Last night, the NBA held its second annual awards show.
After months of waiting, we finally discovered the winners of the league's most coveted individual prizes.
A few surpsies here and there but for the most part, everything went as expected:
Rookie of the Year • Ben Simmons
B. Simmons
(rookie after all)
One of the most heavily debated/hotly contested award races all year long, Ben Simmons narrowly defeated Donovan Mitchell for Rookie of the Year.
Ostracized for his "redshirt" status, Simmons was pretty dominant regardless of how you wanna classify him: avg. a near triple-double at just under 16 points, 8 boards & 8 dimes while helping to lead PHI to its first playoff appearance since 2012.
Sixth Man of the Year • Lou Williams
Louuu Will!
- First Sixth Man of the Year to come from a non-playoff team
- 2x 6MOY
Despite LAC barely missing the postseason, it (rightfully) had no bearing on Lou Will's candidacy. Avg. a career-high 22.6 points/night, Lou doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon .
Coach of the Year • Dwane Casey
Perhaps the most "awkward" award of the night, Dwane Casey took home COY honors despite being fired by Toronto not too along ago.
Coach Casey handled & accepted it with class - he praised his new organization for taking a chance on him, while showing gratitude to the franchise that treated him as a scapegoat.
And despite being swept by Cleveland in Round 2, Toronto had a(nother) wonderful regular campaign: East-leading 59 wins.
Most Improved Player • Victor Oladipo
As expected, Victor Oladipo took home Most Improved honors.
A true breakout season, Vic developed into a go-to guy on both ends - upped his scoring average to 23.1! ppg en route to his first All-Star appearance.
A year ago, things looked murky - Paul George was dealt & the franchise was lacking a star.
Not anymore...now, the question is: are the Pacers better off now (w/ Dipo) than they were w/ PG?
Most Valuable Player • James Harden
J. Harden:2018 MVP
30.4 ppg, 8.8 apg, 5.4 rpg
The Beard got it done! Last night, he became the final member OKC's Original 3 to win the league's most coveted individual honor.
Sure, J. Harden capturing his first MVP was all but a formality after Houston's 65-win season. It's still nice to see him rewarded following another incredible overall season - in terms of team & individual success.
30 points/night w/ almost 9 dimes & 5 boards in his sleep.
Back to back in 2019!?