More NBA: Staff picks for awards | MVP Runner-up Rankings
Among all his achievements -- a real run at 400 3-pointers, averaging nearly 30 points per game in fewer than 35 minutes, 50/40/90, and all those shots that make us go "ahhhhh" -- perhaps Stephen Curry's greatest accomplishment has been making the sensational seem routine.
For Curry, 38-footers in rhythm and halfcourt heaves seem like layups. An entire generation of youth basketball players are being set up for a lifetime of disappointment -- at least those who, unlike Curry, are human.
As brilliant as he was last season, he's been even better this year -- so much so that a legit case can be made for Curry to win not just his second straight MVP, but also the Most Improved Player award. (Increasing his scoring average by more than six points and shattering his own 3-point record of 268 last season by more than 100 treys was good for third on my ballot in that category.)
The notion that a corner 3-pointer from Curry has as good a chance of going in as a layup from LeBron James? I mean, come on.
As the Warriors have made their push to redefine greatness, trying to surpass the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' mark of 72 wins all the way down to the wire, Curry has continued to reshape what individual greatness and dominance mean.
For those reasons, and all the other obvious ones, he gets my vote for 2015-16 MVP.
Once Curry got going, it quickly became apparent that it would be a race for second place -- just like it has been in the Western Conference for these Warriors. Annually when filling out my official NBA awards ballot, MVP is by far the most subjective. Fittingly, the fine print that comes along with the ballot offers no direction to the voter -- whereas, for example, it's made clear that most improved is designed for an "up and coming player" -- not an established veteran or All-Star who made a comeback or otherwise increased his production.
Most Valuable Player
Stephen Curry, Warriors
My general rule for MVP is to vote for the best player on the best team. That simplifies the analysis, and in most seasons -- including this one -- it's a litmus test that works well. But once you get past Curry, you have to be more flexible in your thinking. You have to start getting into areas that can't really be quantified.
Russell Westbrook had a statistically magic season himself, posting a league-high 18 triple-doubles and becoming just the fourth player in NBA history to average 24 points and 10 assists. Whether he should get extra credit or points docked for being Kevin Durant's teammate is something that can't be defined. On one hand, how ridiculous would his production have been if he'd gotten even half of Durant's touches? (With Durant hitting the free-agent market this summer, we could find out soon enough.) On the other hand, playing alongside Durant, with all the attention he draws, certainly opened up the floor for Russ -- and vice versa.
In any other universe in which Curry doesn't exist, LeBron James put up a season worthy of our collective awe. He's having only the 10th season in league history with 24 points, seven rebounds and 6.5 assists while shooting 50 percent from the field. Of course, four of those seasons have been turned in by -- who else? -- LeBron James. We've become seriously numb to how great he is.
Kawhi Leonard may be the worst quote in the NBA, but he's the best defensive player and now a legitimate offensive threat, too. Leonard is shooting 45 percent from 3-point range on four attempts per game, and 51 percent from the field -- somehow finding time for all that while locking down the opponent's best offensive player, almost regardless of position, every night.
But the deeper you delve into the MVP race, the more important impact and circumstances have; this can't just be a statistical award. This is where the Clippers' Chris Paul enters the discussion -- and for me, gets the nod over these aforementioned and incredibly worthy MVP also-rans.
My preseason MVP pick was Blake Griffin, and that went out the window when he partially tore his quadriceps on Christmas Day and then took a few ill-advised swings at a team equipment staffer. With Griffin missing nearly 50 games, Paul pushed the Clippers to a solid fourth seed in the West. Paul, 30, is posting his second-highest scoring average as a Clipper (19.6) with the second-highest workload of his career (27.2 usage rate). He's fourth in assists per game (9.9), third in steals (2.1) and fifth in efficiency (26.3) while guiding the Clippers to a top-10 finish in offensive and defensive rating and a fourth straight 50-win season -- without Griffin for the majority of the season and with a bench that has been inconsistent at best.
If Paul doesn't get to the conference finals for the first time -- a seemingly impossible task with Golden State and San Antonio standing in the way -- then he'll have to face the depressing music of postseason disappointment that has riddled his career. But the MVP is a regular season award, and Paul gets my nod for the most valuable player in the league not named Stephen Curry.
Berger's Ballot: 1. Curry 2. Paul 3. Leonard 4. James 5. Westbrook
Most Improved Player
This is the one award in which the NBA specifies some criteria, noting that it is intended for an "up and coming player." Nonetheless, when established players like Stephen Curry and Draymond Green improve as much year-to-year as they have, they elbow their way into the discussion.
Green went from one triple-double in his career to 13 this season. Curry produced the greatest statistical improvement of any MVP in league history. Even Kawhi Leonard went from shooting in the 30s from 3-point range to among the league leaders from wire-to-wire this season.
But MIP is not for established stars who get better; it's for a rising player who arrives on the scene and takes advantage of an opportunity. And if it isn't Portland's C.J. McCollum this season, I don't know what a most improved player is.
His scoring average jumped from 6.8 to 20.9 -- no doubt owing to the fact that he went from starting three games last season to nearly every one in 2015-16. But his field-goal and 3-point percentages both improved, his assist percentage doubled and he more than capably stepped in for departed shooting guard Wesley Matthews to help the Trail Blazers improbably make the playoffs after seeing four of their five starters depart via trades and free agency.
The truth is, MIP was just as much of a blowout as MVP.
Berger's Ballot: 1. McCollum 2. Green 3. Curry
Defensive Player of the Year
From LeBron James to Stephen Curry, from Carmelo Anthony to Chris Paul, Kawhi Leonard draws the toughest defensive assignment night after night. And night after night, he renders the best offensive basketball players in the world something much closer to ordinary.
But a great defender also elevates the defense of those around him. Draymond Green does that with the Warriors. In 238 minutes on the floor this season with Green on the bench, Stephen Curry's defensive rating was 106.5. In 2,432 minutes with Green on the floor with him, Curry's defensive rating was 97.5.
The same holds true for Leonard, who elevated Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green to among the top of the league among guards in the most important defensive statistics. That's how important a great defender is; it's no secret that the Warriors and Spurs have been the best teams in the league wire-to-wire.
Berger's Ballot: 1. Leonard 2. Green 3. Rudy Gobert
Rookie of the Year
Karl-Anthony Towns, Timberwolves
Another blowout, as Karl-Anthony Towns owned the top spot in ROY almost from the jump. In New York, Kristaps Porzingis certainly was worthy of the buzz, as well as serious consideration. In a mostly underwhelming rookie class, my third spot goes to Denver's Nikola Jokic and his efficiency rating of 21.47 -- ninth among centers and second only to Towns among rookies.
Berger's Ballot: 1. Towns 2. Kristaps Porzingis 3. Jokic
Sixth Man of the Year
It isn't a rule that the Sixth Man of the Year has to be a volume-shooting guard who comes off the bench for a playoff team, though that's almost always how it works out. Thus, Jamal Crawford's annual candidacy and frequent top-three finishes. And while Crawford certainly is deserving again, I'm going outside the box with my vote this year.
The Sixth Man of the Year should simply be the most productive bench player in the league; unlike MVP, there's no prerequisite for winning. No reserve has been more productive statistically than Denver's Will Barton, and though the Nuggets once again aren't playoff bound, I couldn't ignore his production: 14.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 29 minutes per game in 81 games -- 80 as a reserve.
Berger's Ballot: 1. Barton 2. Crawford 3. Enes Kanter
Coach of the Year
Terry Stotts, Trail Blazers
Perchance I misspoke earlier when I referred to MVP as the most subjective award; this one might very well be it. Especially this season.
This season was an aberration for so many reasons. The Warriors vying for supremacy over the 72-win Bulls. The Spurs going undefeated at home until they finally lost Sunday night -- to the Warriors.
If a team ties -- and then, perhaps, eclipses -- the 72-win Bulls, how could you not give the coach of the year award to that team's coach? That question brings us to the other aberration in a regular season that broke the barometer for measuring team success.
I won't argue for a moment with any esteemed voter who casts his or her lot with Steve Kerr of the Warriors. Seventy-two wins -- and maybe, 73 -- speak for themselves. But the reality is that Kerr, battling debilitating pain from offseason back surgery, wasn't on the sideline for 43 of the Warriors' games and 39 of their 72 wins. Luke Walton was.
While I get that Kerr was the one who created the very culture in which a journeyman assistant could assume the first chair on the bench and start the season 24-0, facts are facts. And while I recognize that Kerr was involved behind the scenes and technically got credit for all those wins, I think it would be insulting to Kerr and to all the lifers and grinders scribbling away on whiteboards from Sioux Falls to Fort Wayne to Grand Rapids to give the league's highest coaching honor to a coach who wasn't on the bench for half the season.
The best coaching job in the NBA under the circumstances was turned in by Terry Stotts in Portland, which lost four of its five starters to trades and free agency and still made the playoffs. Currently, the Blazers are positioned as the fifth seed in the West.
There are many deserving candidates elsewhere in the Association -- as explained here -- but my third spot goes to Gregg Popovich, who also speaks for himself (except in sideline interviews).
Berger's Ballot: 1. Stotts 2. Kerr 3. Popovich
Berger's All-NBA Ballots
First Team
G: Stephen Curry
G: Russell Westbrook
F: LeBron James
F: Kawhi Leonard
Second Team
G: Chris Paul
F: Draymond Green
F: Kevin Durant
Third Team
G: Jimmy Butler
F: Paul George
C: Al Horford
More NBA: Staff picks for awards | MVP Runner-up Rankings
