NBA 2024-25 Season Awards Part 1: ROTY, MIP, COTY & 6MOTY

My picks for the first handful of awards for ROTY, All-Rookie, COTY, MIP, 6MOTY

The season is over and that always means one thing. It’s time for the end-of-season awards and it’s here where I’ll fill in my imaginary ballot that doesn’t matter one bit, but it’s always fun to do.

Before diving into each candidate, I’ll briefly touch on what “my” criteria for that award are by looking at how I define the award, what I value more, what’s more important, what doesn’t matter, and just the general thought process in deciding the winner.

So, let’s go through the awards for the 2024-25 season.

Rookie of the Year: Stephon Castle

With ROTY, this has the most leeway and it’s the most loose award because they are rookies. For most players, they will be on bad teams in the lottery and that’s why this is more focused on the player individually. Now playing a “good” role on a good team is tough so that is also considered in how good a player has been.

• Stephon Castle

• Jaylen Wells

• Zaccharie Risacher

Honorable mentions: Kel’el Ware, Zach Edey, Matas Buzelis

I feel like there isn’t a massive wrong choice in deciding this year’s ROTY. There are a number of solid, legitimate candidates all giving you something different on the court in various roles.

I ended up going with Castle with him having the most individual production. He is tied second with Ron Holland in games played with 81(Bub Carrington is first with 82). He’s also fourth in minutes per game.

Amongst rookies, Castle is also:

• 1st in total points

• 3rd in total assists

• 9th in total rebounds

• 1st in total steals

• 14th in total blocks

• 1st in total free throw attempted

• 9th in total 3pt made

That is a lot of production, which resulted in a nice stat line of 14.7 points per game, 3.7 rebounds, and 4.1 assists. He led the rookies in usage at 25.5% and has done so with 52.2% TS and 47.7% eFG. The efficiency is obviously not there, but that matters almost zero as a rookie to me. Despite that, amongst rookies with at least 65 games, out of the top 10 rookies in usage, he’s 5th in TS%.

It’s surprising that he’s already getting to the line at will. He averages 5.7 free throws per 75 possessions, which ranks in the 94th percentile overall. He also takes 6.9 shots at the rim, which is basically the same as both Donovan Clingan and Edey.

He has 26 games with 20 plus points, 14 of which where he shot 50% or better. He has two games with 30 plus points, six games with a double-double, and 11 with 7 assists or better.

To end the season from March, he averaged 19.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 5.6 assists in 25 games(10-15), shooting 53.0% from 2pt and 30.0% 3pt with 50.4% eFG and 55.2% TS, as well as adding 28.0% AST. He finished the season strong. Since March, only 15 other players had those benchmarks for points, rebounds, and assists.

Wells is a different story because of the team that he’s on. He’s been on a team that nearly won 50 games and has been a playoff-level team for the whole season(the Spurs’ chances went down after Wembanyama got ruled out). And even on a team that won 48 games, Wells was tied first in games played with 79, he started 74 games and was 4th in minutes per game at 25.9.

He did hit a wall post All-Star break where the splits are noticeable, but what he was doing before that in over double the sample is worth more. In 54 games pre ASB, he averaged 11.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists with 58.0% TS and shooting 37.6% from 3pt.

Combined with his availability and being a positive on both ends, he ranked fourth in estimated wins, per dunks and threes. For Wells, it’s also the defense that carried him. he was fifth in matchup difficulty, eighth in guarded O-LEBRON, and sixth in perimeter isolation defense. That’s elite not even considering the fact that he’s a rookie.

I liked Risacher, too. He feels like the opposite of Wells in a way. He’s also on a team that was looking to win and get into the playoffs and he helped a lot too, just more so on the offensive end. He closed out the season better, too.

Although it’s a smaller sample, post ASB, in 27 games, his efficiency went through the roof. He went from 52.6% to 60.9% TS. He shot 31.7% from 3pt, which improved to 40.7%. Once the calendar flipped, in 42 games(a bigger sample size), he averaged 14.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.2 assists, shooting 58.2% from 2pt and 40.1% 3pt. That is excellent for a rookie. That’s being highly efficient in the right role and that can be tough. Being able to fit well with better players immediately and doing a good job at it deserves praise.

I wouldn’t be mad if he also won the award.

But in the end, I’m still going with Castle because, for this award, I’m weighing players that do more even on lesser teams that give them that opportunity. This is just a fun award to me.

All-Rookie

Not much to go into here. This is an extension of the fun award:

1st team:

• Stephon Castle

• Jaylen Wells

• Zaccharie Risacher

• Kel’el Ware

• Zach Edey

2nd team:

• Matas Buzelis

• Bub Carrington

• Alexandre Sarr

• Isaiah Collier

• Donovan Clingan

Coach of the Year: Mark Daigneault

With COTY, I’m looking at the biggest improvement period. This isn’t looking at if the team has championship aspirations or if it’s merely improving from the worst team to a play-in team. Certain improvements are weighed more, though, because not every improvement is equal in terms of difficulty.

When looking to decide on the winner, I’m really stuck. This is just one of those years that I can see many worthy candidates that equally deserve it with their individual cases. I’m having trouble even narrowing it down to the top three, so here’s the top five(that is all still very fluid to me)

• Mark Daigneault

• J.B Bickerstaff

• Kenny Atkinson

• Ty Lue

• Ime Udoka

This might be a take to have Daigneault as the coach of the year and honestly, I’m not fully sure about this either. But what has pushed me towards this pick is just how dominant the Thunder have been.

Yes, they were already a 57 win team that had the second best net rating in the league last year. Yes, they also were already top four in both offense and defense. But how they dominated the league this year is historic. And it’s that fact that it’s not only just elite compared to the league now but through history that pushes the case further for me.

Per Cleaning the Glass, they finished the season with a net rating of +13.6, an improvement from +8.0. That is the best net rating period from CTG. The 2017 Golden State Warriors were +12.7. They also have the highest point differential in NBA history, period. They also have the most double-digit wins in NBA history.

It’s things like that, which make this case worthy to me. It is much harder to go from great to elite. There are also levels to that, where it’s considerably higher to go from elite to historical dominance. There aren’t many teams that have taken a jump like that because it’s hard not only to sustain the elite level of performance but to add to it.

Just for comparison, using the simple rating system from BBall-Ref, the Thunder had a 7.36 SRS, and that jumped to 12.7. That is a +5.34 difference. Here is the list of teams that had made a similar jump:

• 2024 Celtics: +6.38 → +10.75

• 1971 Bucks: +4.25 → +11.92

• 1992 Bulls: +8.57 → +10.07

• 1996 Bulls: +4.32 → +11.80

• 1972 Lakers: +3.27 → +11.65

• 2015 Warriors: +5.15 → +10.01

• 2016 Spurs: +6.34 → +10.28

That is it. Only seven other seasons has a team made a jump to at least +10 SRS.

The jump comes from a historic defense. Per PBP Stats(that goes back to 2001), they have the ninth-best defense relative to the average at -6.92 — that went up from +3.48, which ranked 95th. Not a big deal, just a casual 86 spot increase.

They have made adjustments that addressed their weaknesses, although an improvement that still has them in the bottom range. But before, rebounding was their biggest issue. They ranked 27th in ORB% and that jumped to 19th this year. Similarly on defense, they went from 29th in opponent ORB% to 21st. This also further improved with the incorporation of Isaiah Hartenstein who has them in the 74th percentile with him on the court when it comes to opponent ORB%.

Speaking of Hartenstein, they needed to figure out how to run double big lineups with Chet Holmgren. I think that is fair to say that has worked. Per CTG, they are +13.5 net in 679 possessions with a 95th percentile offense at 123.4 and 88th percentile defense at 109.9. And their rebounding numbers go to 32.1% ORB and 21.9% opponent ORB%.

All of that has been a necessary implementation that needed to address their major weaknesses from last year.

They have not only gotten better in areas that were already successful but made massive strides in areas that they were bottom five. Also, a side note worth noting is that they did all of this with Holmgren missing a lot of time, too.

And I give credit to the system that they have built, especially on the defensive end that has allowed them to be this dominant regardless of who’s on the floor. Per Dunks and Threes, they have 15(!) players that are positive on defense. That is a system working to perfection that is capable of maximizing individual impact.

There’s also this, where any combination of players have worked to be elite:

It really doesn’t matter who’s on the floor. They are going to be elite and I would put a lot of that down to coaching and the system.

On the other hand, increasing a team’s win total by 30(!) is just as impressive, and I can see the argument being made that it should be better. The Pistons were a team that lost 28 damn games in a row. They had a losing streak that was over 60% of their wins this year! They had a 28-game losing streak, another eight games, two more seven games, three more six games, and four more five-game losing streaks. It was just streaks of nothing but Ls. This year, they won eight in a row, won five in a row twice, and won three in a row four times.

They jumped from -10.2 net to +1.6. They haven’t improved to way above average, but they started from one of the worst positions. They were 28th on offense with 109.2 and 25th on defense with 119.4. That jumped to 16th with 115.1 and 11th with 113.5. That is a huge jump, too.

They did a bunch of new players. They had a roster continuity of 51% and their most notable additions were Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr, and Ron Holland. Adding three veterans did wonders for this team. This was a well-balanced team with six players who played at least half the season scoring in double-digit points.

But it was the defense that stood out the most. That was the biggest jump. They improved from 24th to 12th in opponent eFG% and 28th to 12th in opponent TOV%. That is impressive to do with a bunch of young players in the rotation.

I wouldn’t be surprised if easily wins it.

The rest of the candidates Atkinson, Lue, and Udoka all have their legitimate cases.

Atkinson turned the Cavaliers around with their new offense that gave them the best offense in NBA history. They are also one of the teams that looked to improve from great to elite. The potential fit issues with the double big lineups or some of the poor numbers with all four top players that appeared last year went away.

The four of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen were +9.9 with a 123.2 ORTG and 113.3 DRTG. Compared to that only +2.6 with a 115.4 ORTG and 112.8 DRTG last year.

They have found great lineups that work so well that staggered all of the top players:

• Mitchell/Mobley and no Allen/Garland: +10.7 with 120.4 ORTG and 109.7 DRTG

• Garland/Allen and no Mitchell/Mobley: +9.3 with 124.9 ORTG and 115.6 DRTG

Udoka and the Rockets have made improvements going from 41 wins to 51 and jumping from +2.1 net to +5.4. Doing so without really any major additions is impressive. They have leaned into some parts of their games where they are just the best offensive-rebounding teams by far. They are suffocating on defense. A lot of that is credit to Udoka for implementing that system that has the players be their best on defense.

Finally, Lue and the Clippers. I was down on the Clippers and I wasn’t expecting this at all. Looking solely at their stats compared to last year, there wouldn’t be a significant increase but I don’t know if the expectations were the same as last year given the number of circumstances revolving around losing Paul George and Kawhi Leonard missing time. They have locked in to being one of the best defensive teams in the league. Given the expectations, Lue has easily got himself in the conversation.

Overall, I’m still looking to go with Daigneault and it’s mainly on the case that what they have done is almost unprecedented. They have had a historic season. This isn’t a season that would just get lost in the mix. This isn’t a season that defied expectations because they were obviously expected to be great but did anyone predict them breaking records that were held by some of the greatest teams of all time?

Sixth Man of the Year: Payton Pritchard

With the 6MOTY, I’m looking at the most impactful contribution off the bench. I see this guy as one that is one of the more important players on the team and simply excels in whatever role is necessary for him off the bench. It does often go to the high scorer off the bench, because that is important for bench units, but that’s also not exclusive to them given the right candidates. This is all about the impact in their given role, whatever that they may be.

• Payton Pritchard

• Ty Jerome

• Malik Beasley

Honorable mentions: De’Andre Hunter, Naz Reid, Obi Toppin

Insert Spider-Man meme here because that’s what this is. They may not have the exact roles or play similarly, but I don’t think you can go wrong with either player based on what they are asked to give and how well they have produced in such a role.

Payton is capable of doing what’s needed on offense on a team that is so overpowered on offense. He can reliably give you secondary ball handling as the guard off the bench. He also does lead the team in average dribble per touch with 4.17. He’s high on the team in touches with 51 in 28 minutes — more than Jrue Holiday in more minutes.

He’s scoring 1.11 points per possession as the ball handler in the PNR on 2.1 possessions(17.2% freq). In a smaller sample, he’s also added 0.96 points per 0.9 isolations. He has been effective on-ball when given those opportunities. That is the spark that he can easily give when it comes to creation.

Out of Derrick White, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown, he has the highest eFG% on shots of 7+ dribbles with 59.0%. That takes around 19% of his shots, which is roughly in the same range than the others(and higher than White). This is the same case for 3-6 dribbles with his eFG% at 56.0%.

He has been torching defenses on-ball. He’s doing this even without the best players on. Without Tatum or Brown, he’s scoring 22.8 points per 75 poss on 57.2% eFG and 58.4% TS with 25.2% usage. He’s doing his thing when he’s playing with the bench units.

But then he’s also shooting 44.5% on C&S 3s, which takes up 45% of his diet. He shoots 43.2% on wide open 3s. With Tatum on, he has a 61.5% TS and shoots 39.0% from 3pt.

He’s way more than just a spark plug. He can be that primary ball handler off the bench, be a secondary ball handler next to better players, or he can be the guy spotting up. He has 24 games with 20 or more points. Nine games with seven or more assists. 22 games with five or more 3s made.

Beasley has lit up the whole league and if it wasn’t for Anthony Edwards being a competitive mfer, he probably would’ve led the league in 3pt made. He has been the definition of a spark plug. He’s shooting 43.1% on C&S 3s, 37.0% on pull ups, and 47.0% on wide open looks. He has been automatic.

He is seventh in points added on jump shots, but is also first in C&S 3pt added with 101.7 — the only one cracking 100. He has provided Cade Cunningham and everyone else the necessary spacing that they all need. That’s why he was the team’s second leading scorer and for a team that hasn’t been filled with offensive talent, that was needed.

Then we also have Ty Jerome, who is also incredibly efficient in his role. He’s more of a facilitator than a spark plug. He has a 24.5% AST to only 11.9% TOV. That’s higher than all other candidates — Beasley(8.9%) and Pritchard(18.4%).

He slots in well with whoever is on the court. The Cavaliers have a +6.3 net with him on but no Garland or Mitchell. They also have a +11.5 net with him and Mitchell or +10.6 with him and Garland without the other. That gives the Cavaliers a backcourt that is as dangerous no matter the combination.

In whatever shots he gets, he does damage. He has one of the deadliest floaters, and is a big reason why he shoots 57.0% from 2pt and adds 43.9% from 3pt.

You really can’t go wrong here, but I’m leaning Pritchard with just how great of a scorer he is both on and off-ball and in various roles off the bench. That highly impactful for the Celtics.

Most Improved Player: Ivica Zubac

With MIP, this is the award that I have trouble figuring out how to go about it. I have been a camp that does reward already good players taking a jump to the All-Star level, even “if” it was expected because it’s tougher to continue to improve further up. I also have rewarded opportunities in the past, too. Just because a player does get the opportunity, that doesn’t always result in maintaining the efficiency and increasing the impact. I also haven’t weighed expectations much either. It’s more about looking at the raw improvement period with weighing how it impacts the team. Better impact on the team = better improvement.

But with how the award has been given in the past or the issues with some of the definitions for it, I can see the case for players who made the unexpected leap or went from a role player to a starter or borderline All-Star. That is a valid case for a player and that “should” be rewarded in some other way, too.

For me, I’d still go by the actual definition of most improved and that means players who became stars, even if young players are expected to improve still get rewarded. Just because a young player is expected to improve, that doesn’t diminish the actual improvement being easier.

• Ivica Zubac

• Tyler Herro

• Cade Cunningham

Honorable mentions: Austin Reaves, Evan Mobley, Dyson Daniels

Having laid out the criteria and brief thoughts there, I still don’t like picking this award. It can go in so many directions and many ways has a valid argument depending on the case.

This one is particularly harder than anything else because it’s comparing seasons, too. That factor alone makes this process more difficult because you have to remember what the player was in the seasons prior. You also can’t simply just compare box score stats because that doesn’t tell the entire story. A player with marginal improvements in raw box score can have made a bigger jump than a player having a 10-plus points increase due to more opportunities.

Although I did say that maintaining efficiency and impact with a bigger role is still important, you also have to know if it is solely an increase in opportunity or if there are actual changes. Not every statistic is also the same and that puts the emphasis again on remembering and knowing what the players were like beyond the box score.

With that said, I have narrowed it to that group of three players and three more honorable mentions. I can see the case with Cunningham being flipped with Mobley or Reaves, too.

Daniels, on the other hand, has made a significant jump in terms of impact, he has seen the 12th-highest increase in LEBRON WAR. But I don’t think that’s as big as other players making “star” jumps. He would be a near-frontrunner if we go the different way in determining the winner that other players are supposed to be good.

I have Zubac leading the way because of the jump on both ends that has led to a huge turnaround for the Clippers. He has jumped into being one of the best two-way impactful bigs in the league.

He has seen the highest LEBRON WAR change in the league with +4.68. He’s also seen an increase in impact in EPM going from +1.2 to +4.1. That is a big jump.

The first thing that stood out was the improvement as a rebounder on the defensive end. He has a career-high 30.1% DRB, going from 25.8% last year. That has been a huge factor in the Clippers being elite defensively — we’ll touch on that more in the DPOY case in the following piece. Another key factor for him on that end was being less foul prone going from 3.8 fouls committed per 75 to 2.4.

But it’s the jump on offense that stood out a lot. He jumped from 21.9 points per 100 to 25.1. His AST% jumped to 12.8% from 7.5%. He’s being assisted the lowest in his career at 70.3%. He’s creating more for himself in the post and is being highly effective.

The percentage of his shots at the rim being unassisted went from 36.5% to 47.8%. He’s not just a “feed your big easy dump-offs”. He’s finishing through contact better. Per BBall-Index's finishing talent, his raw metric value went from -0.13 to +1.22. His stable raw rim FG% has gone up from 66.7% to 70.8%. Combining that with the fact he’s assisted less is impressive.

His post-play metrics are insane. Per BBall-Index raw metric values in:

• Post up shooting talent: +1.58 → +4.15

• Post up shot making: +1.39 → +2.92

• Potential assists per post pass: 69.2 → 75.6

The raw efficiency on his post up has dropped but combined with the ridiculous increase in volume, that matters less. He only averaged 1.3 post up possessions last year and now he’s third in the league at 4.1. The offense is run through Zubac a lot more and he still shoots 59% on those looks(he shot 66% last year).

Although it’s not his strength, his playmaking metrics have seen an increase. He’s averaging 10.2 potential assists per 100 passes, almost doubling it from 5.4 last year. Almost all of his passing metrics have increased by at least 0.5 in the metric raw value.

The impact is also there. The Clippers are +9.4 with him on with a 118.2 ORTG and 108.8 DRTG. That drops to -4.3 with a 109.4 ORTG and 113.7 DRTG without him. That is roughly the same split even if you include Harden on the court without Zubac.

Zubac, combined with his individual improvements, has played an immense role on the team and has been arguably the biggest reason for their jump. Being a high-level big on both ends is a lot valuable, especially if you are providing a bunch on either end. There’s no reduction in value or impact because of giving something up or making one end tougher for the team. He opens a lot up with his big man duties as a screener, roller, and finishing easy looks, as well as bringing some touches creating for himself and giving the offense more options and versatility. But then you also add how he’s a DPOY candidate who has been the reason the Clippers are elite. They are, after all, a top-three defense.

He legit has a case to be All-NBA and for that, he’s my pick.

Next, I’m going with Herro. He’s one of the players who did get more of an opportunity to be in the position to be finally the best offensive player on the team. But as mentioned, just because you do get that opportunity, it doesn’t mean that you’re expected to keep the same level of efficiency, production, and impact.

Herro has made a lot of strides in the right direction and he’s also one of the players whose raw box score doesn’t do the justice here. But fortunately here(probably a bit bias with me covering the Heat), I have watched every minute that Herro has played over the last four seasons, so I can tell the more granular improvementsare being made.

The first came with the change of shot profile that has made him more efficient, although that has now been over overstated towards the end of the season, with him going dropping back to previous ranges. But it all revolved around him taking more 3s. He started off with having a way above 50% 3pt rate and he was cooking. That has kind of dropped off post ASB when it comes to his shooting at 35.8%.

Regardless, the improvement wasn’t just mere shot profile change and hot shooting. He has taken a considerable leap as a scorer inside, which has off-set the poor shooting. He has jumped from 47.8% inside the arc to 56.5%. A lot of that is him having a career high finishing season at 65.8%, up from 52.4% last year. He’s also continued to develop that floater that has gradually increased his paint scoring to 53.4%, up from 50.0%. He still loves the mid-range, but now he’s also a lot better, shooting also a career high at 46.4% from 14ft-3pt, up from 38.8%. That has resulted in him shooting almost 53% on pull up 2s!

All of that improvement around the paint has meant that despite the drop-off in shooting, he doesn’t have to rely solely on that. I can for once say that he has developed into a more well-rounded scorer. That’s why post ASB, despite the 3pt shooting dropping to career low levels, he’s been efficient, posting 60.1% TS. And a lot of that is him shooting 69% at the rim, 52% in the paint, and 54% in the mid-range.

Efficiency.

Another reason for that has been developing his foul drawing ability. That has taken a step. His free throw rate is the highest it’s been at 0.237, up from 0.195 at his previous career high in 2022. Throughout the season, he has learned to foul bait more with his rip through move. A little addition, but he has already drawn a dozen of fouls doing so.

His scoring has simply improved to a much more refined version of what he’s been doing in the past.

But it’s also his passing that has taken a step forward. Per BBall-Index, he has:

• 1.2 passing efficiency, up from 0.37 last year and the highest since 2022

• 1.24 passing creation volume, up from 0.83, the highest since 2022

• 0.42 passing creation quality, up from 0.12, the highest since 2022

• 21.5 potential assists per 100 passes, up from 18.8, the highest since 2022

• 9.2 box creation, up from 7.6, the highest since 2022

• 1.4 playmaking talent, up from 0.79, the highest since 2022

That is real growth on that end and a significant jump from all previous seasons, not just last year.

Then there’s the impact. He has seen the third highest LEBRON WAR increase and a +1.4 increase in EPM. But the thing that has mattered more and I believe is valuable here, it’s the availability. He has played 77 games, easily the highest in his career and up from 42 last year. That resulted in going from 4.6 estimated wins to 11.0. That alone is a big improvement that should matter.

What stops me from going higher is the team’s performance hasn’t been great, even with him on the court. The fourth quarter and clutch stats from him have let him down. As mentioned with Zubac, where two-way improvement is emphasized, Herro hasn’t seen an improvement on defense, and that hurts the overall impact that his improvement can give.

Finally, we have Cunningham, but that can also go to Mobley or Reaves. I think all three have shown significant improvement but I don’t know exactly how big it has been considering they were already good last year — this is where some being more knowledgeable about a player from previous seasons comes in. A lot of these players have seen improvement in a bunch of the stats, impac,t or other relevant metrics, but none have shown a major difference.

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And that is it for the first part of the awards! We’ll be back with the second part tomorrow.