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NBA predictions 2020-21: Our individual award winners and Finals picks

By Craig Cochran

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 22: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts after receiving his 2020 NBA championship ring during a ceremony before the opening night game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center on December 22, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 22: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts after receiving his 2020 NBA championship ring during a ceremony before the opening night game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center on December 22, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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Most Improved Player

Hoops Habit pick: Christian Wood, Houston Rockets / Lauri Markkanen, Chicago Bulls

Both Christian Wood and Lauri Markkanen dominated the polls for my colleagues’ Most Improved Player predictions. Each player garnered one-third of the votes, respectively. Among the other votes, Michael Porter Jr. and Tyler Herro closed out the polling, each earning one-sixth of the total votes.

My pick: Michael Porter Jr., Denver Nuggets

The buzz surrounding Michael Porter Jr. has permeated throughout the NBA stratosphere since his dominant days as a high school phenom, but that hype finally took on a life of its own during the Denver Nuggets’ impressive postseason run last season.

Related Story. Nuggets: Starting lineup locks, fringe, break-ins. light

In Porter’s 19 playoff games, the 22-year-old only played roughly 24 minutes per night. Within those limited minutes, however, MPJ averaged 11.4 points and nearly seven rebounds per contest. Porter Jr. also displayed relatively impressive shooting numbers for a player who had only played 55 career games before those playoffs. With 48/38/74 splits on 8.6 field-goal attempts, 4.7 3-point attempts, and 1.8 free-throw attempts, Michael Porter Jr. proved to warrant his lottery selection following the crippling back injury he sustained in college.

Now, Porter Jr.’s hype is nearing an all-time high. He will certainly play more than 24 minutes per night, and one could venture to guess that his offensive workload will spike due to his flashes of promise last postseason. In an offense featuring Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. has the opportunity to become a terrific third option. If he lives up to his lofty potential, MPJ could even surpass Murray as the Nuggets’ number-two in the not-so-distant future.

Envisioning a world in which Porter Jr. plays 32 minutes per night and racks up averages of 20 points, eight rebounds, and three assists on 50/40/80 shooting splits is not a farfetched possibility. If he makes this leap, the Nuggets could once again find themselves within the top-three seeds in the Western Conference, thus making MPJ’s Most Improved Player case practically unassailable.

With +1400 odds, the average bettor would be a fool not to make a friendly wager on Porter Jr.’s talents.

Sleeper: Talen Horton-Tucker, Los Angeles Lakers

I already hate myself for thinking this could feasibly happen, but hey, this is the sleeper section; I’m allowed to get outrageous.

Talen Horton-Tucker showed impressive flashes of promise during the preseason, thus garnering unusual admiration from his superstar teammate, LeBron James. As the driver of what I would estimate is roughly 80 percent of media narratives within the National Basketball Association, it is not unreasonable to foresee LeBron pushing for Horton-Tucker’s Most Improved Player case, similar to how he drove MVP narratives for teammates Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis in the past.

As previously mentioned, NBA awards are all about the narrative. What narrative is better than Talen Horton-Tucker – a bench guy who played 13.5 minutes per game in only six outings last season – earning a seventh-man role, playing 20 minutes per game, and scoring 10 points per contest on a Western Conference-winning Lakers team? Not only is it a strong narrative, but it would be the very definition of improvement.

Having said this, the more I talk about Horton-Tucker winning the Most Improved Player award, the more insane I begin to sound. At +5500 odds, THT is about as long of a shot as I can remember ever peaking my gambling interests. The prospect of that improbable of a bet swinging in my favor is enticing, but there is a reason his odds are about as bad as the odds of the dysfunctional Houston Rockets winning an NBA title. We also just witnessed Horton-Tucker record only 11 minutes in the Lakers’ first game of the season against the Clippers – a game in which LeBron and Anthony Davis combined for only 59 total minutes –  so take this section with a grain (or an entire quarry) of salt.

Personally, I don’t enjoy lighting money on fire, so I will be staying away from that bet.