Premature Predictions for the 2020–2021 NBA Season
By: Andy William Quach
Tags: Miami Heat, NBA, LeBron James, Lakers, James Harden

All-Star Draft

(Team Lebron) Anthony Davis- C (Team Durant) Kyrie Irving- G (Team Lebron) Giannis Antetokounmpo- F (Team Durant) James Harden- G (Team Lebron) Steph Curry- G (Team Durant) Russell Westbrook- G (Team Lebron) Luka Doncic- F (Team Durant) Joel Embiid- C (Team Lebron) Kawhi Leonard- F (Team Durant) Paul George- F (Team Lebron) Damian Lillard- G (Team Durant) Devin Booker- G (Team Lebron) Nikola Jokic- C (Team Durant) Zion Williamson- F (Team Lebron) Ben Simmons- F (Team Durant) Jimmy Butler- F (Team Lebron) Bradley Beal- G (Team Durant) Jayson Tatum- F (Team Lebron) Jamal Murray- G (Team Durant) Bam Adebayo- C (Team Lebron) Pascal Siakam- F (Team Durant) Zach Lavine- G

NBA Awards

Can Steph secure his third MVP? // USA Today

MVP — Steph Curry

Steph has nothing left to prove. He’s a 3x NBA champion and a 2x MVP. His detractors will point out that he’s missing a Finals MVP trophy to go with all of his accolades, but he doesn’t need to answer to them.

Nevertheless, if he wanted to add some hardware and shut up some haters, this season presents Steph the perfect opportunity to earn his third MVP award. The Warriors next season have good talent, but not great. Just enough to enable Steph to carry them to a top 4-seed if he plays out of his mind. If Steph can lead the Warriors to home court advantage without Klay, he should have a pretty great chance at securing his third MVP.

DPOY — Giannis Antetokounmpo

The Bucks are slated to have one of the best defenses in the league next year. With the perimeter locked down between Jrue and Middleton, Giannis will be free to roam the paint in search of steals and swat opportunities.

It will be difficult for Giannis to 3-peat as MVP due to voter fatigue, the return of KD and Steph, the rise of Luka Doncic, and Jrue’s offensive presence. But having Jrue will allow Giannis to exert more effort on the defensive end of the court. I expect Giannis to up his steals and blocks from last season’s DPOY campaign.

ROTY — James Wiseman

No rookie was put in a better position to succeed than James Wiseman. To begin his career, Wiseman will be starting next to the greatest shooter in basketball history, a former DPOY who is also one of the best passers at the power forward position, and two solid, athletic wings.

He will mainly be expected to display his strengths; rim running, finishing, screening, and running the floor. The one thing that Wiseman will be asked to do at the professional level that he didn’t do much of at Memphis is protect the rim.

While he didn’t show many defensive chops in a shortened season with the Tigers, Wiseman certainly possesses the athleticism to be an impactful defender. With Draymond roaming around to set traps and intercept passes and two solid wing defenders sealing off penetration, Wiseman should have easy reads and a simplified role: deny anyone that enters the paint.

If he can hold his own on the defensive end, Wiseman should feast on offense in the Warriors spacing and ball movement heavy offense. Expect him to put up a solid 18–22 points a game on mostly rim rolls and dump offs. If he accomplishes those things, he should be an easy favorite for the rookie of the year.

MIP — Lauri Markkanen

Just like Wiseman, Markkanen is in great position to secure the Most Improved Player Award. Reason being, Lauri had such a s̶h̶i̶t̶t̶y̶ shoddy season last year, that he’s got tons of room to show his improvement.

In 2019–2020, Lauri saw career lows in points, rebounds, 3FG%, and FG%. It was clear watching the Bulls that Boylen did not properly deploy Markkanen in situations to succeed and it drastically affected his output and confidence.

Boylen turned Markkanen into a pure stretch 4, having him wait behind the line with his arms up to shoot threes and do not much else. That role completely mitigated a lot of Markkanen’s strengths. He’s bigger and stronger than most small-ball 4s, quicker and more athletic than most true bigs, and can handle the ball and finish with grace or power.

In the preseason, new Bulls head coach Billy Donovan put Lauri in different actions; running off screens, handoffs with WCJ, having him handle the ball in pick-and-rolls, etc.

In Chicago’s last preseason game, Markkanen put up 22 points on 52 percent shooting with 4 threes in just 25 minutes. Most importantly, after the game, Lauri spoke about how much he enjoyed his new actions on offense and was excited to see what Donovan would have him do come season.

If Lauri can keep up that level of production and grow even more comfortable in his new role, he could be a runaway for the MIP.

6MOTY — Dennis Schroder

A lot of people believe Schroder should have secured his first 6MOTY award last season. Next season, he’ll be playing alongside the man who stole it away from him.

While he’ll still be in direct competition with fellow new Laker Montrezl Harrell, Schroder should be in a much better position to secure the hardware. Harrell will be playing behind AD and Gasol, whereas Schroder is the most talented guard on the roster.

Schroder will most likely come off the bench because Los Angeles will need his scoring punch and playmaking in their second unit, but he should have ample opportunities to run with the Lakers starters.

And with all of that opportunity, Schroder should be able to feast his way into the 6MOTY Award.

COTY — Ty Lue

It’s all about situation for these awards and the situation Ty Lue is in could be great or could be a disaster.

I’m willing to bet that Lue will win over the Clippers, the LA fans, and the title of COTY.

Lue has had experience managing superstar egos when he won a title with the Cavaliers. If he can handle Kyrie and Lebron, Lue should be able to smooth things over with Kawhi, PG, and the rest of the Clips.

The Clippers are still loaded with talent. Even though they surprisingly flamed out in the playoffs, they still had a great regular season last year. Lue won’t have to improve on their record to win the COTY award, he’ll just have to helm a happy, cohesive basketball team that can replicate their regular season dominance from last season.

If Lue can cut down on the bad losses the Clips would experience every now and then and have his team visibly happy to play basketball together, it’ll shock the NBA world and win him the COTY trophy.

Misc. Predictions

Watch out for the Wizards // Bleacher Report

1. Wizards will be better than expected

The analytics community has tainted the name of Russell Westbrook. While he isn’t the most efficient player, what people have forgotten (or purposefully excluded) is just how much Westbrook can raise the floor of your team.

Thus far in his career, Westbrook has made the playoffs every year of his career aside from his rookie season. This will be his first year playing in the objectively weaker Eastern conference.

While the East is stronger than it’s been in decades, it’s absolutely ludicrous to suggest that the Wizards with Russ and Beal won’t be representing the capital in the playoffs next year.

2. The Hawks are still a year or two away

NBA fans and a few analysts are extremely high on the Hawks after they added Capela, Bogdanovic, and Gallinari. Many are expecting Atlanta to secure their first playoff berth since Budenholzer skipped town.

While I do expect the Hawks to improve thanks to their new weapons, I don’t believe they will be as good as a lot of fans are expecting.

The Hawks added a lot of offense but did not address their putrid defense. Their offseason additions are great acquisitions but they also take minutes away from their two best young defenders in Cam Reddish and De’Andre Hunter.

Unless their 2020 draft pick Onyeka Okongwu makes an immediate impact on defense and Cam and De’Andre develop into elite perimeter stoppers next year, the Hawks will continue to bleed points on defense. I expect them to compete for a play-in seed, but not much else.

3. The Heat will add a star before the season is over

After Giannis inked his new 5-year supermax deal, emotions were mixed across the league. For Milwaukee fans, it was jubilee. But for Miami fans, it was disaster.

But, alas, the show goes on. Miami still has their free agency plan for 2021 set, but why not strike while the iron is hot and avoid anymore surprising extensions.

The Heat have the core for a Finals team, they’re just one shot creator away from a title squad. Expect Pat Riley to activate his endgame this season, whether it be adding Harden, Oladipo, Kyle Lowry, or some other all-star, the Heat team that will finish the season will look a little different from the one that starts.