Golden State Warriors' Midseason Awards
Patience is not a strength of modern sports fans—or modern anythings—so why make everyone wait until the 2017-18 campaign closes to hand out the NBA's most coveted awards?
Since we're just as antsy as the rest of you, we have taken the liberty of doling out midseason honors to the Golden State Warriors' five most-deserving recipients.
Even though this club's star power and depth can seem overwhelming, there is some separation within its ranks. By combining our trusty eye test with traditional and advanced statistics, we can unearth who's been the Dubs' most valuable player, stingiest stopper, super-sub and so on.
With our gold-and-blue carpet already unrolled, it's time to digitally distribute the hardware.
Rookie of the Year: Jordan Bell
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Golden State's top-rookie race is uncontested. While there are technically two freshmen on the roster—Jordan Bell and two-way contract-holder Chris Boucher—the former is the only one to receive any big league run.
Even if there was more competition, though, the 23-year-old would be difficult to unseat.
The former Oregon Duck ranks 28th among all players with a 3.02 real plus-minus, per ESPN.com. No other first-year hooper sits among the top 50. His 66.4 field-goal percentage easily paces the rookie rotation field, and his 19.5 player efficiency rating is second in the class (minimum 20 appearances).
Even though Golden State has the Chicago Bulls to thank for the addition of Bell, he feels more like a gift from the basketball gods.
With a game tailored for this offense, last summer's 38th selection has rendered JaVale McGee unnecessary, made a few spot starts ahead of Zaza Pachulia and paced all the 5s in minutes per game since the start of December.
"Bell brings a speed and switchability on defense no one else in Golden State's misfit crew of centers can approach," ESPN's Zach Lowe wrote. "He fits on offense as another cagey ball-mover. ... He is Golden State's most athletic and talented center."
Only an inflamed ankle has been able to slow Bell down so far. His stats might not always pop in any particular category, but his per-36-minute marks highlight the wide range of his impact—12.8 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.6 blocks and 1.7 steals.
Most Improved Player: David West
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There are a surprising number of Most Improved Player candidates considering this club is coming off a 67-win, championship banner-raising campaign.
But almost everyone has taken a step forward. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are both scoring more and shooting better than last season. Klay Thompson has sacrificed a tiny amount of volume for career-best accuracy rates from all three levels. Kevin Durant is now a defensive force. Kevon Looney is suddenly reliable and regularly called upon.
As thick as this field is, though, David West takes the honor by a comfortable margin. For him to find an extra gear at 37 years young, it would seem impossible if he wasn't making it look so easy.
The raw numbers paint him as better at almost everything this season from last. He's up in points, rebounds, blocks, field-goal percentage and three-point percentage, and even that doesn't accurately portray how far he has elevated.
He hasn't averaged this many rebounds per 36 minutes since his rookie year (9.2), and his points per 36 are at a seven-year high (18.9). His PER (23.2), true shooting percentage (63.1) and blocks per 36 (3.1) are all shattering his previous bests.
"I'm very comfortable out there," West told ESPN's Chris Haynes. "I don't have any pressure in these games. I feel like I can just come out and hoop. I've got a good repertoire and rapport with this group. We know each other, so right now it's just smooth."
For all of the frontcourt shuffling, it's telling that West's role has gone unchanged. He's only missed two games (once for rest, once for knee soreness) and has filled critical second-team voids as a passer and shot-blocker.
Sixth Man of the Year: Andre Iguodala
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Andre Iguodala was the leaguewide runner-up in last season's Sixth Man of the Year. He's not, however, an automatic choice for our midseason Dubs edition.
Part of that falls on the 33-year-old. He has never averaged fewer points (5.7) or posted lower percentages from the field (42.2) or outside (22.5).
There are also other candidates worth considering. West, for one, has perhaps been the most rock-solid reserve. Nick Young has four of the top seven scoring efforts by a Golden State second-teamer. Bell and Shaun Livingston rank third and fourth, respectively, in net efficiency rating. When injuries aren't limiting Omri Casspi, he's hitting 60.2 percent of his field goals and half of his triples.
All of the above merits discussion. None of it erases Iguodala's standing as the team's fifth-most important player and by far its most significant sub. Between his defense, ball control and discipline, he's the perfect complement to the four stars—even if his jumper doesn't always cooperate.
"Obviously, we'd love to see him get his stroke on," Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said, per Bay Area News Group's Mark Medina. "But he does so many other things for us. ... If his shot is not going in, he's still making a huge impact."
The Warriors allow 3.4 fewer points per 100 possessions with Iguodala than without, and he's shaving an incredible (and rotation-leading) 8.2 points off his opponents' field-goal percentages. Add in his 3.24 assists per turnover (best on the Warriors, ninth among all qualified passers), and it's clear he deserves this honor.
Defensive Player of the Year: Draymond Green
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Even though Green claimed the NBA's defensive crown just last season, his selection here would not be a unanimous choice.
In fact, Green tabbed Durant as the best midseason defender—not just on the Dubs, but among the entire Association.
"I think he is (a Defensive Player of the Year candidate), if not the leading candidate," Green said in December, per Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle. "I don't think it's really a race right now. The way he's been playing on the defensive side of the ball has been spectacular."
Green's pro-Durant argument has merit. The 29-year-old, who wasn't even a top-30 shot-blocker in 2015-16, is now tied for the fourth-highest average (2.1) and has the third-most total rejections (80).
Like Green, Durant can seamlessly switch through defensive assignments, only his abilities are heightened by superior physical skills (a hawkish 7'4.75" wingspan, for instance).
But Durant isn't on Green's level defensively. Not as far as advanced statistics are concerned, at least.
Green has the better defensive rating (101.5 to 104.6), defensive box plus/minus (2.9 to 1.2) and defensive real plus-minus (2.71 to 0.14, per ESPN.com). While Durant averages more blocks (Green gets 1.3 swats a night), his 27-year-old teammate yields a lower field-goal percentage at the rim (55.6 to 58.0). Green also holds the lead in steals (1.3 to 0.8) and defensive rebounds (6.8 to 6.4).
No matter if Green were trying to pump up his teammate or legitimately believes Durant is ahead of him, we must respectfully agree to disagree.
Most Valuable Player: Stephen Curry
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If there are any gripes to be made with Curry getting the nod, they revolve around injuries. He's only played 32 of a possible 47 games or roughly 68 percent. And Golden State has gone 11-4 without him, a .733 winning percentage only the Warriors are topping (and Houston Rockets are matching).
So, if you wanted to argue he wasn't the team MVP, that would be the way to do it. Of course, it would also be a losing argument.
Even with the absences, Curry ranks second among all players in total plus/minus. Switch over to a per-game basis, and he's comfortably pacing the field at plus-10.9.
His on/off splits only enhance his importance. With Curry, the Warriors outscore teams by 15.6 points per 100 possessions. Without him, that figure falls to just 5.3. That's the difference between being the league's most efficient squad (by a mile) and its No. 4 team. The 10.3-point gap is also the club's widest split and a bigger gulf than the one between Golden State (plus-10.3) and the 13th-ranked Portland Trail Blazers (plus-0.3).
Injuries aside, this is the best Curry has played since his unanimous MVP campaign. That year was the only one in which he bettered his current PER (28.5), true shooting percentage (66.7), points per game (27.4) and rebounding average (5.2). That he's hitting these marks without posting—by his standards—otherworldly three-point numbers (41.4 percentage, second-lowest of his career) speaks to his ongoing evolution.
His inside-the-arc game is blossoming beautifully. His .375 free-throw rate is shattering his previous high of .252—a notable development when he's third on all the all-time charity-stripe accuracy list—and this is his second-best shooting season both from 10-to-16 feet (54.3) and 16 feet to the three-point line (60.9). Oh, and he's only twice had a higher conversion rate within three feet (64.8).
"After the Davidson product completed his 2015-16 heroics, his submitting a superior offensive season seemed unfathomable," Bleacher Report's Adam Fromal wrote. "It may still be, especially because anything he does this year will fall short in volume, given the prolonged absence he's already endured. But by getting to the line so much more frequently...and taking such a high percentage of his shots from downtown, he's somehow made matching previous efficiency levels possible."
There are different ways to describe what Curry is doing—remarkable, incredible, unbelievable—but we'll just dub it "MVP behavior."
Unless otherwise indicated, all stats are from Basketball Reference or NBA.com.
Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @ZachBuckleyNBA.
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