Atlanta Hawks: End of Season Awards
Most Valuable Player: Paul Millsap
The “Anchor Man” has unquestionably been the Hawks’ best player this season. He was named to his 4th consecutive all-star team as the Hawks lone representative. He made significant strides as both a closer and a leader in his 11th season.
He posted the highest scoring average of his career and led the team with 18.1 points per game. He also led the team in minutes per game with 34.0. Some of his other statistics included 7.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.
The Hawks had to lean heavily on his offensive skills this season probably more so than they ever have. His presence and production are sorely missed, as what he provides on offense can’t really be replaced by anyone else on the roster. They suffered through a dismal 3- 10 record during the games that Millsap was unavailable due to rest or injury.
He will undoubtedly be rewarded in the offseason as an unrestricted free agent for the load that he has carried during the final year of his contract. While I would rather have Dwight Howard on my team than Al Horford for the obvious reasons, his departure really created a burden that Paul never had to shoulder before.
The possibilities were much greater on offense when he was sharing the frontcourt with Horford as opposed to Howard. The chemistry between himself and Dwight has developed nicely throughout the year, but the void left by the capabilities of Horford’s skill set has to have been a difficult transition.
Howard is extremely limited with his offensive game. If he is not dunking or drawing a foul, it almost seems like he is of no use at all. That traditional style does provide the valuable benefit of high efficiency, but I’d be surprised if, at times, Millsap didn’t want to tell him just to get out of the way.
He has adjusted well. Atlanta had a 40- 29 record with Millsap starting 67 of a possible 69 games. His usage rating of 24.3 percent was ranked 47th. Per 100 possessions, his line of stats was 26.2 points, 11.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.3 blocks.
His value to the Hawks is magnified when looking at how he played during the wins compared to the losses. He played 32.7 minutes in the losses and 34.9 in the wins.
His scoring average was 19.6 in wins and dipped to 15.9 in losses. He shot 32.8 percent from distance and 80.3 percent from the stripe in wins, those also plummeted in losses to 28.8 percent and 72.1 percent. His plus/minus was +9.6 when the team did well and – 8.7 when they didn’t.
The MVP race discussions actually should not at all consist of Paul Millsap as you can likely imagine. He is invaluable to the Hawks, but he really would just be the 3rd-best player on a great team.
There are a number of players in the running for the award, which I will refrain from thoroughly detailing here. The level of greatness among the elite players will make fans of the Hawks feel inferior.
Among the candidates are Russell Westbrook, who has averaged a triple double all year with 31.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game. His otherworldly performance smashes even Michael Jordan’s best season to dust.
There’s also a few others with very impressive production that will be considered. James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and LeBron James are among them. The bottom line is there are no Hawks.