Pelicans: A look back at odds and awards predictions after 20 games
New Orleans Pelicans: Odds for NBA season awards
Dyson Daniels for Rookie of the Year
Start of the season: Dyson Daniels +4000
After 20 games: +50000
Daniels odds have gone WAY up, which is not surprising, as he has only recently become a regular part of the rotation.
Daniels is still the 9th or 10th man off the bench at this point, so he has little chance to pile up stats compared to rookies like Paolo Banchero, Jaden Ivey and Bennedict Mathurin, who are playing much larger roles on their teams.
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Daniels is getting more run of late and I think that will continue, as he keeps making an impact (especially defensively) and filling the scorecard with a variety of stats.
Like Herb Jones, it will be harder to measure his impact as a rookie who doesn’t score a ton of points, but I do suspect that his odds will be much lower as the season progresses and he continues play a bigger role on a good team.
Herbert Jones for Defensive Player of the Year
Start of the season: Herb Jones +4600
After 20 games: +8000
Jones had to miss a few games with injury, but his odds probably shouldn’t have dipped this much.
He doesn’t have the counting stats that some defenders rack up in terms of blocks and steals, but if you watch the games, his impact is obvious. Herb continues to take on the toughest assignment night after night, defends all five positions and has been the best defender on the team with the 6th-best defensive rating in the league.
Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the favorites right now, but that could definitely change if the Pelicans keep winning and their defense keeps improving.
Herb may not win this award, but he has a great chance to make All-Defense this season.