A group of Hashtag Basketball writers heroically joined forces* to discuss the finer points in life: Which Renaissance artist showed the greatest skill in clay? Which Chinese dynasty had the most profound effect on future international borders? Why should we get out of the pool when there's a thunderstorm but fish aren't constantly dying of lightning strikes? And above all, how does one decide between Quin Snyder, Brad Stevens, and Dwayne Casey? 

*We really just talked about it on Slack and shared a Google Doc.

The Hashtag staff was not terribly accurate on their predictions for this season, but who knew that Victor Oladipo would be...really good? A few guys just picked the wrong Pacer for MIP, but oh well.

Without further ado, here is how the HTB staff votes for the MVP, Most Improved Player, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year awards, including some periodic explanations of the votes.

Rookie of the Year

Winner: Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers (14 of 16 votes)

List of voters for Simmons: James Gwatkin, Kevin Nye, Jordan Kligman, Jake Friend, Jordan Christmas, Katie Nelson, Devin Haripal, Nick Agar-Johnson, Kyle Reiner Pineda, Tyler Metcalf, Craig Oliver, Curtis Rafter, Joe Sinke.

The reasoning

Jake Friend: Best all-around rookie and Sixers got 50 wins. Mitchell scores more but Simmons does everything else way better. 

Jordan Christmas: Hate to be the "not close" guy, but Simmons is better than Mitchell in every aspect of basketball besides shooting and scoring. Mitchell is good too, loved him in college, He'll be a superstar, but Simmons has been better.

Nick Agar-Johnson: Ben's defensive acumen and play during Joel Embiid's absence make him the ROTY in my mind. Mitchell is spectacular, and I'm a huge fan, but Rudy Gobert is the main reason for the Jazz being in the playoffs (even though Donovan is their leading scorer).

The counter-argument: Donovan Mitchell (2 votes)

Votes for Mitchell: Jeremy Stevens, Chance Collins.

Jeremy Stevens: Sooner or later, I'd like to start the trend of the award going to true first-year players. There's no better time to start than now, and Mitchell is the first rookie since Melo to lead a playoff team in scoring.

Sixth Man of the Year

Winner: Lou Williams, Los Angeles Clippers (14 of 16 votes)

List of voters for Lou Williams: James Gwatkin, Kevin Nye, Jake Friend, Jordan Christmas, Chance Collins, Jeremy Stevens, Katie Nelson, Devon Haripal, Kyle Reiner Pineda, Nick Agar-Johnson, Tyler Metcalf, Craig Oliver, Quinn Pilkey, Joe Sinke.

The reasoning

James Gwatkin: He is averaging 22 points off the bench!

Jeremy Stevens: I hate that the award just goes the highest scoring bench guy, but Lou was almost an all-star, putting him a tier above most high scoring bench guys.

Devon Haripal: To quote Drake, “Boomin' out in South Gwinnett like Lou Will. 6 Man like Lou Will.” The 13-year veteran has set career-highs in a handful of stats, and has played his best basketball all season.

The counter-argument: Fred Van Vleet and the Raptors bench (1 vote each)

Curtis Rafter: Fred Van Vleet is the best player on the best bench in the NBA. Delving into semantics but I don't consider Lou Williams a bench player.

Most Improved Player

Winner: Victor Oladipo, Indiana Pacers (15 of 16 votes)

Voters: Joe Sinke, Jordan Christmas, Kevin Nye, Jake Friend, Quinn Pilkey, James Gwatkin, Chance Collins, Craig Oliver, Jeremy Stevens, Katie Nelson, Nick Agar-Johnson, Tyler Metcalk, Kyle Reiner Pineda, Curtis Rafter.

The reasoning

Craig Oliver: From season to season, this may be the greatest improvement. Overnight, he became the face of the Pacers franchise for years to come and has begun to cement himself as a star in this league.

Quinn Pilkey: The only negative of Victor Oladipo's season is that my roommate predicted his success and now has something to hold over me when we talk basketball.

Katie Nelson: Only one candidate for this award. Oladipo has been incredible, leading the Pacers to the playoffs despite the loss of Paul George. In fact, he's actually been better than PG13 this year.

The counter-argument: LaMarcus Aldridge (1 vote)

Devon Haripal: If you look at his advanced stats, the story is Aldridge had his best season scoring the ball and being efficient about it — all without Kawhi Leonard to take pressure off him. He’s led the Spurs to their 21st-straight playoff appearance.

Defensive Player of the Year

Winner: Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz (12 of 15 votes)

Voters: Joe Sinke, Quinn Pilkey, Craig Oliver, Tyler Metcalf, Nick Agar-Johnson, Devon Haripal, Katie Nelson, Jordan Christmas, Jake Friend, Kevin Nye, Jordan Kligman, James Gwatkin.

The reasoning

Jordan Kligman: He shouldn't be robbed of this award two years in a row. I think Rudy Gobert's defensive impact made him a top 10 player in the league last year and still think he is.

Kevin Nye: I hate to give it to a guy who missed 25 games, but the Jazz are 11-15 without him and 37-18 with him (before the final game). He's just a monster.

Joe Sinke: I wanted to try and get someone who played more games, maybe Al Horford, Paul George, or even my own beloved Andre Drummond. But Gobert has simply been too good to deny.

The counter-argument: Paul George (2 votes), Al Horford (1 vote)

Chance Collins: George has done it his entire career with zero DPOYs in the collection. Tasked with guarding some of the best in the game and still keeping up with the erratic play of Russell Westbrook, PG is still vastly underrated as a two-way player. Averaging 5.7 rebs, 2.1 steals, and 0.5 blocks PG deserves to give Gobert a run for the trophy this season.

Jeremy Stevens: Horford is the best defensive player on the best defensive team. It also helps that he played more than 70 games.

Coach of the Year

Winner: Dwayne Casey, Toronto Raptors (8 of 16 votes)

Voters: James Gwatkin, Jordan Kligman, Chance Collins, Katie Nelson, Nick Agar-Johnson, Craig Oliver, Quinn Pilkey, Joe Sinke

The reasoning

Joe Sinke: The Raptors are the best team in the East and have statistically been the 2nd best team in the NBA this year. Everyone counted them out this year and they turned it around, Casey may not be the in-game genius that Brad Stevens is, but taking a talented roster and getting the most of it is worth as much as taking a less talented (or injury-riddled one) and getting the most out of it.

Jordan Kligman: The Raptors didn't add any massive talent and yet they are a lot better. As a Raptors fan, I didn't believe Casey would be able to change the offense, but he did and I think he deserves a ton of credit for that.

Katie Nelson: He built an incredible bench and has eliminated the Raptor's toxic iso-ball.

The counter arguments: Brad Stevens (3 votes), Quin Snyder (2 votes), Mike D'Antoni, Gregg Popovich, Brett Brown (1 vote each)

Kevin Nye (Stevens): Loses superstar 5 minutes into the season, other superstar misses 20+ games, still gets 2nd seed despite leaning on a lot of youngsters? That's great coaching.

Tyler Metcalf (Snyder): Way outperformed expectations. One of the best defenses in the league. Did a great job of overcoming injuries and roster turnover.

Kyle Reiner Pineda (Snyder): Starting out the season rough is bad. Losing your franchise player is bad. But when you have a coach that leads you to the Playoffs coming from a 10th seed is an amazing story. Think of last season's Miami Heat comeback run. They fell short, but these Utah Jazz have done it and they might even grab the 3rd seed. Oh, they are doing this with a rookie in Donovan Mitchell as their star player.

Curtis Rafter (Stevens): Coached a roster plagued with injuries to the two-seed in the Eastern Conference. Also, head-to-head I think Stevens is a better coach than Casey, plain and simple.

Jake Friend (Popovich): The Spurs are still doing Spurs things despite the lack of star power this season without Kawhi.

Most Valuable Player

Winner: James Harden, Houston Rockets (11 of 15 votes)

Voters: Jordan Kligman, Kevin Nye, Jeremy Stevens, Jake Friend, Jordan Christmas, Katie Nelson, Kyle Reiner Pineda, Nick Agar-Johnson, Tyler Metcalk, Craig Oliver, Joe Sinke.

The reasoning

Joe Sinke: I want LeBron to win honestly. He should get another one. But Harden is the best player on the best team while also having an absurd statistical season. That combination is hard to overcome.

Craig Oliver: He is without a doubt the best on the best team. LeBron has built an impressive case in his 15th (!!!) season, but what Harden has done in Houston with that efficiency and volume is actually insane. He dominates every game he's in and nobody has found an answer to solve him when he's got the ball in his hands.

Tyler Metcalf: The guy has been incredible. Offensive wizard and isn't a liability on defense anymore. It's impossible to guard him and he does a great job of setting up his teammates too. He's been the front-runner all season. No reason for that to change now.

Nick Agar-Johnson: He should have won it last year, and now is leading the league in scoring for the team with the best regular season record. He also has made it work with CP3--and without him when he was injured.

Kyle Reiner Pineda: There is talk of LeBron, or even Westbrook winning the award (if he averages a triple-double for a season again) but in a conference loaded with talent, Harden has led the Rockets to an NBA best record - even besting the legendary Warriors team. If you said he was robbed for two straight years now, he won't be this time around.

Katie Nelson: He is absolutely unstoppable offensively and has been pretty clutch. He has improved his defense and is an excellent distributor. He is the main reason the Rockets are the 1st seed.

Jordan Christmas: For the sake of not typing 2000 words, Harden has been the engine of one of the most deadly offenses in NBA history, and is actually a neutral on defense now (lol). He has been fantastic.

Jeremy Stevens: A 60+ win team exists solely because James Harden exists.

Jake Friend: The Rockets are completely built around Harden and have the best record to show for it. But it would be hilarious if he lost the MVP again and Davis or LeBron won instead.

Kevin Nye: By a nose. LeBron has (arguably) been better than 2 of his own MVP years and has carried a mess of a team on his back, but Harden has been historically great offensively and on a 65 win team.

Jordan Kligman: I'm not a James Harden fan, but he's had an elite season and the Rockets have the best record.

The counter-argument: LeBron James (3 votes)

James Gwatkin: In his 15th season he is still dominating the league.

Chance Collins: 15th season, dominating the league and having one of the best seasons in his career. It's time to stop saying "we can give the trophy to James every year" and actually start giving it to him. To be honest, looking at LeBron's season and then contrasting that to the lack of talent surrounding him vs. Harden, it's no question that LBJ deserves the glory. If Harden gets it this year, it's also attributed to the fact he was in the hunt with Westbrook and people feel he "deserves" the MVP this season. Watch LeBron; it's simple, it's his...but he won't get it.

Devon Haripal: LeBron’s been in the league for 15 years and is arguably better than ever. He’s deserved the award every year for a little over the past decade — let that sink in. In the future, we’re eventually going to hear from media members, who voted against him, that Lebron deserved more MVPs when talking about his legacy. It’s LeBron’s award, which he’ll end up losing to James Harden.

So there you have it. Coach of the Year was by far the most contentious, but the others were pretty clear-cut winners: Simmons, Oladipo, Gobert, Williams, Casey, and Harden are your award winners. 

Check back in with us for playoff content. It's time.