For me personally James Harden has been irreplaceable for the Houston Rockets this season.
The injury bug had struck the team hard this season taking away Patrick Beverly for the postseason and Dwight Howard for most of the regular season.
Houston was meant to sink down the Western Conference and maybe even out of the playoff picture but due to the brilliance of James Harden he kept the team afloat.
The jaw dropping scoring numbers and improved defence of Harden have allowed him to drag a seemingly mediocre team on paper when injuries are accounted for to the number 2 seed in the WC,
Even though Stephen Curry wizardry on the court and the 'best player on best team' argument goes heavily in his favour this is the MVP award and no player has been more of an MVP to their team that Harden.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Deandre Jordan
Deandre Jordan is my pick for defensive player of the year and its not because of the fact he is 5th in he NBA in blocks and first in rebounds or leading the NBA in defensive win shares.The reason Deandre is my DPOY is because of the things that don't show up in the box score.
The endless amounts of shots he changes as he has no learnt to suppress his urge to block every shot and focus on positioning, The huge amount of drives to the hole he prevents as slashers turn away in fear of Jordan swatting their shots. Jordan's dominance extends far beyond the box score and this must be considered.
Deandre has played all 82 games this season unlike many of the other candidates in the conversation and the Clips' average defence cannot be blamed on him but the pieces around him.
Lastly, unlike Draymond Green, Anthony Davis, Rudy Gobert and other DPOY candidates DJ has had more coach support than any other. Scott Brooks, Brad Stevens and Byron Scott have all sung DJ's praises about his defense. I have no reason to believe anybody else other than Deandre Jordan is the DPOY.
Sixth Man Of The Year: Isaiah Thomas
The argument here is simple. Jamal Crawford although he has been fantastic this season he simply has missed too many games this season to win the award. Therefore the argument boils down to Lou Williams and Isaiah Thomas.
Thomas has the edge in scoring which is a vital part of the SMOTY argument and though both players have been a fantastic source of offense for there clubs Isaiah's offense has meant more to The Boston Celtics since Isaiah help drag a very young, inexperience roster from the depths of the Eastern Conference to a playoff berth. Without him, no playoffs. Therefore, Isaiah my pick
Rookie Of The Year: Nikola Mirotic
My top 2 candidates for this award was Nikola Mirotic of the Chicago Bulls and Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves. I chose Nikola because although Wiggins has put up bigger numbers over the whole season as a whole Nikola has been of fire for the 2nd half of the season as has put up more meaningful numbers for a team that has championship aspirations and depends on his offence.
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