NBA Season 2015-2016 Updates: Awards Predictions for MVP, Coach of the Year, and Others

Posted by Staff writer on Oct 19, 2015 06:00 AM EDT

Close

more big

Now that NBA Season 2015-2016 is drawing near, all ears and eyes are on the potential awardees and predictions being made by some experts in the league.

Sean Deveney and Adi Joseph of Sporting News are giving us some glimpse and highlights on the possible awardees of the upcoming NBA Season 2015-2016 whose regular season would commence this coming October 27. On a published article at sportingnews, Sean Deveney and Adi Joseph chose to have their own pick for particular categories, and most of the choices are distinct from each other's opinion.

Rookie of the Year

For the rookie of the year, Deveney opted to choose a guard position in the person of Emmanuel Mudiay from the Denver Nuggets. With his drive and kick style, Mudiay is expected to bring energy to his team. The numbers of veteran players in Nuggets are also expected to help this rookie to learn the NBA ways quickly in order to make the rookie be easily attuned to plays of his new team.

In contrast, Adi Joseph has chosen Jahlil Okafor from the 76ers for the NBA rookie of the year award. Though Joseph predicted that Philadelphia would have a bad season, he still banks on Okafor ball skills. He thinks that with Okafor's mature footwork and skill, he can take advantage of 76ers lack of best players in their rooster.

Defensive Player of the Year

In the aspect of defense, both Joseph and Deveney are unanimous in voicing out their NBA Season 2015-2016 Defensive Player of the Year. Both critics are one in saying that for NBA Season 2015-2016, Rudy Gobert from the Utah Jazz would be this NBA Season's Defensive Player of the Year. Though relatively new in the league, Gobert, showed his dominance through size and athleticism while protecting the rim. Joseph together with Jazz general manager, Dennis Lindsey, believes that Gobert is perfect in Jazz especially if paired with Derrick Favors. Joseph stated that Gobert and "Favors are unbeatable frontcourt pairing on the defensive end. Their athleticism and versatility force opponents off pick and rolls and keep the rim protected well."

Most Valuable Player

Though Joseph and Deveney had a similar opinion with regards to the defensive player of the year, both critics parted ways upon deciding who will be the NBA Season 2015-2016 MVP. Joseph picks the crowd favorite LeBron James to be his man for the NBA Most Valuable Player this season. He believes that defense is not a question for James for he already won the said award four times. His main concern lies with the capacity of the Cavaliers to win 60 games despite injuries, especially that Iman Shumpert is out early this season. This would be the best time for James to prove that he is worth another MVP title.

On the flipside of it, Deveney opted to choose Kevin Durant as his contender for the NBA Season 2015-2016 Most Valuable Player. Deveney anchors his choice on the things that Durant has to prove upon his return to the hard court. Durant is hungry for a title, especially after having a disappointing Thunder season because of injuries.

Coach of the Year

After giving due credit to some NBA players in the league, Joseph and Deveney made their pick for the NBA Season 2015-2016 Coach of the Year. This award prediction is quite a tough decision to make, but Deveney has chosen former NBA player Jason Kidd for his coach of the year. Kidd who established a defensive trajectory last year would again be honing his craft together with the new addition, Greg Monroe.

Kidd made some significant adjustments together with the culture change of their team, after general manager John Hammond pulled together a new roster. Kidd was able to manage both the changes of rosters and the culture makeover that Bucks undergone, and hopefully this year he could bring out the potential of his team.

On the other side of the coin, Joseph opted to choose a relatively veteran coach, Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat. He believes that credit should be given to this champion coach especially that a star player left his team and still he managed to handle the change if not for some series of injuries. Even if you would be looking over the past seasons, Spoelstra should have been given a credit for handling and balancing each personality of his team members, especially having 3 star players on his roosters.

The ones presented by both experts are not exact by its very nature. But with the preseason games and records of some players involved, they have rightly made such awards predictions for NBA Season 2015-2016.

Are you satisfied with the given NBA Season 2015-2016 Awards Predictions? Feel free to share and comment below.