This season was definitely a fun one. There were multiple Rookie of the Year candidates, Most valuable player candidates and multiple Defensive player of the year candidates. It’s extremely difficult to see who’s going to win each award, but this list will show the potential winners. This list will include ROTY, DPOY, MVP, All-Rookie teams, and All defensive teams in these NBA 2021-2022 Season Award Predictions,
All-Rookie First Team: Scottie Barnes, Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Franz Wagner, Jalen Green
Cunningham started off the year on a tiny cold spell, but the rookie looked pretty good for the rest of the year. Barnes and Mobley were competing against each other for Rookie of the Year due to their impact on their respective teams and both led all rookies in minutes. Wagner was another one of the most consistent rookies this year and his averages as a rookie (he played in 79 games also) were pretty nice at 15.2 points, 4.5 boards, 2.9 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.4 blocks on 47% from the field, 35% from three and 86% from the line. Now the last one is a toss-up between Green and the beloved Thunder player, Josh Giddey. Green played in 67 games compared to Giddey’s 54 but both contributed a ton to their respective teams. Giddey averaged some hefty numbers while Green is a go-to scorer in his system.
All-Rookie Second Team: Jalen Green, Jalen Suggs, Davion Mitchell, Herb Jones, Josh Giddey
Green had a nice season, especially the end of the season when he was dropping 30 every game with ease. Suggs also had some very nice moments for the Magic this season and he had some respectable averages as a rookie. Mitchell had a nice turnaround at the end of the season after Tyrese Haliburton was traded away (still baffling to this day) and he managed some extremely high assist games. Jones has been one of the best defenders in the NBA this season and he has been extremely consistent for the playoff Pelicans. Lastly, Giddey had a very good season for a 19 year old rookie. He managed some triple doubles in his shorter season and he just looked like a grown man with experience out there.
Rookie of the Year: Scottie Barnes
Barnes had a major role in his team’s playoff run. Based on what he was able to do this season, fans everywhere can tell this young guy’s the deal. His versatility was insane as a rookie, as he averaged 15.3 points, 7.5 boards, 3.5 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.7 blocks on 49% from the field, 30% from three and 74% from the line. Not to mention his team made the five seed, largely due to this young rookie’s versatility on the defensive side, playmaking abilities and offensive skillset. As of right now, he might be at the top of the Rookie of the Year list for lots of people. Mobley is definitely going to be giving Barnes a run for his money, but Barnes might be taking it home this year.
Most Valuable Player: Nikola Jokic
There’s not much to say about Jokic other than the fact that he’s going to be remembered in the NBA history books for a while. This season is no different than his other campaigns. His averages are other-worldly: 27.1 points, 13.8 boards, 7.9 dimes, 1.5 steals, 0.9 blocks, and 3.8 turnovers on 58% from the field, 34% from three, and 81% from the line. Jokic was leading his team without two of their other max players in Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. With Jokic leading this team, they were able to make it to the six seed. Jokic led his team in every statistic and not only his team, but he led the league in many analytical statistics. This guy had a historical season and he’s going to hopefully go far in this years playoffs.
Defensive Player of the Year: Marcus Smart
Smart has been one of the main reasons for this teams stellar defensive output. This season, Smart averaged 1.7 steals and 0.3 blocks a game. Boston has been the best defensive unit in the NBA since the all-star break and Smart is a major reason why. Smart had a defensive rating of 107.1 which is tenth best in the NBA. If Smart were to win, he would be the first guard to win the award since Gary Payton. It’s going to be a tight race between him, Mikal Bridges and Rudy Gobert, however as both of these guys are having some nice defensive seasons themselves. Gobert, in fact is first in defensive rating at an insane 103.2.
Sixth Man of the Year: Tyler Herro
Herro is having an amazing season off the bench this year. He started 10 out of a possible 66 games this season and he managed to put up some very healthy averages: 20.7 points, five boards, four assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.1 blocks on 45% from the field, 40% from three, and 87% from the line. Herro was a major reason for their successful season and his scoring punch off the bench helped this team out tremendously. It’s going to be a fun playoff run for him and the team. Hopefully, he can keep the magic coming off the bench.
Coach of the Year: Erik Spoelstra
Spoelstra is one of the masterminds of the NBA and this season was no different. The guy just has a knack for finding players and helping them perform to the best of their abilities. The guy is one of the best coaches this league has seen and he again led his team to the one seed this year. Remember, this one seeded Heat team was missing Victor Oladipo, Bam Adebayo, Markieff Morris, Kyle Lowry, and Jimmy Butler for a lot of the season. Not to mention that he has multiple undrafted players playing key roles (Gabe Vincent, Duncan Robinson and Max Strus). It would be kind of surprising if Spoelstra didn’t win Coach of the Year. This is the list of NBA 2021-2022 Season Award Predictions and hopefully, everyone mentioned above gets their due diligence, but there are too many candidates to leave out.