As the curtains are drawn on the regular season, thoughts turn towards the impending playoffs. But first, there’s paperwork to be filed. Award ballots, to be specific. All the top NBA writers are talking about theirs at the moment, so it’s only fair if I get my say too. Not sure why I haven’t received my nomination form from the league office yet, I can only assume it’s gotten lost in the mail (do they still send them by mail?), so consider this my official list of suggestions, Mr Silver. Cheers son.

First Team All-NBA

G – Steph Curry

G – James Harden

F – LeBron James

F – Anthony Davis

C – Marc Gasol

Basically picks itself, the first team. Four legitimate MVP candidates and a centre, as required. But Marc Gasol has been superb all year, a step up from his usually high level of production. If he were on a sexier team than the grinding Grizzlies then you’d know all about it by now. He’s outplayed DeAndre Jordan, despite the hype, and Boogie needs to trim the turnovers like he’s trying to trim the techs before he’ll be considered. The other option was to cheat and count Anthony Davis as a C, but this Wildcard doesn’t play like that (If I did it’d be good news for LaMarcus Aldridge).

Second Team All-NBA

G – Russell Westbrook

G – Chris Paul

F – Kawhi Leonard

F – LaMarcus Aldridge

C – DeMarcus Cousins

As it is LaMarcus will have to settle for second team, sorry fella. The sore hand has held him back a little bit, though to be honest his chances of toppling LBJ or AD were slim, even for a man of his talents. Kawhi Leonard joins him, his first half of the season was slippery with injury issues, his second half has been MVP-esque (especially his last month or so). If only he’d been 100% from the start… He’s arguably the most talented defensive player in the NBA and he’s learning how to be a dominant scorer too. The way the Spurs are going, Kawhi’s got a shot at winning two Finals MVP awards before ever making an All Star team! Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul have both carried their teams through injuries and lack of depth, both were outstanding. And Boogie edges DeAndre controversially on the basis that he’s a competent free throw shooter and therefore capable of winning his team games down the home stretch.

Third Team All-NBA

G – John Wall

G – Klay Thompson

F – Draymond Green

F – Pau Gasol

C – DeAndre Jordan

Guts to: Tim Duncan, Blake Griffin, Rudy Gobert, Kyrie Irving and Dwyane Wade. You were the next in line.

Klay Thompson needs no explanation for anyone who’s watched Golden State play this season. You don’t win 67 games on the back of one sharp shooter alone. Likewise, you also need some solid defence, and Draymond Green brings plenty of that. Spoiler alert: Green is my Defensive Player of the Year, and even though the traditional stat lines don’t glorify the off-ball side of things, not having the DPOY in at least the third team seems like a travesty. Half the game is spent on defence. DeAndre Jordan is a beastly player with a magnetic nature for rebounds. I’m doing him a little tough in some of these categories, but make no mistake, he deserves to be here and he’s about to get handsomely recompensed for his talents come free agency. There’s also John Wall, a gorgeous passer of the ball averaging 10 assists per game and leading his Wizards side to the playoffs. It’s a flooded point guard pool in the modern NBA and Wall is one of the best. And finally Pau Gasol makes the thirds by averaging a double-double a game. A resurgently good season for the Spaniard, admittedly if Duncan or Griffin had logged more minutes he may have had some serious competition.

Defensive Player of the Year

1. Draymond Green
2. Kawhi Leonard
3. Chris Paul

This is always a hard one to quantify, because there’s only so much you can do on defence, and the traditional stats don’t really back that up. DeAndre Jordan gets heaps of rebounds, sure, but how many are from missed shots because of the pressure of Chris Paul? Who gets the credit in that case? Doc Rivers has done his best to talk up DJ’s chances at this award, even though he’s not even the best defender on his own team (which is no slight). That’s just good coaching, giving props to the guy who needs the confidence. The problem with Chris Paul is that defensively he’s slightly down on where he usually is, but we’re talking slightly down on a five-time defensive team of the year and six-time leader in steals career. The numbers don’t quite back it up and that means nothing to me. CP3 gets the DP3 vote.

There are guys like Tyson Chandler and Serge Ibaka who are well in contention because without their supreme contributions, their teams would/did fall apart. That’s not enough, because there’s also this guy called Kawhi Leonard who is the single most talented defensive player in the NBA. Those long arms, those massive hands. If you dare to dribble by him you’ll be half way to the rim before you realise he’s stolen the ball – like Wile E. Coyote running off a cliff. He will win this award multiple times in his career, just not this season. Not even a torrid finish to the season could quite make up for missing a few too many games and playing hurt. In the same way that LeBron James is the best player in the NBA but won’t win the MVP, Leonard is the best defender… just not the Defensive Player of the Year.

Nope, that would be Draymond Green. He is one of the few men in the league (Kawhi is another) who can guard four positions (arguably five) and dominate at any of them. That versatility opens this Golden State team up immensely on the floor. It means they can play small against the dynamic younger sides (like Phoenix), or they can go big when, say, Memphis comes to town (Andrew Bogut was in the running for this award too). Hell, he can even post up if he needs to (at 6ft7 he’s bigger than ya think), Coach Kerr uses him as a small ball centre sometimes. Draymond’s defensive abilities go beyond the court too, his mindgames in the media are becoming legendary. There are many great candidates as always, but none whose defence is more important not only to a team’s success but to their entire identity.

Most Improved Player

1. Jimmy Butler
2. Hassan Whiteside
3. Draymond Green

A few months ago this wasn’t even close, Butler had gone from solid young battler to a 20 point scorer capable of leading his team while Derrick Rose eased his way back. Except then Rose got proper injured… and so did Butler. JB missed 17 games and wasn’t quite as incendiary when he got back. Draymond Green was brilliant all season, taking the leap into a whole new tier of leveraging power when his contract runs up soon. He’s already got the DPOY nod from myself, and he’s certainly in this conversation too, giving himself a boost in almost every relevant stat line. Hassan Whiteside was only confirmed as eligible recently. He didn’t even start the season, so small was his reputation. Well, there’s nothing small about him as it turns out. He’s emerged from obscurity to become a rebounder and shot blocker worth anyone’s time, l. But ultimately Jimmy Butler’s exploits are too much too ignore. He’s averaging the same number of minutes, yet his scoring has gone from 13.1 to 20 ppg, becoming Chicago’s most reliable player in the process.

Coach of the Year

1. Mike Budenholzer
2. Steve Kerr
3. Jason Kidd

This was a tough one, because how do you balance the talent and the success of so many different situations? It’s easy to say Steph Curry is a great player for breaking the record for threes in a season again (for example) but does his success make Kerr a great coach? Coaches get the blame when things go wrong, players get the praise when they go right. Steve Kerr won more games as a rookie coach than anyone else in history. His Golden State side were already pretty good under Mark Jackson, they’re now the best team in the NBA, silky smooth and rabidly ruthless. But Mike Budenholzer has done something special in Atlanta too. He doesn’t have an MVP to call upon, instead his entire starting five were voted player of the month in January (during which they went 17-0). Coach Bud gets the nod here, the tiebreaker being he had less to work with. Donald Duck would have coached the Warriors to at least a winning record.

And also don’t forget the merits of Jason Kidd. Largely laughed out of Brooklyn when he tried to start a power struggle despite his inexperience and his middling results, he got what he wanted in getting flipped to Milwaukee. This should have been a lottery team, it was last season, but they’re now heading to the playoffs a year removed from losing 67 games. This despite star rookie Jabari Parker being ruled out for the season in January, and despite top scorer Brandon Knight being traded at the deadline.

Sixth Man of the Year

1. Lou Williams
2. Isaiah Thomas
3. Jamal Crawford

Crawford always seems to be in the conversation. He’s year after year the glue that holds together a shabby Clippers bench, shooting threes to keep the score ticking over until Blake/CP3 are ready to check back in. He narrowly edges out Tristan Thompson on my ballot because of his bigger role and his potential for a massive scoring night (even if he isn’t the most consistent). Scoring almost 16 points a night from the bench, literally every single team in the NBA would take that. If he’d shot a few ticks better than his 32.8% from deep than he’d be staring at retaining his award.

Thomas had a crazy weird season, seeming out of place on a guard heavy Suns side, before getting traded to Boston and becoming one of the best performers in the league over the last couple months. His quarter-season with the Celtics saw him at 19.5 points and over 5 assists per game. Eh, maybe next season.

Lou Williams wins, and he wins for the usual reasons. Great scoring, and just enough defence to get by. He hits threes with confidence and gets to the line, he scores and he compliments those around him. There’s your archetypal 6MOY right there.

Rookie of the Year

1. Andrew Wiggins
2. Nikola Mirotic
3. Nerlens Noel

It was primed as a clash between two prodigious talents, Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker, but once Parker went down with injury, it was Wiggins all the way. And by some distance. Wiggins has shown he can make plays at both ends and despite all the injuries and trades in Minnesota (Wiggins was one of them), he’s carried them throughout. You know who the only players in history to average more points per game as a teenager than Wiggins are? Melo, LeBron, Kyrie and KD.

So this is a runaway, but two other lads get some big shout outs here too. Nikola Mirotic bided his time before entering the NBA, it’s been worth it. He’s gonna be a killer scorer for the Bulls soon enough, he’s shown what he can do when he gets hot and with more consistency he’d have been in the running for sixth man too. His numbers are actually better than Wiggins in several categories, and in plenty fewer minutes too. Then there’s Nerlens Noel, he who blocks. A bright spark in a typically drab Philadelphia 76ers season, he was the forgotten man after missing last season with injury. He’s now the only man in the NBA to rank top ten in both blocks and steals. Ever since Michael Carter-Williams was traded away, Noel has reached new heights. He’s still learning the power forward position (perimeter defence is a big hole) yet the lad’s getting there. If Joel Embiid plays this well next season after a similar layoff, that could be the buildings of a decent team in Philly (finally!).

Most Valuable Player

1. Steph Curry
2. James Harden
3. Anthony Davis
4. LeBron James
5. Russell Westbrook

The big one. Yes, after much speculation and deliberation… after numerous advanced mathematical formulas and metrics… after venturing deep into the Himalayas for spiritual guidance and finding my spirit guide by campfire in the desert out at Joshua Tree (turns out it was Dirk Nowitzki)… I have come to a definite conclusion. Steph Curry, son of Dell Curry, is the 2014-15 Most Valuable Player in the National Basketball Association.

As close as James Harden ran it, the final decision was an easy one. Harden had an outstanding season, carrying his Rockets side despite the Dwight Howard’s woes and the offseason loss of Chandler Parsons limiting his options. He has properly mastered the art of getting to the foul line, and it is definitely an art, while nailing trebles and dishing assists with comfort. It’s not the most exciting style to watch and that’s cost him, but it shouldn’t matter. Harden took his team on his shoulders, making a serious run at the scoring title and picking up significantly on his previously laughable defensive stuff. However his turnovers were high and his shooting percentage from 3pt (his 2pt% is irrelevant given the Houston Layups/Threes strategy – less than 18% of his total attempts are from 3-16 yards) wasn’t nearly in the vicinity of Steph Curry (37.5% compared to Curry’s 44%). He runs a close second.

Russell Westbrook may well have won this had he been able to put a full season together. Injuries stopped him there, though that insane triple-double run post-All Star Game nearly got him back in the reckoning. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough, he cooled off a little towards the end and the fact is his team weren’t winning often enough despite his best efforts. From where they were with a month to play, this team should have cruised into the playoffs and when you’re coming from a deficit in the MVP race already, that’s enough to rule you out. Westbrook a clear fifth choice, he gets the scoring title instead.

LeBron James is the best player in the NBA, still. It just wasn’t his best season. The change of scenery took some reacclimatising, the team he found himself on needed several facelifts. Oh, LBJ was pretty damn good this year even still. 25.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game in his 69 appearances. Anthony Davis was something special too, posting one of the highest efficiency ratings in the history of the game. There’s an argument that advanced stats kind of overinflate what he does but there’s no arguing with the ability. Or the potential, in a couple of years in the NBA he’s turned an iffy jump shot into one of the best in the league. The sky is the limit here.

Ah, but it all comes down to Mr Curry. The last man standing, how can you deny a man who led a 67 game winning team in points, assists and steals? Shooting over 44% from 3, hitting more triples in a season than any man had ever done so before. His gorgeous shot release is the ultimate heartbreaker for oppositions; even when he’s red hot he’s still ice cold. Harden carried his team, Curry uplifted his. There’s a difference, and that difference is where the voting takes place. Steph Curry will be the MVP of the 2014-15 NBA season.