NBA awards part 1

It’s just past the halfway mark in the NBA basketball season and there have been several surprises already this season. With the season being half over I decided to give my predictions in two different blog posts on who I think is the Most Valuable Player (MVP), Rookie of the Year (ROY), 6^th man of the Year, and the Coach of the Year.

Let’s start with the MVP award. We all know players like Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Durant are going to be in the race for MVP, but nobody probably would’ve predicted my top two candidates before the season started. The top two players in my opinion are Amare Stoudemire, and Derrick Rose. Amare Stoudemire signed a max deal to go play for the New York Knicks. Critics thought Stoudemire wouldn’t be the same player without Steve Nash, but he’s shown critics that he can play on a big stage without Nash and has brought back excitement to Madison Square Garden. While leading the Knicks to a 24-22 start he is averaging 26.0 points per game (PPG), 9.0 rebounds (RBG), and 2 blocks a game (BPG). The other player in my top two is Derrick Rose. Rose made a bold statement to start the year saying, “Why can’t I be MVP?” With Rose being so young most people thought it’s good he wants to be the best, but didn’t see him as an actual contender for MVP. Now several months into the season sports writers and analysts have Rose as a serious MVP candidate. Rose has led the Chicago Bulls to a 32-14 start and has often been playing with out key players such as Carlos Boozer, and Joakim Noah. Rose has averaged 24.6 PPG, 4.6 RBG, and 8.1 assists per game (APG). Picking between these two players is tough but I’m going to go with Derrick Rose because the Chicago Bulls under his direction have consistently been winning this season. Amare is a great leader, but the Knick go up and down way to much for me to name him my MVP.

            The second award in this blog will be ROY. Two rookies stand out over all others this season. Those rookies are Blake Griffin and John Wall. Blake Griffin was actually drafted in 2009 by the Los Angeles Clippers, but missed his first season due to a knee injury. This year he is healthy and showing the world his skills. The “Blake Show” has gained national spotlight with Griffin making the “Top Ten Plays” on ESPN practically every night. Griffin is averaging 22.6 PPG, and 12.8 RPG. The other rookie is John Wall. After playing one season at Kentucky Wall became the number one overall pick by the Washington Wizards in the 2010 draft. With things getting ugly the last few years with the Gilbert Arenas gun incident the Wizards needed a fresh start. Dealing Arenas to Orlando is exactly what John Wall needed to become the man in Washington. Wall is averaging 15.1 PPG, and 9.3 APG. My ROY prediction is Blake Griffin. With Griffin throwing down monster dunks every night and making national headlines it’s easy to forget Wall is having a great first season. Also, after a slow start for the L.A Clippers Blake Griffin has made them a very competitive team who have beaten several good NBA teams like the L.A Lakers, Miami Heat, and Chicago Bulls. Check out who Drake, Brock and Rob predict to win MVP and ROY.

Drake- MVP- Amare Stoudemire ROY- John Wall

Brock- MVP- Derrick Rose ROY- Blake Griffin

Rob- MVP- Derrick Rose ROY- Blake Griffin

The DRAB 4 blogger,

Alex Grana