NBA 2013-14: Predictions and analysis for season ending awards - Part 2

Picking up from where I left off from Part 1 here is an analysis into the remaining individual season ending awards

Sixth Man of the Year (SMOY): Nick Young

Nick Young

Ever since Pop decided to bring Manu Ginobili off the bench, he has been a potential award winner in this category every year but this season was different for the Spur. Being over the age of 30 and dealing with length of the regular season has kept Manu out of action for 2-3 weeks in January with injuries.

Jamal Crawford actually is ahead of Young when it comes to points production off the bench but Young’s surprising reliable offense this season, stepping up for the slumping Los Angeles Lakers, might just get him the nod ahead of Crawford.

Despite having a knack of lifting shots one too many, Young also has a capability of scoring in bunches which many a time this season has taken the Lakers, a team decimated with injuries this season, to occasional wins.

His talent and skill could have earned him a starting spot but Coach Mike D’Antoni repeatedly pulled him into the game off the bench, putting his offensive spurts to good use for the team. Hired at the start of the season only as a back-up scorer for Kobe Bryant but riding on the back of his career Young now looks like one of the few the Lakers management want to see in purple and gold next year too.

Rookie of the Year (ROY): Victor Oladipo

Victor Oladipo

Trey Burke makes the same appearance in this two-man Rookie of the Year race that Blake Griffin does in the MVP title race. At any point of time after the first few games it has been only Michael Carter Williams and Victor Oladipo who have realistically stood a chance at winning this award.

Let me get started on why I didn’t choose the Philadelphia 76ers point guard Carter Williams for this title. Well first things first, his average stat line of 17.1, 5.4 and 6.2 in points, rebounds and assists respectively, comes at a usage rate and number of touches per possession much more than the Indiana product Oladipo.

Oladipo’s usage rate of 23.8% and touches per game of 67.9% as compared to 26.3% and 84.6 for Carter Williams explains the average points margin of 3.2 between the two. Also Williams has taken to the bench injured for 12 games while the Indiana product Oladipo has been at it every game.

Although Oladipo averages just a couple of assists per game lesser than Williams despite the disparity in touches per game comparison, he does shoot the ball well. His efficiency as a scorer is admirable and this is the major department where he gains an upper hand over Williams on face value.

So he is not only healthy and playing each game but recording almost similar stats to that of Carter Williams in a team that has more than one other player to depend on offense such as Jameer Nelson, Arron Afflalo or even Nikola Vucevic for that matter.

Coach of the Year (COTY): Jeff Hornacek

Jeff Hornacek

There are the usual names of Greg Poppovich, Frank Vogel and Erik Spoelstra in the fray for the award but the front-runners this season have been new faces, names you might not usually associate with this award.

It’s going to be tough choosing between Dwayne Casey, Terry Stotts and Jeff Hornacek of the Toronto Raptors, Portland Trailblazers and the Phoenix Suns respectively, all have done an incredible job of taking their team to another level, a standard of play which nobody in the league expected them to be capable of prior to the start of the season.

Stotts to some extent still comes under the same category as the three coaches mentioned at the start simply because of the talent at his disposal on the roster. Meanwhile Casey has been a huge reason behind the Raptors’ success though he isn’t alone behind their turnaround; the contribution of General Manger and 2013 NBA Executive of the Year Masai Ujiri cannot be taken lightly.

On the other hand, Hornacek has single handedly not only shown the true potential of the Suns roster, but also shown his leadership and tactician skills by keeping them alive in the Playoff race despite losing arguably their best player on the roster in Eric Bledsoe.

Also keeping in mind that Hornacek is a rookie in the field of head coaching, one that Phil Jackson has mastered and moved on from, gives him the edge and therefore is my pick to be named Coach of the Year whether the Phoenix Suns make it to the post-season or not.