The previous week’s theme was Movement – a reflection of all the moving parts witnessed of this season up until the time of the previous post. This week’s theme – it’s antithesis: Stagnation. The candidates listed this week have made plays which have convinced us of their unyielding energy and steadfastness for their candidacies. The following picks don’t want you to look elsewhere for a choice, and if their play continues, they won’t move.

MVP – SGA

JR – Now we’re getting down to volume of games played, and SGA is doing what MVP’s do – withstand the test of TIME. At his pace, he’s attempting to heavily distance himself in the scoring category, while pushing the Thunder for the number 1 overall seed. At this point, he just needs to end the season on a mid-note to win it.

Rico – Playing back to back games against Jokic, who’s right behind him in the MVP race, then going on the road to play the defending champs and playing as well as he did in all 3 games…yeah he’s got it in my opinion.

RoTY – Stephon Castle

Rico – I had to do a dive into the rookie class bit more, because I haven’t really been too invested in this class. That being said…Castle is the future of this Spurs teams along with Wemby when he comes back. Pair him with Fox…I like where they’re headed.

JR – He has been playing like a starter in the absence of his veteran core. While that benefits him in the statistical category, its the fact that he’s unyielding in the presence of a huge change in his organization and steadfast in his growth and production. He may get overlooked due to the standings of the Spurs, but he’s forming a better presence in the ROTY conversation.

CoTY – JJ Redick (Mark Daigneault)

JR – Mark Daigneault – Good coaches get teams to win. Great coach get teams to will. This coach has weathered a bunch of key injuries on his team, and has found a way to get his team – shorthanded or not at times – to will themselves to wins. That’s a very dangerous trait to battle when you’re an opponent eyeing the post-season. Yes, other coaches have gotten their teams to play better, but this team is a team to FEAR.

Rico – JJ Redick – A lot of people didn’t think he had what it took to be a head coach after being on a podcast with LeBron. Fast forward to March…Lakers are currently a top 4 seed and he’s managed to coach this roster well with a good amount of turnover from when the season first started. He should not only be in the conversation…he should be the front runner.

6MoTY – Payton Pritchard

Rico – His role with the Celtics has grown exponentially over the course of the year and it’s shown. Currently averaging 14 points this year and being a key piece to this Boston team…he’s more than deserving of the award…along with another one.

JR – This is a player that has improved enough to be a starter for Boston, but his playing the hell out his bench role, and sometimes shooting Boston back into wins. His nose for a rebound helps the “dawg” feature of a Boston team looking to repeat. If they do, Pritchard is definitely a key reason why.

MIP – Cade Cunningham

JR – It took the favor of the gods, a key injury, a year and a coaching change to make it happen, but we’re seeing the sort of leap we hoped to see out of the likes of Paolo Banchero, Josh Giddey, Scoot Henderson and so on. Before the season started, i asked “who’s team is this?”
Cade is answering that by being the guy every single night. He’s improved his ball-handling skills and makes the most of his minutes. My only hope is that the same breadth of which i mentioned these other players, I would also see an even bigger jump in the following season; the aforementioned have not.

DPoY – Evan Mobley

Rico – The anchor for the top team in the East. He’s played in 58/65 games this year and produced on both offense and defense this year, and helped the Cavs go on 2 impressive winning streaks this year.

As you can read, the overall theme here is that top performers are giving top performances at the top. They’re managing to stay there too. We could argue CoTY based on whatever standards you have towards coaching, and yet overall performance will be an anchoring theme for all of our talks. Yes, the Sixth Man of the Year could either go with the Most Improved Player as well, but who likes ties? No eligible candidate is playing like they’re going for a tie. Stubbornness is staying power, and so far, our candidates are sticking to their point, feet in the sand, line drawn, ten toes in.