REVEALING The 2023 NBA Awards

This is the MVP this season. We already know it because these were the results of an ESPN poll asking voters who they would vote for just a week ago.
Yes it’s a tight race with Embiid being just 2 points ahead of Jokic, but since then, Jokic didn’t play a few games and Embiid had possibly the best game of his season.
A 52 point explosion in a statement win over the Boston Celtics.
In this unstoppable performance Joel even swayed me and my opinion. I gave the slight edge to Giannis, but this was so strong that I was convinced he is the MVP deservedly so.
Sit back and let’s go through the rest of the categories and pick a winner. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it.
The race for most improved is really interesting and you could go a lot of ways with your vote.
You could say that although we saw how good Shai Gilgeous Alexander could be last season, nobody expected him to catapult himself into a top 5 scorer in the league.
A 7 point jump is a lot, especially when you are going from a good player, to an unstoppable offensive force scoring 31 and a half points on a nightly basis.
Then, you could also say that the Knicks completely transformed into a playoff team just by adding Jalen Brunson.
He also took a step forward from a role player to the leader of this team. His scoring improved a lot as well going from 16 to 24 points per game along with 6 assists.
And even tho as a Knicks fan I love all of this and want him to win it, I feel like the most deserving guy to win the most improved award is Lauri Markannen.
He also got a way bigger role in a new team, and responded phenomenally.
Almost an 11 point jump going from 14.8 to 25.6. And not only that but even with an increased workload of taking more shots every game and the focus being on him as the main guy- Markkanen improved both his field goal percentage and his three point accuracy by quite a lot. Both him and the Utah Jazz have been a great story this season and I think that Lauri is extremely deserving of this award and will win it.
Another guy on this Jazz team who is going to get some recognition is Walker Kessler in the rookie of the year race.
I personally love how great of a worker he is. A great defensive presence for Utah with almost 2 and a half blocks per game. And because of his size- the 9 points per game come at a 72% from the field. A lot of dunks and putbacks.
But in this category we have a clear winner and that is of course Paolo Banchero.
The Magic got a beast in him producing 20 points and 7 rebounds on average. A terrific start to his NBA journey and the future is bright for the Magic who are a team on the rise, and we could see that even this season. They will definitely be in the play-in mix next year.
Another category with a clear winner is coach of the year. And without a doubt that goes to Mike Brown who inserted a winning culture and shocked the entire league by taking this team to the top of the west when literally nobody expected that to happen. Not even the Kings diehard fans.
With 121 points per game they have the absolute highest scoring offense in the league and teams cannot keep up with them especially in the Golden 1 Center where they light the beam.
Mike Daigneault also deserves a lot of credit for getting the Thunder in the play in range, but the award goes to Mike Brown.a
The 6th man of the year award is a 2 player race. Malcom Brogdon has been stellar for the Celtics all season giving them 15 points off the bench.
But Immanuel Quickley exploded post all star and since then he’s averaging 20 a game. He has really stepped up to a new level and that has helped the Knicks a lot in the playoff battle. So because of that, and sprinkle in some bias towards my team- I give this award to Quickley. Homerism aside tho I do think that he’ll end up winning it in the end.
When talking about the defensive player of the year award, I gotta say that I love Brook Lopez and everything that he does for the Bucks. His presence in the paint, his contests, the blocks…Brook is a huge piece of Milwaukee’s defensive strategy and their championship aspirations. The fact that this team has 2 guys in this race along with Giannis is frightening and in my opinion makes them the championship favorites.
Having said all of that- from everything that I’ve seen and heard around the NBA, it does seem like Jarren Jackson Jr will win it, and it’s not a bad pick either, leading the league with 3 blocks per game.
What are your picks for the awards? Let me know in the comments. Talk to you in the next one. Peace out.