Boston Celtics: Team awards for each season of the 2010s

2015-16 Awards

Defensive Player: Kelly Olynyk

Well, forget about what I said at the end of the last defensive player award.

Kelly Olynyk not only earned himself another defensive player award, but he did so with better stats.

His blocks and steals were only down by .1, which can be mostly attributed to the emergence of Jae Crowder as a defensive stopper, and Marcus Smart‘s improved sophomore season.

He did, however, commit one less foul per game, going from 3.3 a game to 2.4.

Where his stats really improved was in his defensive rating.

His rating sat at 96.8, which was two percentage points better than the previous season. On top of that, the team’s rating when he was off the floor was 104, which was even higher than the previous season. With Olynyk off the court, the Boston Celtics gave up eight more points per 100 possessions.

Kelly Olynyk now sits with Kevin Garnett as the only Boston Celtics to have earned multiple defensive player awards in this piece. Certainly a top career achievement.

Fan Favorite: Isaiah Thomas

The reasons that Isaiah Thomas was awarded this for the last season are roughly the same for the current one.

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Thomas had the storyline of being one of the shortest players in the league. Fans could rally around that.

His energy and heart was similar to that of a Kevin Garnett, in the sense that he pumped up the crowd and his teammates whenever he was on the court.

He did not have an ego, rarely made excuses, held people accountable, and was acknowledged as a teammate people enjoyed playing with.

Even around the league, many players and fans of opposing teams had no choice but to respect him, and ultimately, the Boston Celtics as a whole.

For those reasons, he deserved the fan favorite award over other individuals on the team, like Jae Crowder or Avery Bradley.

MVP: Isaiah Thomas

Instead of explaining in words why IT should take home the team MVP award for this season, let’s shake things up and put it in list form:

• Averaged 22 points per game
• 6.2 assists per game
• 1.1 steals per night
• Highest +/- on team (3.6)
• Highest usage rate on team (28 percent)
• Led the team to eight more wins (48-34 record)
• Played all 82 games

Nearly all of these were either career highs, or came within .1 of matching his career highs. To put it simply, this was IT’s best season up to this point.

Although the team didn’t make it past the first round again, they took two games from the Atlanta Hawks before falling in six games.