2019 NBA Awards proves three times is the charm

The 2019 NBA Awards proved three times is the charm as it was the best we’ve witnessed since the Association decided to televise the event.

Monday night the hardware for individuals was distributed at the NBA Awards and the event itself was at it’s best since moving to be televised. Although OKC Thunder fans didn’t get to witness any winners from their roster collect recognition it was an enjoyable night of entertainment.

Shaquille O’Neal proved to be the perfect host for the night while Baron Davis served up delightful comedic moments. Sometimes it takes a while to get the template down and Monday night sure seems to prove the three times is a charm adage.

Winners:

Rookie of the Year:

To no one’s surprise Dallas Mavericks upstart Luka Doncic took home RoY although Trae Young gave him a run for his money.

Shockingly, one writer left Trae Young off his ballot entirely  – how does that happen?

Most Improved Player:

Likewise, no one was shocked by Toronto Raptors Pascal Siakam picking up MIP.

Voting reflected the wide margin by which Siakam won. Two OKC Thunder players earned respect with Paul George claiming three votes (3rd place) and Jerami Grant shockingly only got one vote also a third place nod.

https://twitter.com/LawMurrayTheNU/status/1143333014723686400

Sixth Man of the Year:

Again, this was the presumptive winner as Lou Williams claimed the award in consecutive seasons and notched this third win in just five seasons.

As it turns out the voting for Sixth Man wasn’t even close.

Coach of the Year:

Not to beat a dead horse here, but Mike Budenholzer was also the preeminent favorite heading into the evening and stuck to the narrative of front runners winning in their categories.

Coach Bud won by a large margin, but as noted there were several candidates who got shine in this category.

Defensive Player of the Year:

Although here at Thunderous Intentions we were madly hoping Paul George would snag this award in appreciation for everything he did this season it wasn’t to be. I wonder how much Rudy Gobert‘s snub to All-Star factored in the voting.

In a bit of shock, Paul George finished third in the voting for DPoY.

Most Valuable Player:

Again, no surprise as Giannis Antetokounmpo won his first  Most Valuable Player Award of his career. Despite coming up just short of his goals this postseason Giannis there was no denying his dominance.

George also finished third in MVP voting. I wonder how differently these numbers would’ve been had he not got hurt.

Other Awards:

There was additional hardware handed out which included:

After getting nominated in these categories on previous seasons Mike Conley won both the Twyman-Stokes  Teammate of the Year Award. and the NBA Sportsmanship Award.

More from Thunderous Intentions

• Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
• Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal took home NBA Cares Community Assist Award and Robin Roberts was honored with the Sager Strong Award.

Two mega stars Larry Bird and Magic Johnson won the Lifetime Achievement Award crowning their efforts on the hardwood, as well as the efforts they’ve put in at the front office or on the sidelines. This is somewhat timely given Magic’s exit from the Lakers. I half expected he might throw a little shade but he kept it PG and declined to lower himself to that level.

The Bucks Jon Horst won executive of the Year – and as I tweeted last night I’m shocked Masai Ujiri didn’t win this. If the Bucks don’t retain Nikola Mirotic after they gave up four second round picks to get him that alone to me speaks to why Horst didn’t deserve to win. Many will cite the 60 wins by Milwaukee, but let’s not forget the Raptors were less than 1:30 from winning in Milwaukee which would’ve tied the two teams in total wins and Toronto did that with Kawhi Leonard (22) and Kyle Lowry (17) missing 39 games on the court cumulatively (just saying).

Notably, Sam Presti did garner a single vote, no doubt primarily for retaining Paul George.

The House of Highlights Moment:

In the only other surprise (in my opinion) of the night was Derrick Rose winning this award. That’s not to say I wasn’t impressed by his 50 point evening I just didn’t think it was the greatest moment of the season.

Hope you enjoyed the NBA Awards as much as we here at T.I. did. The only thing which would’ve put it over the top was if Paul George or Steven Adams had won, but you can’t win every season. The template is now in place, however, and if the powers that be are wise they’ll bring back Shaq again next year to host again.

Each of the award winners and our writing team thoughts is linked above for the big six awards.