The NBA regular season might be finished. Heck, the entire NBA season might be finished. Even if play resumes with regular-season games, there’d likely be an abridged finish before the playoffs (which will also likely be shortened).
So, we’re making our 2019-20 award picks now. If the regular season somehow lasts long enough to reconsider our choices, we’ll do that. But here are our selections on the assumption the regular season is over.
Kurt Helin
First team
G: Luka Doncic, Mavericks
G: James Harden, Rockets
F: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks
F: LeBron James, Lakers
C: Joel Embiid, 76ers
Second team
G: Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers
G: Chris Paul, Thunder
F: Anthony Davis, Lakers
F: Kawhi Leonard, Clippers
C: Nikola Jokic, Nuggets
Third team
G: Donovan Mitchell, Jazz
G: Kemba Walker, Celtics
F: Jayson Tatum, Celtics
F: Jimmy Butler, Heat
C: Rudy Gobert, Jazz
All-NBA — particularly third-team — decisions are always the toughest of the award process. In this case, I felt very comfortable with the first two teams (I don’t think Anthony Davis played enough center to slide into that position, so he gets bumped to the second team). However, with third-team guard, leaving off Bradley Beal, Trae Young, and Ben Simmons was difficult (team success and leaning on Mitchell and Walker factored into my choices). Same at the forward spot, where Khris Middleton and Brandon Ingram deserved serious consideration.
Dan Feldman
First team
G: LeBron James, Lakers
G: James Harden, Rockets
F: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks
F: Kawhi Leonard, Clippers
C: Anthony Davis, Lakers
Second team
G: Luka Doncic, Mavericks
G: Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers
F: Khris Middleton, Bucks
F: Jayson Tatum, Celtics
C: Nikola Jokic, Nuggets
Third team
G: Chris Paul, Thunder
G: Trae Young, Hawks
F: Pascal Siakam, Raptors
F: Jimmy Butler, Heat
C: Rudy Gobert, Jazz
My biggest questions weren’t rating performance. They were determining position. Can I legitimately place Anthony Davis at center? What about LeBron James at guard? Ultimately, I decided yes on both – allowing me to place my entire MVP ballot on the first team, though causing significant disruption on the second and third teams.
Davis made a big deal about not playing center, and the Lakers built their team accordingly. But Davis still played 38% of his minutes at center. In the fourth quarter and overtime, it was 55%. That qualified him as bi-positional to me.
LeBron has always dominated the ball while being considered a forward. But the Lakers considered him their point guard, gave him particularly large passing responsibilities and started four other players who couldn’t credibly run point. Though Avery Bradley or Kentavious Caldwell-Pope often defended the opposing point guards, point guard is primarily defined offensively. Plus, LeBron – a versatile defender – often covered guards.
Centers Nikola Jokic (first team to second team), Rudy Gobert (second team to third team) and Joel Embiid (third team to unlisted) all got bumped with Davis at the position. Embiid was better than Gobert when healthy and motivated. But that didn’t happen nearly often enough to outpace Gobert, an excellent defender and underrated offensive player.
Guards also got pressed, including Luka Doncic (first team to second team) and Chris Paul (second team to third team). That final spot was an especially difficult squeeze with Trae Young narrowly outpacing Devin Booker, Kyle Lowry, Ben Simmons and Bradley Beal. Young just did so much offensively as a scorer and passer.
On the other hand, removing LeBron and Davis from forward meant other-wise marginal forwards – Jayson Tatum, Pascal Siakam and Jimmy Butler – safely made it. Bam Adebayo wasn’t far behind.
Keith Smith
First team
G: James Harden, Rockets
G: Luka Doncic, Mavericks
F: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks
F: LeBron James, Lakers
C: Joel Embiid, 76ers
Second team
G: Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers
G: Ben Simmons, 76ers
F: Kawhi Leonard, Clippers
F: Anthony Davis, Lakers
C: Nikola Jokic, Nuggets
Third team
G: Russell Westbrook, Rockets
G: Donovan Mitchell, Jazz
F: Pascal Siakam, Raptors
F: Jayson Tatum, Celtics
C: Bam Adebayo, Heat
The forward slots on the first and second teams were easy. Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Anthony Davis were 1-4 on my MVP ballot. They all just overlap in position, which pushed Leonard and Davis to the second team. There were still several very good candidates for the third team, but Pascal Siakam and Jayson Tatum were just enough better than the rest that they get those two slots. Jimmy Butler was closest to making that third- team.
The guard line was pretty easy for the first team. James Harden was fifth on my MVP ballot and Luka Doncic would have been sixth. After them it gets tricky. Damian Lillard was a monster this year and really kept an otherwise pretty bad Portland team in the playoff race. Ben Simmons was very good on both ends of the floor, so he gets the other guard spot on the second team. That left a bunch of great candidates for third. Once he stopped taking so many jumpers, Russell Westbrook really took off this season. He gets one slot. Donovan Mitchell gets the other spot because he was also good and so were the Jazz. Chris Paul was easily the toughest omission here.
The center group was a little harder. I think Joel Embiid had the best overall season. He was first on my All-Defense team and in the mix for Defensive Player of the Year. He also turned in another good offensive season. Nikola Jokic rebounded from a slow start to have another dominant offensive year. For the third-team, Bam Adebayo edged out Rudy Gobert. It was Adebayo’s all-around brilliance that got him the nod. Take a look at his numbers. He’s really stuffing the stat-sheet every night for a good Heat team.