![\"\"](\"http:\/\/img.bleacherreport.net\/img\/images\/photos\/002\/719\/031\/hi-res-6865646_crop_north.jpg?w=630&h=420&q=75\")
Who\u2019s more deserving of this year\u2019s MVP award than the reigning MVP? Curry is leading the league in scoring by averaging 30.0 points per game, which is also his career-best for a season. The Warriors are also off to the best start in NBA history, and Curry has played a huge part in that. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Defensive Player of the Year: Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs<\/strong><\/p>\n The Klaw is known as one of the league\u2019s best defenders, and for good reason. The reigning Defensive Player of the Year ranked first in the NBA in December with 1.5 Defensive Win Shares and now leads the NBA for the season. With Leonard on the floor in December, the Spurs\u2019 defense allowed 90.6 points per 100 possessions, 2.4 points per 100 possessions less than when Leonard was not on the floor. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Coach of the Year: Steve Kerr\/ Luke Walton, Golden State Warriors<\/strong><\/p>\n Kerr did not receive Coach of the Year honors last year, but there\u2019s no question that he will be named Coach of the Year this year. In only his second season as head coach of the Warriors, Kerr has an impressive 118-20 coaching record and the Warriors are looking to beat the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls\u2019 season-best 72-10 record. Although Walton probably won\u2019t receive any credit for the games he coached, he has certainly played a part in Golden State\u2019s success this season, leading the Warriors to a record-breaking 24-0 start in Kerr\u2019s absence.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sixth Man of the Year:\u00a0Jeremy Lin, Charlotte Hornets<\/strong><\/p>\n Lin is far from his Linsanity days from New York, but he has excelled in his role as sixth man on the Hornets. Bouncing back from his lackluster stint with the Lakers, Lin has been a perfect fit for Charlotte and is playing considerably well off the bench. Although he is averaging nearly the same production as he was last season in Los Angeles, Lin is playing more consistently and confidently, which has helped Charlotte become playoff contenders once again, as the Hornets are currently holding the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Most Improved Player, C.J. McCollum, Portland Trail Blazers<\/strong><\/p>\n After the offseason losses of LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, and Wesley Matthews, Portland was expected to fall towards the bottom of the Western Conference. They have far exceeded expectations, now holding the sixth seed in the West, and McCollum\u2019s improvement as a player has played a huge part in this. McCollum is averaging 21.1 points per game, a huge spurt from 6.8 points per game last season. Alongside Damian Lillard, if McCollum keeps up this level of play for the rest of the season, the Blazers just might be making some noise in the playoffs.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rookie of the Year: Kristaps Porzingis<\/strong><\/p>\n Ever since\u00a0being booed at the 2015 NBA Draft, Porzingis has made a name for himself in the NBA with his rebounding and posterizing abilities. Porzingis has been a bright spot in the Knicks\u2019 rocky season. Averaging 14.1 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game, the 7\u20193\u201d Latvian power forward has shown immense potential as the future of the Knicks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With half of the NBA season gone, it’s a good time to consider the production and efforts of players from around the league. Who are the frontrunners for awards at this time of\u00a0the season? Most Valuable Player: Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors Who\u2019s more deserving of this year\u2019s MVP award than the reigning MVP?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":703,"featured_media":7341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[243,456,1118,1169,1194,1284,1412,1497,2092,2097],"class_list":["post-7269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-basketball","tag-cj-mccollum","tag-jeremy-lin","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-kristaps-porzingis","tag-luke-walton","tag-midseason-awards","tag-nba","tag-stephen-curry","tag-steve-kerr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/703"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ww1.hdnux.com\/photos\/42\/14\/77\/8966084\/3\/920x920.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.yardbarker.com\/media\/4\/f\/4f819f61fcfad4b886564ee0a7ae5b0d58291032\/lp_crop\/GettyImages-478104326.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/images.en.yibada.com\/data\/images\/full\/64278\/charlotte-hornets-point-guard-jeremy-lin.jpg?w=685\")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cdn.fansided.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/34\/files\/2014\/07\/c.j.-mccollum-nba-portland-trail-blazers-dallas-mavericks-590x900.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/rack.3.mshcdn.com\/media\/ZgkyMDE1LzExLzEyL2MzL0tyaXN0YXBzLmI3OTZlLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTk1MHg1MzQjCmUJanBn\/8904aa6e\/7f7\/Kristaps.jpg\")