NBA award ballots 2021: Several Sixers make the cut
2021 NBA awards ballot: Kasey Kennedy
Most Valuable Player
- Nikola Jokic
- Joel Embiid
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Stephen Curry
- Chris Paul
Defensive Player of the Year
- Ben Simmons
- Rudy Gobert
- Mikal Bridges
Sixth Man of the Year
- Joe Ingles
- Derrick Rose
- Jordan Clarkson
Most Improved Player
- Julius Randle
- Jerami Grant
- Michael Porter Jr.
Rookie of the Year
- Anthony Edwards
- LaMelo Ball
- Tyrese Haliburton
Coach of the Year
- Tom Thibodeau
- Monty Williams
- Doc Rivers
All-NBA First Team
- Chris Paul
- Stephen Curry
- Giannis Antetokounpo
- Nikola Jokic
- Joel Embiid
All-NBA Second Team
- Damian Lillard
- Luka Doncic
- Kawhi Leonard
- Julius Randle
- Rudy Gobert
All-NBA Third Team
- Bradley Beal
- Jrue Holiday
- Paul George
- LeBron James
- Bam Adebayo
All-Defensive First Team
- Ben Simmons
- Mikal Bridges
- Giannis Antetokounpo
- Draymond Green
- Rudy Gobert
All-Defensive Second Team
- Matisse Thybulle
- Jrue Holiday
- Kawhi Leonard
- Bam Adebayo
- Joel Embiid
All-Rookie First Team
- LaMelo Ball
- Tyrese Haliburton
- Anthony Edwards
- Patrick Williams
- Saddiq Bey
All-Rookie Second Team
- Desmond Bane
- Immanuel Quickley
- Isaac Okoro
- Jae’Sean Tate
- Theo Maledon
The hardest part of the ballot for me was putting Nikola Jokic over Joel Embiid. There’s no denying Embiid’s dominance this season, but with so many key players missing major time, you have to take Jokic’s availability into consideration. Not missing a single game during such a bizarre season, plus averaging near triple-double numbers, makes Jokic this year’s MVP.
Simmons gets the nod over Gobert for DPOY due to his versatility, although the advanced stats favor Rudy. I really wanted to make Derrick Rose my Sixth Man, but Ingles has just been so ridiculously efficient off the bench that he gets my imaginary vote here.
Julius Randle should absolutely run away with Most Improved Player, and so should Tom Thibodeau with Coach of the Year. Monty Williams and Doc Rivers were both great this year, but Thibodeau has this Knicks team playing harder than almost every team in the league and is getting good defense out of guys normally considered liabilities.
Rookie of the Year was a really tight race, but Edwards gets my vote because he played all 72 games and the numbers were close. Had he been healthy, Tyrese Haliburton might have won because he was incredible pre-injury.
For my All-NBA ballot, I chose to take advantage of the NBA’s positional flexibility this year by sliding Jokic down to forward. Some might not like it, but Jokic plays more like a point-forward than a center anyway, so it doesn’t bother me. This allowed me to put Embiid at first team center, which I really wanted to do. My hardest snubs on All-NBA were Zion Williamson and Jimmy Butler, but I couldn’t ignore how good Paul George was this year and LeBron has to make a team.
As badly as I wanted to put Tyrese Maxey on one of my All-Rookie teams, he didn’t get consistent enough playing time to merit taking a spot from one of those other guys. I still think he’ll go on to be one of the most successful players from this draft, and he’s flashed high level scoring potential. I made up for it by putting Matisse Thybulle on my second All-Defense team, and I think he has a real chance to make it this year.