2019-20 NBA Awards Predictions

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to our second YouTube video. Joe and I are going to be breaking down our NBA award predictions for the 2019-2020 season. Before we get into the video, we have to make a quick announcement. Our giveaway that we've been mentioning in our past YouTube video and on TikTok is officially live on our Instagram page. Joe and I are going to be giving away one authentic NBA jersey. So make sure you check out our Instagram at strictlybeabout.tv for all the details of how to enter the giveaway. The first award that we're going to be talking about is the coach of the year. Let's take a look at some of the candidates. We're going to be starting off with Eric Spoelstra. He, without a doubt, is one of the best coaches in the league right now and his work this season may be his best yet. Now, without much superstar talent, he has pretty much exceeded everyone's expectations this season, including my own, going 41-24. And a lot of that can be contributed to Eric Spoelstra. Billy Donovan is another coach who can be considered for this award. He entered the season on the hot seat, but the Thunder have blown everyone's expectations out of the water as they're fighting for a home court spot in the playoffs. Some more notable candidates for this award can be seen as Mike Boonhauser and Frank Vogel, but we're going to give the crown to Nick Nurse. I think we all thought the Raptors were pretty crazy when they fired 2018 coach of the year Dwayne Casey to hire Nick Nurse, but that decision could not have gone any better. This season, after his best player in the reigning finals MVP Kawhi Leonard left, Nick Nurse led the team to the second spot in the East. Their winning percentage this year is very similar to the winning percentage they had last year with Kawhi Leonard, which pretty much exceeds everyone's expectations. Nick Nurse, wonderful job. The next NBA award we're going to be covering is Sixth Man of the Year. The first candidate worth mentioning is Derek Rhodes, Lew Will is also worth mentioning as he is averaging 19 points per game. One of the most accomplished six men of all time. And for our actual picks for this award, Nolan and I disagree, but I'm going with Dennis Schroeder. The Thunder have been exceeding everyone's expectations this season and Schroeder's bench production is a big reason for that. He's averaging 19 points per game off their bench. Here's a good stat that points out Schroeder's impact for the Thunder. Their lineup with him playing with the starters is ranked as the My pick for Sixth Man of the Year, Montrezl Harrell. Harrell is averaging 19 and 7, some of the best numbers from any big man in the league right now. He without a doubt is one of the most fierce interior players in the league. His energy and scoring output that he provides off the bench is something that the Clippers can count on every single night. His presence is going to be such a crucial factor in the Clippers postseason success. I can see him averaging a double-double in the playoffs. The next award we're going to be talking about is the Most Improved Player. Some of the notable candidates for this award are Luka Doncic, who made the jump from stardom to superstardom, future all-star SGA, and my favorite young talent in the NBA, Jason Tatum. But my pick for Most Improved Player is Bam Edebayo. In his first two NBA seasons, he showed that he was a pretty good center off the bench who could rebound and block shots. But when Whiteside got traded from the Heat and Bam became the starter, I don't think anybody expected him to become an elite passer. Bam's assist rate this year has been 23.6, which has only been done by 15 other big men in NBA history. Bam has increased in almost every statistical category. His points have jumped from 9 to 16. In my opinion, he's made the biggest jump this year. And my pick for this season's Most Improved Player, I gotta go with Brandon Ingram. He has improved his points per game by 8, proving that he can be the number one scoring option on a future playoff caliber team. B.I. has established himself as an all-star this season, displaying an elite offensive production. I think that he's going to develop into one of the top scorers in the league, and he's going to be such a crucial piece in the Pelicans' future playoff success. The next award we're going to be covering is Defensive Player of the Year. Some notable players to mention can be seen as Ben Simmons and the man who shut down the entire league, Rudy Gobert. My pick for Defensive Player of the Year is TheGreekFree. Giannis has the best defensive rating in the entire league, and the third best defensive reel plus minus. His ability to be an elite defender on the perimeter and interior makes him the most valuable defensive player in this entire league. Best defensive player on the best defensive team in the Bucs, Giannis Antetokounmpo. My pick for Defensive Player of the Year, Anthony Davis. Now I would argue that AD has had the most defensive impact on a team this season. He's averaging 2.4 blocks per game and 1.5 steals per game. His defensive versatility and elite shot blocking skills is a big contributor to the Lakers' overall success this season. The next award we're going to be talking about is the Rookie of the Year. There is only two candidates worth mentioning for this award, and our runner-up is Zion Williamson. Zion is averaging 29 points per game per 36 minutes on nearly 60% shooting from the field, but he only played 19 games because he missed a lot of time with injury. If he would have played more games, he definitely would have had a chance at this award. Now with mentioning Zion, I'm pretty sure we all can come to the conclusion of who our Rookie of the Year is, Ja Morant. He's averaging a solid 18-7, leading the Grizzlies to the 8th seed in the West. I think Ja has already established himself as an elite point guard in this league, and I see him as an all-star starter in years to come. Both Zion and Ja possess generational-type talent, and I'm very excited to see the growth of these two young stars. And to finish off our award predictions, we're going to be covering MVP. Our runner-up for this award is the King, LeBron James. He's averaging 26-8-11, leading the Lakers to the first seed in the Western Conference. This is the most assists the King has ever averaged by 1.5. The King's success is displayed through making everyone else on his team better, and this is shown by the Lakers' success this season. He's 35, ladies and gentlemen. But when we're talking about the regular season, we gotta go with the reigning MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo. Giannis is averaging 30 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 assists, leading the Bucs to nearly a 70-win pace. You could say the Greek Freak is the most dominant player, both offensively and defensively, in the league right now. As I mentioned earlier, I think Giannis is the most valuable defensive player in the league, and he's averaging 30 points per game. This is going to be the second of many MVP awards to come for Giannis. Thank you guys for watching this video. Make sure you comment who you think should win all these awards. Don't forget the giveaway is live on our Instagram. Make sure you guys enter, and good luck to everyone. you