With the regular season over, the Cleveland Cavaliers gave out their picks for the major NBA awards.
Per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, 13 Cleveland Cavaliers participated in an anonymous poll “to see how they would vote on the six major” end-of-season NBA awards.
The awards are as follows: Most Valuable Player (MVP); Rookie of the Year (ROY); Most Improved Player; Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY); Sixth Man of the Year; and Coach of the Year (COY).
Though the 13 players aren’t known, it would seem like LeBron James participated, given his recent comments that he “definitely” would vote himself for MVP.
"“I would vote for me,” James told The Associated Press. “The body of work, how I’m doing it, what’s been happening with our team all year long, how we’ve got so many injuries and things of that nature, guys in and out, to be able to still keep this thing afloat, I definitely would vote me.”"
The poll was conducted Wednesday, on the day of the Cavaliers’ regular season finale:
"“… none of the results were unanimous, including LeBron James for MVP, who received 12 votes (James Harden getting the other). No instructions were given (i.e. not being allowed to vote for themselves or their own team, etc.). The rest of the awards went to: Rookie of the Year – Donovan Mitchell (7 votes), Ben Simmons (4), Co-ROY for Mitchell & Simmons (2); Most Improved Player – Victor Oladipo (11), Clint Capela (1), Nikola Jokic (1); Defensive Player of the Year – Rudy Gobert (5), Josh Richardson (2), Paul George (1), Andre Roberson (1), Marcus Smart (1), DeAndre Jordan (1), George Hill (1), Capela (1); Sixth Man – Lou Williams (12), Fred VanVleet (1); Coach of the Year – Quin Snyder (4), Brett Brown (3), Terry Stotts (2), Mike D’Antoni (2), Dwane Casey (2).”"
To recap, the Cavaliers would vote James for MVP (12 votes), Donovan Mitchell for ROY (7 votes), Victor Oladipo for Most Improved Player (11 votes), Rudy Gobert for DPOY (5 votes), Lou Williams for Sixth Man of the Year (12 votes) and Quin Snyder for COY (4 votes).
Only James, Oladipo and Williams would win in landslide victories for the Cavs.
The MVP votes are particularly interesting, as James Harden in considered the frontrunner for the award in the public arena and there is one Cavalier who voted for Harden over James. Of the players who might do such a thing, I believe it could be Kyle Korver or Jose Calderon.
Korver because he seems like he’d point to traditional edges Harden holds, like team wins, and advanced stats like win shares per 48 minutes or Harden’s defensive numbers in isolation.
Calderon because he’s one of the few Cavs with no particular loyalty to James and may just call it how he sees it.
In the heavily debated ROY race, Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell edging out James’ mentee in Philadelphia 76ers point guard Ben Simmons is interesting.
Perhaps most players feel like there’s something to be said of Simmons’ status as a “rookie”. Then again, with former Utah Jazz players in Rodney Hood and George Hill, Mitchell may just have favoritism (and first-hand experience) working in his favor.
The same could be said of Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder edging out Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown for COY.
In this category, it’s also interesting that Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens received no votes despite navigating his team to the second-seed in the East after injuries to Gordon Hayward and then Kyrie Irving.
That Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue received no votes in his own locker room is notable as well.
Lastly, it seems as if Hood gave George Hill a vote for DPOY.
Or, maybe, Hill voted for himself.
While Hill is a solid defender it’s funny as he’s never mentioned in the DPOY conversation and has not a been the same level of a game-changer on defense as former teammate Rudy Gobert. With his pick it seems as if there was at least one Cav who decided to have a little fun with the poll.