and he will get plenty of opportunities with a Utah team that will battle for a top-four seed in the conference. Will rust hold back players who were idle for most of 2020? The 2021 NBA trade deadline is officially just a couple of weeks away and, right now, all this trade talk sounds like a boiling saucepan about to erupt. This 2020-2021 season will be shortened to 72-games. In his debut campaign, he started just eight games, averaging 13.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game on 42.8% shooting. Although I was very tempted to pick Tyrese Haliburton, I think the Warriors realize that this season is a key development opportunity for Wiseman, and will give him the playing time necessary to produce. 2021 MLB Predictions, NBA Updates, Buys of the Week, and Evan Vandenberg Interview. A common theme of the last year has been how strange the passing of time feels. A few adjustments can go a long way for Rivers. From the all-important narrative standpoint, it doesn’t hurt that he’s arguably the NBA’s most media-friendly superstar and a loyal representative of a small-market franchise. Hey, that play-in exists for a reason! Expect more of the same in 2020-21. Click for our free NBA picks for the All-Star Weekend. So, to be clear: Marcus Smart won’t win this award. And he’s playing for a deep, talented Nets squad that should crack the East’s top tier for the first time since 2013. This award has skewed to younger players in recent years, and Porter Jr. sports the profile of a likely recipient. That, plus a healthy dose of sentiment, should be enough to push Durant past Giannis (the logical favorite), Luka (the Vegas favorite) LeBron (the even-more-sentimental choice) and Lillard (the cool-kids pick) for MVP. Also consider: The Lakers’ Rob Pelinka if his aggressive offseason lives up to the hype and the Pelicans’ David Griffin if New Orleans reaches the playoffs after he retooled the roster, hired a new coach and stacked up a boatload of future draft picks. Lundberg: Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers. It might be LeVert’s best role with this team. “forcing opposing coaches to cantor their offenses like balloon animals.”. LeBron’s presence in Los Angeles is likely to dampen Davis’s MVP candidacy, though Defensive Player of the Year isn’t a terrible consolation prize. Also consider: New Orleans’s Zion Williamson winning back everyone’s hearts if he stays healthy and Phoenix’s Deandre Ayton getting the Chris Paul bounce. As long as the Lakers don’t go too easy on Davis’s minutes after the quick turnaround, look for him to benefit from the voting equivalent of a makeup call. Porter’s minutes and production dipped in the playoffs (11.4 points, 6.7 rebounds), but his trajectory is coming into focus. Beck: Tyrese Haliburton, Sacramento Kings. Check out the picks and give us the feedback as always on Twitter and/or Instagram! on. (Maybe Smart had something to do with it?) (Miami started Meyers Leonard for practically all of last season.) Will Giannis Antetokounmpo take home his third consecutive MVP award? And exceeded expectations is one way a coach can take home this award. 1 month ago. Anthony Davis. The better he plays there the more trust he’ll get from Michael Malone, which means more time to put up numbers. If Philly vaults to the top of the Eastern Conference, Rivers could steal the award from another former point guard. The 22-year-old Toppin is the obvious exception: He’s a polished offensive scorer joining a talent-poor Knicks team that needs all the help it can get. Close. Toppin’s offensive game is relatively polished for a rookie. If he comes off the bench this year then he’ll be at the center of the conversation for this award. 2019-20 was a dysfunctional season in Philadelphia by all accounts, and Brett Brown did little to make life easier on Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. Here’s what we know about Haliburton: He plays both guard spots, has a high basketball IQ, passes well, shoots the 3 reliably (41.9 percent at Iowa State) and defends with tenacity. If Zion Williamson is healthy, the New Orleans Pelicans could be a surprising team this season. The Nuggets had the vision and the patience to grab him at 14. For better or for worse, the winner of the MVP award often has an incredible storyline that accompanies their season and Durant's return could be the league’s best story in 2020-21. With the NBA All-Star 2021 game still set to go ahead despite no formal announcement, speculation is growing as to who the conference's starters will be. Brooklyn boasts strong offensive depth entering the season, and if the team stays healthy, it will have a handful of players who can make cases for Sixth Man of the Year. Schroder would be a good pick here as well, but I'm going with Harrell because I'm sensing he’ll be extra motivated after a) his disappointing postseason and b) knowing the crosstown Clippers let him walk to a rival. Defensive Player of the Year: Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers. 2 overall pick James Wiseman finds himself in a beneficial situation with the Warriors. Also consider: Miami’s Bam Adebayo if he continues to progress rapidly and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid if he maintains good health. While Doncic was the league’s clear breakout star last year, the rest of the Mavericks didn’t quite get their due despite climbing into the playoffs. But the Celtics had a top-five defense last season without an elite big. A healthy Durant could very well be the league’s best player as lest we forget the 32-year-old forward’s incredible playmaking, shooting and overall dominance while on the floor. COY winners typically check one of two boxes: led a great team to a great record, or led a team that exceeded expectations (and/or made a dramatic one-season leap). Like us on Facebook to see similar stories, Biden administration gives major push to giant offshore wind farm, Female Eagle Scouts: For the first time, girls were eligible to be Eagle Scouts -- and nearly 1,000 earned the elite rank. In a way, MPJ already made The Leap in August, when he averaged 22 points and 8.6 rebounds and shot 42 percent from the arc over seven games in the NBA bubble—a breakout that included back-to back games of 37 and 30 points and four straight double-doubles. A reshaped roster should do wonders for Philadelphia’s franchise anchor, and Embiid enters 2020-21 in what appears to be the best shape of his career. Putting up solid statistics on a good team usually translates into rookie award recognition making Wiseman a safe pick for this honor. Many pundits felt Davis was snubbed in favor of Antetokounmpo in 2020, and the Lakers’ big man wreaked havoc at every step of their title journey. And considering the flair in his game and the opportunity to fill a star void in Charlotte, I'll go with Ball to stand out the most in his rookie season. Maybe, but it won’t matter. I’m just saying Marcus Smart, though listed at just 6-3, is a multi-positional terror on defense and, like his small-to-medium size predecessors, probably deserves a little more recognition. With opening night somehow upon us, … 4, 2021 predictions from proven computer model The SportsLine Projection Model has simulated Suns vs. Warriors 10,000 times SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. I don’t know how many games the Thunder actually win, but the numbers here are going to look pretty good come spring. NBA awards predictions: Who will and should win this season? The story line will be strong for Davis, who perfectly embodies the modern archetype of a defensive anchor with his rare combination of length, quickness and versatility. Sometimes awards voters are a year late to the party, so this is a bet that they will catch on to the extraordinary offense and winning program that Carlisle has built around Doncic. Anthony Davis will be hurt by playing alongside James. Dinwiddie, who averaged 20.6 points and 6.8 assists last season, has spent time as both a starter and bench presence, proving he can adapt on a dime to the team's needs. Another possible name to watch is Doc Rivers, who won the Coach of the Year award in his first season as a head coach with Orlando, but hasn’t since. Finals MVP: Anthony Davis. There’s no obvious leader in the clubhouse. Nobody brings it on a nightly basis like Giannis, and this is a regular season award. By. Ball may come off the bench in the preseason but it’s only a matter of time before he’s in the starting lineup. Davis can follow in Giannis Antetokounmpo's footsteps and take home MVP and DPOY honors in 2020-21, but Bam Adebayo may have something to say about it. I'm not sure how any rookie has a successful year considering the strange circumstances of this season. And while defensive improvement typically isn’t a barometer of who wins this award, I do think MPJ made some small strides on that end of the floor over the course of the postseason. With the 2020-21 NBA season set to tip-off, we thought it’d be a good time to make our predictions for who will win all of the major individual awards for the upcoming campaign. About Author More info about author. Most Valuable Player: Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers. At a glance, this pick might feel like a stretch. Sign up to get the latest news, commentary and the best high jinks from #NBATwitter and R/NBA delivered to your inbox every Monday. Schroder has campaigned to start, but the Lakers would be wise to use him as the leader of their second unit and in their closing lineups. When it comes down to team fit, No. Doc Rivers will certainly help with the campaigning, and Embiid isn’t one to shy away from the spotlight himself. But I’d expect Vogel to end up in the running here one way or another, and his team obviously has enough talent to pace the West. Picking Lou Williams every year gets exhausting. They are now, and the flashy Ball is the reason why. Everyone saw the impact AD has on the floor for the Lakers defensively in the postseason, as his versatility allows them to play and defend any style. Of the last 32 players to win ROY, only two were drafted outside the top 10: Michael Carter-Williams (2013-14) and Malcolm Brogdon (2016-17). But no shooting guards or point guards, despite the best efforts of Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Bruce Bowen, Dwyane Wade, Tony Allen, Chris Paul and many others. He’s a fresh face when it comes to MVP voting (even if he was a finalist last year.) It’s been nearly two decades since Carlisle’s last COY, but if Kristaps Porzingis can stay health—always a big if—Dallas’s dynamic offense will put up big numbers and the Mavs could make a surprise push for a top-four seed. by ripkobe24 Plays Quiz not verified by Sporcle . January 22, 2021. He’s incredibly effective with the ball in his hands, and those opportunities would be limited alongside two usage-heavy superstars. Woo: James Wiseman, Golden State Warriors. Davis emerged as the league’s most valuable defensive weapon in the NBA Bubble. His scoring totals should see a legitimate jump with an increase in offensive responsibility, and his smooth shooting stroke should lend itself to numerous 30-point nights. All Rights Reserved. This is a Utah team flush with depth alongside its two headline talents. Expect an impressive regular season in Philadelphia followed by some additional hardware for Rivers. While the Denver Nuggets' overall offense has made them one of the most exciting teams to watch in the NBA… Wiseman was one of two Warriors who sat out the first week of training camp for an undisclosed reason, though, Golden State general manager Bob Myers did say that two players tested positive for COVID-19 just prior to camp. 2020-2021 NBA Awards Predictions: A Three-Peat, A Fresh Face, And More. He’s young, which means rest probably won’t be a problem for him. Send an email. Awards Basketball Eastern Conference NBA NBA 2020-2021 season NBA predictions Playoffs Western Conference. News AKMI. Mannix: Gary Trent, Portland Trail Blazers. Nadkarni: James Wiseman, Golden State Warriors. New coach Steve Nash has yet to commit, but he’s flirted with deploying the 6-foot-6 LeVert in a “Ginobili role,” anchoring the second unit as both scorer and playmaker. Now comes the payoff. The 'explosion' at the end of Jon Moxley–Kenny Omega is a must-see. Also consider: Durant on a comeback tour, Mavericks guard Luka Doncic taking the league by storm and Lakers forward Anthony Davis reaching the peak of his powers. Also consider: Golden State’s James Wiseman benefiting from Curry’s presence and Detroit’s Killian Hayes padding his scoring numbers in meaningless games down the stretch. As a result, the rangy center might not be as acclimated into Steve Kerr’s system as some might have hoped. December 4, 2020. 3/5/2021 By: Adam Peplowski NBA All Star Weekend is set to take place this coming weekend in slightly unconventional fashion. More by John Devereaux. Porter was once projected as the best player in the 2018 draft, before injuries caused him to plummet. The Suns are primed for a breakthrough season—which makes Williams perfectly poised for this award. Will Murray objectively be the league’s most improved player? Porter averaged 9.3 points and 0.8 assists a game in 2020, I wouldn’t be surprised if he doubled both of those this upcoming year. Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. But the stats are imperfect, the players aren’t always right, and even the scouts haven’t seen every minute of every player’s season. The Crossover staff make their award picks. Los Angeles needs to stagger Schroder and LeBron James to ensure there is always a lead ballhandler on the court. Bam doesn’t know how to take possessions off, and the Heat should be better as a whole defensively if they switch Bam to center full time. The ability to score is there, and at his height with his shooting, if he can simply round out his game, Porter Jr could have a breakout season for a team looking to contend in the West in Denver. Shapiro: Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers. The big man will have to prove himself after playing just three college games, but Wiseman has the potential to thrive with Stephen Curry as his court leader. That leaves Luka Doncic. If the Nets do finish the regular season with the top seed in the conference, it’s tough to imagine Nash not winning this award. At 26 and with a relentless work ethic, Giannis’s best years, remarkably, could still be ahead of him. There are many NBA awards that could be handed out these days. Like the James Harden Ego award to represent someone like Harden who is making $41 … All Star MVP Free Picks. Giannis simply isn’t going to win this award for a third straight time after his playoff exit in the bubble. Here is The Crossover’s 2020-21 NBA awards predictions. Rohan Nadkarni: Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks. The narrative is ripe for Rivers to win his second Coach of the Year award. Second, Jerami Grant’s departure opens more playing time and responsibility for him. Sports Quiz / NBA 2021 Award Predictions Random Sports or NBA Quiz Can you name my 2021 NBA Award Predictions? 2020-2021 NBA Awards Predictions from our staff are in! play. Warriors vs. Suns odds, line, spread: 2021 NBA picks, Mar. Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something through recommended links in this article. Here is The Crossover’s 2020-21 NBA awards predictions. Swinton: Spencer Dinwiddie, Brooklyn Nets. Perhaps. With a deeper roster around him, Lillard could catch voters’ attention if he leads Portland to a top-three seed in the West. Look, DPOY might be the most fraught of all the NBA awards. There should be an adjustment period, but I also think having Steph Curry and Draymond on the floor is going to make his life pretty easy. Utah’s $54 million man isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of team, but he should have enough opportunity to post impressive scoring totals as the lead option off the bench. In a crowded MVP field, a strong season from Philadelphia could land Embiid both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year honors. Also consider: Brooklyn’s Spencer Dinwiddie if the Nets turn into an offensive juggernaut as expected and Utah’s Jordan Clarkson if the Jazz can break out of the West’s crowded middle tier. Throughout Denver’s miracle run, he recorded 30 or more points in six of Denver’s 19 playoff games and posted multiple 40- and 50-point showings. We polled the ESPN Forecast panel of experts -- including NBA writers, editors and analysts -- for their predictions now that we are one-third of the way through the 2020-21 NBA season. Doncic seems positioned to be next up when it comes to superstars in the NBA and with Kristaps Porzingis still recovering to start the season, Luka could benefit from a narrative that he had to carry his team more than some others in consideration. Denver has played to being an underdog, and if Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic make more strides and keep the Nuggets competitive atop the Western Conference, Malone will be in the conversation for top honors at the end of the year. Can you name the NBA Awardees Prediction for 2021 NBA Season? Giannis Antetekoumpo. Giannis vs. Luka: Who Would You Take Heading Into 2020 Season? Lundberg: Stan Van Gundy, New Orleans Pelicans. NBA free picks and predictions for February 9, sizing up today's NBA betting odds and giving our best NBA bets against the spread and over/under. All-NBA First Team and All-NBA Defensive First Team predictions are set. Chris Mannix: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks. Share This Article Do the sharing thingy. This is an excerpt from Ben Golliver’s NBA Post Up weekly newsletter. 2021 NBA Predictions. Porter is an imperfect player in many respects. And Kevin Durant winning seems too shocking in his first year back post-Achilles. And let’s not forget: Giannis is an elite defender, too. The Baseline Times NBA Staff has spoken. It's hard to say any improvement on that wouldn't be MVP worthy. If Brooklyn makes that type of leap and approaches its extraordinarily high ceiling, Marks will be well-positioned to get his share of the credit. Phoenix’s point guard and star that season was Steve Nash, who is now a coach himself. Adebayo was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team last year, and if he keeps up the pace of his first three years, he will prove to be the Defensive Player of the Year soon enough—it is just a matter of time as to when, and 2020-21 may be Adebayo's time. We could see a battle of the bigs for MVP as Anthony Davis battles Joel Embiid. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We use the advanced stats that are available, we talk to scouts, players and coaches, we watch a ton of games. He’s capable of duplicating last season’s numbers, even improving on a three-point percentage that ticked up five points from the previous season. The Kings’ starting backcourt is set with De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield, but Haliburton should get enough backup minutes at both spots to make an impression—and put up the requisite stats on a bad team to crash the ROY race. The Nets are deep and talented enough to win the East after finishing below .500 last year. Carlisle excels at fitting limited players into useful roles and at letting Doncic do his thing, and he should benefit from an improved defense this year, too. The leader in that group could be Spencer Dinwiddie, assuming Caris LeVert starts alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Luka Doncic is entering the season as the MVP favorite, and LeBron James is always in the conversation, but it would not be surprising to see another Laker in the mix. No, absolutely not. Williams showed a deft touch with this group last season, getting the most out of not only his stars but reclamation projects like Cameron Payne. There remain serious questions about his ability to both shoot and score, but when it comes to the player I think the most people are excited to see on the floor, it's gotta be LaMelo. Marks never gets much attention, but he orchestrated the necessary moves to land Durant and Irving in 2019, he went out on a limb to hire Steve Nash as his coach, and he made savvy additions this offseason by snagging Landry Shamet and Bruce Brown in trades. With the benefit of another year of experience—as well as the addition of some seasoned role players—I think Doncic picks up his first of multiple MVPs. Shrug emoji.). SI Gambling analyst Roy Larking focuses on the West Coast Conference tournament semifinal matchups on his Monday NCAA basketball betting card. Every DPOY trophy since then has gone to a forward or center, though we’ve seen the occasional small forward (Ron Artest in 2004, Kawhi Leonard in 2015 and 2016). Secure a top-three seed, and this could be Clarkson’s award to lose. Who will be this season's Dinelson Lamet or Devin Williams? Clarkson continues to improve as a three-point shooter. Maybe this is expressing too much faith in the Lakers to make the most of this season rail to rail. Embiid is a dominant force on both ends. Davis is a destructive defensive player in every sense, pairing elite rim protection with impressive mobility on the perimeter. 2020-2021 NBA Season Predictions. Dinwiddie has been a candidate for Most Improved Player in past seasons, but if he comes off the bench this year, a Sixth Man nod could be in his future. The Ringer Staff’s 2021 NBA Awards Predictions The MVP race is more wide open than Michael Porter Jr. thinks he is at all times. Draft experts expected him to go much higher.
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