NBA Award Watch: Mike D’Antoni has Rockets on the rise
By John Buhler
Some front-runners for NBA awards haven’t changed since last week, but there are a few interesting awards races heating up in this week’s NBA Award Watch.
We are only a couple of weeks away from the NBA calendar flipping from 2016 to 2017. Some of the front-runners for the NBA’s top end of season awards races have not changed, but some are very much up for grabs in mid-December.
There has been a lot turmoil in the middle of the pack in both conferences. It seems that this will be a trend hopefully for the rest of the season. The more teams vying for playoff contention, the more interesting the season will be in February, March, and April. As teams rise and fall, so do their stars, chasing end-of-season individual accolades. Without further ado, here are the six front-runners for the major end of season awards in this week’s NBA Award Watch.
Most Valuable Player: Russell Westbrook
2016-17 NBA MVP feels like a two-man race in mid-December. While Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol has led a furious charge in recent weeks, NBA MVP will be between Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden and Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook.
Both ball-dominant guards in the Western Conference certainly have strong claims for their first NBA MVP, but as long as Westbrook is averaging a triple-double, this is his award to lose. Through December 14, Westbrook is averaging 30.5 points, 10.6 assists, and 10.5 rebounds per game for the Thunder.
Oklahoma City is not going to get back to the Western Conference Finals in 2017. Houston has an outside shot at meeting the Golden State Warriors in the 2017 Western Conference Finals depending on its first two playoff matchups.
Harden is asked to do a lot, but Westbrook might being asked to do more. Should Westbrook average a triple-double and the Thunder win 45 or more games, the voters will give him his first NBA MVP. However, Harden is a very close second to Westbrook in mid-December.