With the 2021 regular season in the rearview mirror and the playoffs well underway, we at The Sixer Sense have decided to unveil our annual award ballots. Unfortunately, our votes do not count toward the real thing, but we hope our thoughts still hold weight. Several Sixers happened to crack the conversation this year.
Four writers here at the site — myself, Jonathan Geib, Kasey Kennedy, and Lucas Johnson — submitted ballots this season. Here are our picks.
2021 NBA awards ballot — Christopher Kline
Most Valuable Player
- Nikola Jokic
- Joel Embiid
- Stephen Curry
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Luka Doncic
Defensive Player of the Year
- Rudy Gobert
- Ben Simmons
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
Sixth Man of the Year
- Joe Ingles
- Thaddeus Young
- T.J. McConnell
Most Improved Player
- Julius Randle
- Christian Wood
- Jerami Grant
Rookie of the Year
- LaMelo Ball
- Anthony Edwards
- Tyrese Haliburton
Coach of the Year
- Monty Williams
- Doc Rivers
- Tom Thibodeau
All-NBA First Team
- Stephen Curry
- Luka Doncic
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Joel Embiid
- Nikola Jokic
All-NBA Second Team
- Chris Paul
- Damian Lillard
- Kawhi Leonard
- Julius Randle
- Rudy Gobert
All-NBA Third Team
- Kyrie Irving
- James Harden
- Paul George
- Jayson Tatum
- Bam Adebayo
All-Defensive First Team
- Ben Simmons
- Matisse Thybulle
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Bam Adebayo
- Rudy Gobert
All-Defensive Second Team
- Jrue Holiday
- Jimmy Butler
- Draymond Green
- Joel Embiid
- Clint Capela
All-Rookie First Team
- LaMelo Ball
- Tyrese Haliburton
- Anthony Edwards
- Jae’Sean Tate
- Saddiq Bey
All-Rookie Second Team
- Immanuel Quickley
- Desmond Bane
- Isaac Okoro
- Patrick Williams
- Isaiah Stewart
My ballot is mostly straight forward. Even as a writer for this beloved site, and a very dedicated connoisseur of Joel Embiid success narratives, I simply cannot ignore Nikola Jokic’s holistically brilliant 2021 campaign. This isn’t a “Joel didn’t play enough games” award. It’s a “Jokic is one of the best offensive players of his generation” award.
The same for Defensive Player of the Year. Ben Simmons is truly wonderful and his singular versatility deserves all the praise. That said, there is something to be said for elite rim protection. Rudy Gobert served as the anchor for an elite Jazz defense, and he continues to single-handedly alter the calculus of every offense he opposes. This was a signature season from arguably the signature defender of his generation. The Philadelphia fandom can only shrug and move on.
Beyond that, my ballot is pretty straight forward. I did not put two Jazz players on my Sixth Man of the Year ballot because you cannot, by mathematical definition, have two sixth men on the same team. My argument for Matisse Thybulle on First Team All-Defense can be found right here.
The Sixers are well represented overall. Even of Embiid and Simmons don’t take home the two big awards, having two players in the top-2 for MVP and DPOY is no small feat. Also, having three of the 10 most impactful defenders in basketball is significant — and most definitely what Doc Rivers and company will hang their hats on this postseason.
Oh, and also, where’s the Coach of the Year love for Doc Rivers? He has been almost universally excluded from the conversation and that feels strange given the progress Philadelphia has made in just one season. Monty Williams is my pick, but Rivers deserves recognition too.
2021 NBA awards ballot: Jonathan Geib
Most Valuable Player
- Joel Embiid
- Chris Paul
- Nikola Jokic
- LeBron James
- Stephen Curry
Defensive Player of the Year
- Ben Simmons
- Rudy Gobert
- Bam Adebayo
Sixth Man of the Year
- Jordan Clarkson
- Derrick Rose
- Montrezl Harrell
Most Improved Player
- Julius Randle
- Michael Porter Jr.
- Jerami Grant
Rookie of the Year
- LaMelo Ball
- Anthony Edwards
- Immanuel Quickley
Coach of the Year
- Tom Thibodeau
- Quin Snyder
- Monty Williams
All-NBA First Team
- Stephen Curry
- Damian Lillard
- James Harden
- Nikola Jokic
- Joel Embiid
All-NBA Second Team
- Chris Paul
- Luka Doncic
- Kawhi Leonard
- LeBron James
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
All-NBA Third Team
- Devin Booker
- Jayson Tatum
- Kevin Durant
- Zion Williamson
- Rudy Gobert
All-Defensive First Team
- Ben Simmons
- Jrue Holiday
- Bam Adebayo
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Rudy Gobert
All-Defensive Second Team
- Matisse Thybulle
- Marcus Smart
- Kawhi Leonard
- Draymond Green
- Joel Embiid
All-Rookie First Team
- LaMelo Ball
- Immanuel Quickley
- Anthony Edwards
- Jae’Sean Tate
- James Wiseman
All-Rookie Second Team
- Tyrese Haliburton
- Cole Anthony
- Saddiq Bey
- Isaac Okoro
- Isaiah Stewart
The most intriguing NBA award every year is the Most Valuable Player award mainly because there is no one definition that people can agree on. Should the award be given to the player who has the greatest impact on his team or to the player who is the best player on one of the best teams? By definition of valuable, LeBron James should theoretically win this award every year, but that has not been the case. This season, Joel Embiid is the Most Valuable Player no matter how you define it. Embiid is the most dominant and unguardable player in the NBA and has had the most impact on his team’s success.
The Sixers should earn a number of accolades as Ben Simmons is unquestionably deserving of Defensive Player of the Year. He can lock down pretty much any player in the league and his size and quickness gives him the versatility to guard players at all five positions. Simmons, along with Embiid and Matisse Thybulle, deserves All-NBA Defensive team honors this year.
Also deserving of recognition this year is what is happening at Madison Square Garden. Tom Thibodeau has turned the New York Knicks franchise around in one year and did not do it by any big-name signings or trades. Thibodeau is a demanding coach who plays his starters more minutes than any other coach in the league. This method has proved effective this season as Julius Randle is playing at an MVP-finalist caliber and propelling this recently disgraced franchise into the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons. Thibodeau has earned Coach of the Year and Randle has earned Most Improved Player by a large margin. I do not root for the Knicks in any capacity as a Sixers fan, but I am intrigued to see how this Knicks team plays in the postseason.
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.
2021 NBA awards ballot: Lucas Johnson
Most Valuable Player
- Nikola Jokic
- Joel Embiid
- Stephen Curry
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Julius Randle
Defensive Player of the Year
- Ben Simmons
- Rudy Gobert
- Nerlens Noel
Sixth Man of the Year
- Jordan Clarkson
- Derrick Rose
- Carmelo Anthony
Most Improved Player
- Julius Randle
- Jerami Grant
- Jaylen Brown
Rookie of the Year
- LaMelo Ball
- Anthony Edwards
- Tyrese Haliburton
Coach of the Year
- Tom Thibodeau
- Monty Williams
- Doc Rivers
All-NBA First Team
- Stephen Curry
- Damian Lillard
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Joel Embiid
- Nikola Jokic
All-NBA Second Team
- Chris Paul
- Luka Doncic
- Kawhi Leonard
- Zion Williamson
- Julius Randle
All-NBA Third Team
- Russell Westbrook
- Bradley Beal
- Jaylen Brown
- Jayson Tatum
- Rudy Gobert
All-Defensive First Team
- Ben Simmons
- Jrue Holiday
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Draymond Green
- Rudy Gobert
All-Defensive Second Team
- Chris Paul
- Matisse Thybulle
- Jimmy Butler
- Kawhi Leonard
- Nerlens Noel
All-Rookie First Team
- LaMelo Ball
- Cole Anthony
- Tyrese Haliburton
- Anthony Edwards
- Saddiq Bey
All-Rookie Second Team
- Tyrese Maxey
- Immanuel Quickley
- Theo Maledon
- Jae’Sean Tate
- Isaiah Stewart
Let me start with my All-NBA selections. It’s unusual to have two centers on an All-NBA team, but both Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic deserve to be in the first team. Zion Williams, Julius Randle, Bradley Beal, and Jaylen Brown also make their first All-NBA teams.
Outside of Rudy Gobert, the All-Defensive first team is full of versatile defenders. Three of the players can defend all five positions and Jrue Holiday can guard three to four positions. Nerlens Noel and Matisse Thybulle are unsung heroes on their teams who have earned their first All-Defensive team selections.
No centers in my All-Rookie first team. In fact, there is only one forward in Saddiq Bey on that team. This is a strong guard class as there are three guards on the second team as well. I have Tyrese Maxey making this team for his elite flashes this year.
As much as I believe that Joel Embiid has been the best overall player in 2021, the time he’s missed this season can’t be ignored and by default, Nikola Jokic is my MVP. Stephen Curry made a strong case for the award at the end of the year.
To see this level of improvement from Julius Randle and it resulting in his team winning, make him the obvious choice for the Most Improved Player award. Jerami Grant made a legit push for the award, but he was on a losing team. While growth from Jaylen Brown was somewhat expected, this level of growth wasn’t, so that’s why he’s on my ballot.
Ben Simmons is clearly my Defensive Player of the Year. He’s the most versatile defender and has rarely lost individual matchups. Rudy Gobert is still an elite defender at the center position, but is limited. The same could be said about Nerlens Noel, but what he has done in Mitchell Robinson’s absence can’t be ignored.
Deciding who was the Rookie of the Year was tough for me due to the injury to LaMelo Ball and the resurgence of production from Anthony Edwards. However, Ball impacted winning on a higher level so ended up getting my vote for the award.
Stats don’t lie, so my choice for Sixth Man of the Year has to be Jordan Clarkson of the Utah Jazz. Though I will say that if Derrick Rose had been with the New York Knicks from the beginning of the year he’d have a really strong case for the award. What Carmelo Anthony has done with the Portland Trail Blazers should get him some recognition, too.
Tom Thibodeau is my clear winner for Coach of the Year. The New York Knicks didn’t add a star this offseason, yet he turned that team around. Monty Williams has done something similar with the Phoenix Suns but he’s had some help from Chris Paul. Doc Rivers should get some love too for what he’s done with the Sixers.