The 2021-22 BBNBA Regular Season Awards

With the regular season done and out of the way, and over 200 posts worth of BBNBA content covering the 2021-22 season, it’s time to wrap it up with an awards ceremony to crown the great achievers among former ‘Cats for this basketball season. We’re talking Devin Booker, Tyler Herro and several others.

We’ll also be naming an MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and finish up with an All-BBNBA First and Second team. Let’s get into it.

MVP: Devin Booker | Phoenix Suns

I followed the simple template of “Best Player on the Best Team” for this pick. But that undersells Booker’s value to Phoenix and his skills on the basketball court. How about: Phoenix is the best team BECAUSE of their best player, Devin Booker.

For years, Booker was pigeonholed by NBA fans and media as one of the many good scorers who ultimately couldn’t lead their team to success. A Good Stats/Bad Team guy, if you will. Now that he has a heck of a supporting cast with maestro point guard Chris Paul, ace defensive swingman Mikal Bridges and a budding star of a center in Deandre Ayton, Booker’s team is winning games left and right. Now, there’s no choice but to shower him with the praise he always deserved.

In the actual NBA MVP race, Booker likely falls in as the fourth or fifth-highest vote-getter. Deservingly so. He doesn’t have the jaw-dropping statistical profile of a Giannis, Jokic or Embiid, but he’s the indispensable engine for a team far better than any of those guys play for. He doesn’t have to carry the Suns single-handedly any longer. Book shares the spotlight with the rest of his team for most of the games, then in the fourth quarter, when close games come down to the wire, he and Paul decimate the opposition.

In “Clutch” situations this year, as tracked by NBA.com’s stats, Phoenix was the best offensive team, the best defensive team, and posted a historic +33.4 net rating in the clutch. Chiefly because of that guard tandem.

My pick is for Booker and Phoenix to sail to the Finals and avenge 2021 en route to a title. It’s the year of Devin Booker.

Defensive Player of the Year: Bam Adebayo | Miami Heat

Had he played five more games this season, Bam likely takes the cake for the NBA’s DPOY award. Despite some extended absences, he was still the most impactful defensive player among former ‘Cats. He ranked high in all the important defensive metrics, such as defensive rating (3rd), defensive box plus-minus (8th), defensive win shares (14th) and so on. Take those with a grain of salt, because they’ll also tell you that Rudy Gobert is a greek god among mortals on the basketball court.

However, they are fairly indicative of the league’s best defenders, which Bam most certainly is. Among centers, he’s a unique force on that end of the court. Guys like Gobert and Joel Embiid occupy top-five DPOY spots annually as gargantuan athletes who patrol the paint like airport security. They just aren’t versatile like Adebayo. Gobert and Embiid aren’t wandering off their perches very often, and when they do, quicker guards find ways to expose them.

Adebayo, on the other hand, hunts for those matchups. Teams will pick-and-roll Gobert and Embiid to death trying to get them switched onto a guard while Adebayo claps at the opportunity to guard Steph Curry or Trae Young. He’s got center size and enough perimeter agility to lock down the NBA’s best ball handlers. He makes Eric Spoelstra’s switch-everything defense possible — a defense that ranks top-five in the NBA and served as a primary reason for Miami locking down the one-seed.

Sixth Man of the Year: Tyler Herro | Miami Heat

Once again, this Kentucky player is competing for this award at a league-wide level, not just among former ‘Cats — and Tyler Herro is going to win it. Just an absolute abundance of talent in the NBA stemming from Kentucky.

I’ve gone over these stats in previous posts, but let’s run it back anyway. Tyler Herro is a historically great bench player. Sure, it’s nonsense he doesn’t start and he’s probably Miami’s second-best offensive player, but for whatever reason, he operates best coming off the bench.

At 20.7 points per game in 2021-22, Herro joins Lou Williams as the only two players to average as many points in a season off the bench since 1989. In the entire history of the NBA, only four total players (including Herro) have been as productive as their team’s sixth man. Really, the Sixth Man of the Year award is a bit beneath him and his level of play. Heading into next season, The Bucket will be thinking All-Star Game, and I’ll bet he gets there. Perhaps he’ll be the first bench player to make it.

Most-Improved Player: Tyrese Maxey | Philadelphia 76ers

Tyrese Maxey played sparingly for most of his rookie season before carving out a nice role and producing at the end of the regular season and into the postseason for the Sixers. He came back in 2022 and unseated Tobias Harris as the third leg of Philly’s Big Three alongside James Harden and Joel Embiid. And rightfully so.

The second-year ‘Cat upped his scoring average from 8.0 points per game to 17.5. He shot better from the field and increased his three-point accuracy by 11 percentage points, going from a poor 30.1% to 42.7% — the third-best mark in the NBA. Furthermore, he was the team’s minutes leader, playing over a hundred more than the next guy.

In year one under new coach Doc Rivers, with the Ben Simmons will-he-or-won’t-he-play ordeal, and the trade for Harden, Maxey was an upbeat spirit and consistent contributor for a franchise in desperate need of some stability. It’s clear Rivers trusted Maxey from day one and his comments in press conferences throughout the year reinforced his belief and admiration for Maxey’s contributions in all areas. Off the court and on.

A fantastic career is on the way for this kid.

Rookie of the Year: Isaiah Jackson | Indiana Pacers

Coming off the 9-16 season, I’ll just say my hopes for the 2022 Kentucky rookie class weren’t terribly high. But Brandon Boston Jr. put together a few spectacular games early in the season, Olivier Sarr flashed in his limited opportunity with the Thunder, and Isaiah Jackson got the most playing time — showing some of the elite athleticism and shot-blocking he was known for in Lexington.

Once the Pacers shot their season in the foot at the trade deadline, they turned over the keys to journeymen G-leaguers and rookies like Jackson. From the All-Star break on, Jackson started consistently and averaged 11.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. That block average would have matched league-leader Jaren Jackson Jr. if it were done over the entire season.

There is a lot to like from Jackson, who was always going to be an extremely raw rookie. He reminds me a lot of Jarred Vanderbilt in that way. Both were freak athlete forwards who needed time to develop mentally in order to properly use their absurd physical gifts. With a rebuild in full effect in indy, expect a lot of minutes and another season of progress for Jackson in 2023. Oh, and maybe a block title too.

ALL-BBNBA Teams

First Team

• Devin Booker (PHX)
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC)
• De’Aaron Fox (SAC)
• Bam Adebayo (MIA)
• Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN)

Second Team

• Tyler Herro (MIA)
• Tyrese Maxey (PHI)
• Julius Randle (NYK)
• Keldon Johnson (SAS)
• Anthony Davis (LAL)