NBA Writer Picks Two Celtics For Major End Of Season Awards, With Caveat

Jaylen Brown is playing like an NBA MVP candidate, was just named an All-Star Game starter and is the primary reason why the Boston Celtics are exceeding expectations this season.

He’s been helped by center Neemias Queta, who’s a contender for the league’s Most Improved Player of the Year award.

Brown and Queta aren’t the only two Celtics that could win major hardware at the end of the season though.

With most teams now officially past the halfway point of the campaign, The Ringer’s NBA senior staff writer Michael Pina revealed his picks for the midseason awards on Tuesday.

Pina chose Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla to earn the Coach of the Year honor and tabbed guard Derrick White to capture the Defensive Player of the Year award, with a caveat.

He said that if San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama ends up meeting the 65-game minimum to be eligible for an end-of-season award, then Wemby deserves the hardware over White. Wembanyama, however, has already missed 14 contests this season, so can only afford to sit out three more games across the second half of the campaign.

“I chose someone who almost definitely won’t win DPOY, but who deserves to stand on even ground with the consensus favorites: Derrick White,” Pina wrote. “White is everywhere. He’s an excellent deterrent in gaps, at the nail, or sliding through the lane to load up on the strongside. … This year, it’s hard to find a defender who checks off more boxes than White.”

The 31-year-old was eighth in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting for the 2023-24 campaign and 10th last season. White is also third in the NBA in stocks (steals plus blocks) with 114 this season.

Mazzulla, meanwhile, could be the Coach of the Year favorite and was recently named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for December.

The 37-year-old earned at least one Eastern Conference Coach of the Month award in each of his first four seasons at the helm.

“During a recent conversation I had with an NBA executive whose team recently lost to the Celtics, he called them an ‘absolute buzz saw’ and didn’t dismiss the idea that they could reach the NBA Finals. This team is in second place with the second-best offense in the league. Therefore, Mazzulla might be the best coach in basketball,” Pina said.