Both Brad Stevens and Jayson Tatum have an opportunity to take home an award for the Boston Celtics tonight
The NBA regular season awards are finally going to be announced, and the Boston Celtics will be well represented. Keep in mind, these are strictly regular season awards, so we need to put everything that happened in the playoffs out of our minds, and that will drastically change how we look at the Celtics nominated.
Both Brad Stevens and Jayson Tatum are finalists for the Coach of the year and rookie of the year award. Al Horford is a notable omission from defensive player of the year, but there is no reason to get greedy and, right now, it really does not feel like it matters too much.
For those involved, however, it could be a fun beginning of long careers. Everyone knew it was just a matter of time before Stevens got this recognition, and you get the feeling it will not be his last.
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Tatum cannot get another rookie of the year nomination, but you can expect him to be getting recognized for even more special accomplishments.
Right now, it feels like Stevens has a better chance than Tatum. The odd part is that if this happened after the playoffs, it is hard to imagine Stevens losing. After the way the Raptors were humiliated, people soured on Dwane Casey, who was eventually fired. Quin Snyder was not necessarily a disappointment in the playoffs, but neither of them can compete with what Stevens did in the playoffs with so many injuries.
Even without the playoffs, Stevens probably should win the award, but it would not be a surprise to see him lose. The Raptors looked like they had the best season in the history of their franchise, and the Jazz were one of the biggest surprises.
Stevens had to overcome more than both of them, but depending on the way people look at the award, Celtics fans should probbaly temper expectations for that award.
With Tatum, who blew way expectations and even lead the NBA in three point shooting for a portion of the regular season, feels like an underdog. It was not until the playoffs that he had to take over a large role for the team, and the votes were in before that.
Both Ben Simmons and Donovan Mitchell had much more significant roles in the regular season, and when you look at how good they were, you cannot say they do not deserve the award.
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It is great to see the Celtics with these guys at the awards, but this does not feel like the year they are going to clean up. In the end, in sure they do not care enough to be bothered, and that playoff success is much more impactful and important than anything that could have been awarded in these awards that were voted on months ago.