Madness of March has been set upon us, most likely shifting our hoops attention towards the NCAA. However, our team here at TSA has found just enough focus to give you another week of our end-of-season previews. Welcome back TSA Readers to our newest set of votes for the NBA 2024 season. This is a week-to-week blog of our assessments for which NBA players we think will earn those coveted awards (MVP, DPOY, etc.) Without further ado….

MVP

Coach Craig – Luka Doncic. Is this the year Luka wins his first MVP? It feels like it as he leads the league in scoring with 34.1 pts, 3rd in assists with 9.8, 17th in rebounds with 9.0 (1st among guards). Luka has played in 61 of 70 games this season despite battling multiple injuries and leading the Mavericks to a 41-29 record.

Evan Bone (@SoCalBallNerd) – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. I get the argument for Jokic and Luka, but if you remove SGA from the Thunder, the drop off is substantially greater for that team than any other team with an MVP candidate in my opinion. That combined with having that same team tied for 1st in the west.

ROY – Still Unanimous – Victor Wembanyama

CC – Pretty easy here. No change since my last vote.

EB – Short list of guys who have averaged 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks per game. He is doing it as a rookie. We all know he is running away with this one.

DPOY – Unanimous – Rudy Gobert

EB – Wemby has shortened the gap but it is still a gap. Not only is Rudy individually dominant and rated as the #1 defender in the league, he also anchors an overall defense that is one of the best as a whole

CC – No change since the last time

CoTY

EB – Jamahl Mosley. Let’s shine some light on the Orlando Magic. When this man took over in 2021, they wanted to lose as many games as possible as an organization. He has this team a 1/2 game out of the 4 seed and potentially hosting a playoff series. He won’t win it, but he deserves some love! He also graduated from the same High School that I did.

CC – Joe Mazzulla. Joe Mazzulla is an above-average coach who doesn’t get the love he deserves. Were the Celtics expected to be good? Yes. Have the Celtics been good? Also Yes. We have seen countless times where good teams do not live up to the hype. Mazzulla gets most of the blame and none of the credit for the Celtics success this season. 56-14 record speaks for itself and Joe Mazzulla and his coaching staff deserve more love.

6th MoTY – Unanimous – Malik Monk

CC – Last time, I picked Bennedict Mathurin whom is, unfortunately, out for the season after shoulder surgery. This time I will bite the chalk and go with Malik Monk of the Sacramento Kings – the betting favorite on multiple sites. Monk has been a key contributor off the bench for the Kings this season.

EB – I just can’t make a case against him right now. He had a down January but has more than made up for it in March. The way he can come in and impact the game with a quickness has to be tops in the league and I don’t see anyone else doing or who has done enough to overtake him at this point.

MIP

EB – Coby White. Not only has he improved the most in the stat column, but most people did not see it coming(even if they knew the workload would be there). He has taken the opportunity and done the most with it. Props to some other candidates ( e.g: Maxey, Jalen Johnson, Sengun) but I think their jumps were much more expected.

CC – Derrick White. I’ll start off by saying I do not think Derrick White will win this award in real life. However, he is quietly having the best season of his career shooting almost 40% from 3, 46% from the field, 4.3 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 15.4 points, 1.0 steals, 1.3 blocks (for a guard!). All of these are career highs!

And there you have it! March looks like a magic month for French-based players, but with the season getting so close to the end, will our unity hold for Wemby and the “Stifle Tower?” More importantly, we’re seeing an uptick of high-caliber players sitting out games due to lingering injuries. Given the 65-game minimum, necessary for award eligibility, could we see someone else earn an award we all feel should go to a player? How would you react if that happened? Stay tuned for more!