Sports
November 27, 2021, 4:14 pm No Comments
The NBA season is officially underway, so I thought it would be fun to predict next year to the best of my abilities.
Let’s start with the awards:
Stephen Curry, PG, Golden State Warriors
This may be biased, considering the fact that I live in the Bay Area. However, I watched nearly every Warriors game last season and Stephen Curry was unbelievable. In the last 23 games of the season, Curry averaged 37 points per game.
The only problem is that the Warriors’ supporting cast was absolute garbage. Golden State finished with a 39-35 record, including the two play-in game losses, narrowly missing out on the playoffs, but this wasn’t Steph’s fault.
The Dubs’ record was one of the biggest reasons Curry lost out on the MVP award, but they should be much better this year with the return of Klay Thompson and the hopeful rise of 3rd-year guard Jordan Poole.
Steph’s numbers shouldn’t be down too much from the previous year, and the team’s record should massively improve. Therefore, I believe that Wardell Stephen Curry II will become the 9th player in NBA history to win at least 3 MVP trophies.
The rest of the top 5 in MVP voting
2. Giannis Antetokounmpo, PF, Milwaukee Bucks
3. Trae Young, PG, Atlanta Hawks
4. Nikola Jokic, C, Denver Nuggets
5. Kevin Durant, F, Brooklyn Nets
Jordan Poole, SG, Golden State Warriors
Last year Poole, the 3rd year Warriors guard, averaged 12 points and 2 assists in 51 games, but he completely broke out this pre-season, dropping 21.8 PPG.
Since Klay Thompson will miss the first 35-40% of the season, it’s easy to see Poole averaging around 19 points and 3.5 assists this year with what should be a much bigger offensive load.
In addition, I believe all the buzz Poole got this pre-season will definitely help him with the voters.
Jordan Clarkson, G, Jazz
The Sixth Man of the Year award usually goes to one of the highest volume bench scorers in the league. Clarkson gets a lot of points; it’s pretty simple.
Bam Adebayo, C, Miami Heat
Bam almost wins this award by default in my opinion. The Jazz’s Center Rudy Gobert is clearly the most impactful defender during the regular season, but the (unfair) Gobert hate reached an all-time high, so it will essentially be impossible for him to win the award unless he is so clearly the best defensive player.
The 76ers Ben Simmons, who finished 2nd in last year’s voting, is also pretty much out of the race with all the wild off-season drama surrounding him. (Simmons is essentially sitting out games because he wants to be traded from 76ers, but they aren’t budging.)
Giannis Antetokounmpo (PF Milwaukee Bucks) is a great option, but he has too much of an offensive workload; there’s a great chance he coasts through the regular season, at least defensively, after his championship win last year.
The Lakers Anthony Davis and the 76ers Joel Embiid, two other big men, also have the upside to win the award. Their health is too big of a question mark for me due to their injury history in the past.
In addition, perimeter defenders don’t have the defensive impact to win the award, so that essentially leaves Adebayo in terms of defensive big men.
Bam is obviously an amazing defender who can protect the rim at an elite level and guard all 5 positions effectively. It also helps that Miami should have one of the best team defenses in the entire league.
Cade Cunningham, G/F, Detroit Pistons
I honestly don’t have much to say about this one. The rookie of the year race is really between 3 players: Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green, and Jalen Suggs.
I’m going with Cunningham because, in my opinion, he’s the best of the bunch.
This rookie of the year race will be really similar to the Donovan Mitchell-Ben Simmons one from 2018. Green will most likely put up the higher scoring numbers, but Cunningham will probably put up more well-rounded numbers along with better defense.
Simmons won the race in 2018; Cunningham wins it this year.
Hot take: The Atlanta Hawks will be a top-two seed
The Hawks made major waves last season, shocking the world and advancing all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, and I believe they will ride the moment into the regular season.
The Hawks basically returned every big player from last season; they’re also a very young team.
Deandre Hunter, Cam Reddish, Onyeka Okongwu, Trae Young, Kevin Huerter, and John Collins are all under 25 years old and should improve next season.
Hunter, a 3rd year defensive-minded forward, missed 49 of 72 games last season, so (hopefully) having him back for a full season should help a ton.
In order for Atlanta to grab a 2 seed, they need to finish with a better regular-season record than 2 of Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Brooklyn.
The 76ers will likely be without Ben Simmons for most of the year, and there’s a great chance the Nets will not be with star guard Kyrie Irving. Therefore, I predict that
My heart wants to pick the Warriors so badly, but my brain is keeping me in check.
However, I do have a lot of confidence in this Warriors team, so I am picking them to make it out of the Western Conference.
With that said, I believe the NBA champion will come down to either Brooklyn or Milwaukee.
The two teams will likely battle it out in an insanely competitive Eastern Conference finals, but I believe Milwaukee will leverage their home-court advantage to win the series in 7 games.
Milwaukee and Golden State meet in the finals in a matchup of Steph vs. Giannis.
Finals Pick: Milwaukee Bucks defeat Golden State Warriors 4-1
Finals MVP: Giannis Antetokounmpo
Conference Finals
West: Warriors defeat Jazz 4-2
East: Bucks defeat Nets 4-3
West:
East
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