Awards Watch: NBL24 preview

Strap yourselves in because NBL24 is almost here and we are set for an absolutely incredible season on and off the court. There’s no shortage of talent around the league this season with players returning from overseas stints and incoming fresh faces who are all ready to light it up on the floor.

Just like last year, I will be keeping tabs on the major awards throughout the season and who could potentially be in the mix. With the Blitz in the books, let’s take a look at some of the names to keep an eye on before everything tips off on Thursday night.

NBL23 MVP Xavier Cooks with Andrew Gaze.

It’s going to be an incredible race for all the major awards in NBL24, purely based on the level of talent that is around the league this season. To throw a couple of names out who I think could feature in the MVP come season end, I wanted to break that up into two categories – 'the favourites' and 'the dark horses'.

As far as favourites are concerned, there are three big names who have either won this award recently or been around the mark consistently. Bryce Cotton, Jaylen Adams and Mitch Creek are no-brainers to be thinking about potential winners by the time this season winds down. Cotton and Adams have both previously been named the league's MVP and are both expected to spearhead their teams in the new season.

Creek is an interesting one as it can be argued a key reason he hasn't been named MVP before is his side's penchant for falling away in the second half of the season.

Some returning names to keep an eye on are Cotton’s new teammate Keanu Pinder, Melbourne's Jo Lual-Acuil Jr, New Zealand's Will McDowell-White and Tasmania's Milton Doyle.

In terms of dark horses, Illawarra's Justin Robinson is one who I believe could be in for a massive season for the Hawks. Still just 25 years old, Robinson missed all of last season with a knee injury and comes in with a chip on his shoulder ready to prove that he is still an NBA level player. Don’t be surprised if Robinson leads the league in assists this season.

Zylan Cheatham for the Breakers is more than just a highlight reel on the floor. Cheatham has arrived from Bayern Munich, had a taste of things in the NBA and is a player that Mody Maor has wanted to sign for some time. Once he completely adjusts to the NBL style of play, Cheatham has all the tools to dominate on a nightly basis.

Lastly, it might seem far-fetched, but Luke Travers could be in for a mammoth season in his new threads. He’s playing with a different level of confidence right now and with the stacked team that United has, he’s likely someone who is going to fill the stat sheet on a consistent basis and go close to the elusive 5x5 game a couple of times.

Mitch Creek.

The Best Defensive Player is always a unique award to keep an eye on throughout the season. A lot of it can be built up on the back of strong campaign for a certain individual and in the last few seasons we have seen some unbelievable individual defensive talents grace the floor, so much so that a lot of people’s pick to win it last season, Justin Simon, wasn’t even named a finalist for the award.

Looking ahead to this season there are a couple of names that stand out to me as potential defensive beasts. Bul Kuol is someone who has cemented himself as one of the best perimeter defenders in the league over the past two seasons. Kuol is someone who prides himself on the challenge of trying to shut down an opposing star with his incredible strength and agility. Jaylin Galloway is also one to keep an eye on throughout NBL24 for this award. He is expected to slot into former teammate Simon’s role for the Kings and could see a major boost in minutes as a result.

Shea Ili, who a lot of people were surprised was named a finalist last season after playing just 14 games, will go close to winning this award as long as he stays healthy on the court. He’s the type of player that every team wants on their side and can always be trusted to do his job. Jordan Usher, the fresh face out west, has proclaimed that he is one of the best defenders in the league already. If you watched any of the Wildcats pre-season action, it’s hard to disagree with him. He has the strength to be a lockdown defender, but it’s his tenacity and energy that will see him thrive in the NBL this season.

Jordan Usher.

This award is one that I always enjoy keeping an eye on throughout the season, because recently we have seen so many players take huge leaps in their development with strong outputs on the floor. Whilst it’s highly unlikely that the back-to-back winner of this award, Keanu Pinder, can win it for a third consecutive time, I refuse to put a ceiling on just how good he can be.

There are a couple of other players that I'm excited to see take another step forward in NBL24, but perhaps none more so than Jaylin Galloway. Galloway is playing with a huge level of confidence right now and while he is expected to fill that Justin Simon role for Sydney, he’s a much more dynamic offensive talent than that. He has all the tools to be an NBA player in his future and as for when that is, that’s all up to him.

Travers is another one who could thrive in his new environment and produce a highly consistent and productive season for United. He’s shown many flashes in his young career of just how good he can be, but still just 22 years old, could this be his coming-of-age season?

Isaac White has been begging for a consistent opportunity ever since he left the Hawks and deserves every bit of success that now comes his way. White has shown in the pre-season to be a sparkplug off the bench for the Bullets and will relish any chance he gets.

Luke Travers

We do love a bold prediction early in the pre-season, so I'm going to give one now and we can look back on this in six months time. Barring any injury setbacks, Ian Clark will be the one to beat for this award at the end of the season.

Clark, who has played two half seasons in the NBL in the last two years, finally has a full schedule ahead of him for Melbourne United. He was a major piece of the Sydney Kings Championship winning team in NBL22 and his preseason form shows he’s not slowing down anytime soon. It’s not often a player of his calibre comes into a team and buys into a bench role, but Clark seems to thrive in what he does for his team at this point in his career. No doubt Dean Vickerman will switch things up a little in terms of line-ups throughout the season, but there’s my bold prediction.

Rotations and lineups are going to hange a lot throughout the season, there are plenty of names who could be in the mix if they continue to come off the bench like they have in pre-season, including Perth's Alex Sarr, New Zealand's Finn Delany (although I do expect him to start), Tasmania's Anthony Drmic and South East Melbourne's Reuben Te Rangi.

Anthony Drmic.

This will be the second time this award has been given out after it replaced the Rookie of the Year in NBL23.

Sam Waardenburg was a well-deserving first recipient of this last season and will again be in the mix by the end of NBL24. It’s important to remember that the only eligibility criteria for this award is that a player is under the age of 25 by April 30 of the year of the conclusion of the relevant season. This means that yes, both imports and Next Stars will be eligible to win it.

It's hard to dive too deep into this one this early due to the huge number of players who are eligible to win it, but there are a couple of names that will no doubt feature heavily in the conversation as the year goes on.

Sam Froling, who was runner up last season, will be eligible to win it this season as he is still only 23. Alex Sarr, the projected lottery pick from the Wildcats could be in the conversation. Ariel Hukporti is expected to have a breakout season after a year away with injury, as is his teammate Travers. The list is endless at this point, but check back for volume two of this piece after a few rounds to see who are the early frontrunners.

Sam Froling.

Much like the Next Generation Award, the Coach of the Year right now has 10 candidates seeing as all teams have the same record heading into the season. But that’s boring, so I will give you a just a couple of names who I believe will be in the conversation towards the end of the year.

It’s hard to look past Dean Vickerman with how Melbourne United looked in the pre-season and what many predict to be a championship-contending team. Vickerman will have his hands full, however, juggling a very talented and deep team and getting them to be at their best as soon as possible.

Mahmoud Abdelfattah is an outstanding replacement for Chase Buford at the Kings and as hard as it is to win a three-peat, Sydney is one step closer in doing so, simply by how good of a hire this is.

Justin Schueller is one that I think will feature heavily in his conversation if he manages to turn around the poor Brisbane culture we saw last season, and from what we saw at the Blitz, that’s exactly the positive signs fans wanted to see, too. The same can be said for Jacob Jackomas and the Hawks, after enduring the worst season in their histoy, they recruited exceptionally well and I for one am sneaky high on Illawarra’s playoff chances.

Mahmoud Abdelfattah.