Rory Gold

I know I’m late to the party with pretty much every other writer in the world of basketball announcing their picks already. But the league won’t announce the winners for until after the season so I have a few hours left.

MVP

Winner – Lebron James – 2009 will mark the first of several MVP awards for Lebron James.

Runner up – Kobe Bryant – Kobe is a killer, the loss of Bynum was bigger than people realize. Kobe kept the Lakers head and shoulders above the dominant west.

Third Place – Dwyane Wade – No player did more with less than D-Wade. How many times did Wade have to score 45+ to keep his team in the playoff race.

Defensive Player of the Year

Winner – Dwight Howard – Lead the league in Boards and Blocks

Runner up – Lebron James – Lebron lead his team in rebounds and Blocked Shots. The best two way player in the game.

Third Place – Shane Battier – You could put Ron Artest in the position also both are vital to the Rockets D.

Coach of the Year

Winner – Stan Van Gundy – He deserves this award for many reasons but making himself the target of Shaq’s criticisms while deflecting it away from Howard could be the most important reason not talked about.

Runner up – Mike Brown – He may win this one, but remember when people said his defensive style would never work with a Lebron James lead team? It worked number 1 seed in the NBA.

Third Place – Rick Adelman – Adelman coached his team to a division title after losing their leading scorer and trading their starting point guard.

Sixth Man of the Year

Winner – Jason Terry – If he doesn’t win, their should be an investigation.

Runner up – JR Smith – Had the best year of his young career

Third Place – Travis Outlaw – He’d be a starter on many other teams.

Most Improved Player

Winner – Devin Harris – After he was burnt by the English street baller I knew it would be a big year from Harris and he delivered.

Runner Up – Danny Granger – Granger made the leap from good to great this season and will be an All-Star very soon.

Third Place – Kevin Durant – Durant is well on his way to superstar status.

Rookie of the Year

Winner – Derrick Rose – I thought it would be a closer race but Rose has been the leader of this year’s Rookies.

Runner up – Brook Lopez – As the season went Lopez got stronger, the future is looking up for the nets.

Third Place – OJ Mayo – He lead all rookies in scoring and minutes, he’ll be the face of the 2009 draft for years to come.