Crystal Ballin'

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As we slog through the dog days of summer, the NBA’s season-ending awards seem like a long, long ways away. Heck, we’ve still got another month until Training Camp tips off!

But it’s never too early to break out the crystal ball and start looking ahead at what next season holds in store and which players will take home individual honors. Next year’s winners will include some old heads and familiar faces, but there’s also a quiet changing of the guard that’s happening in today’s NBA. And soon, the new guard will begin asserting themselves as the Association’s new alpha dogs.

The Cavaliers have some players in the mix for certain individual awards, although not the usual players for the usual awards. It’s a new era on the North Coast – and this season will see youngsters both struggling and succeeding. How it all works out is something we won’t know until April.

But while we’re still stuck in August, let’s take a sneak peek at who just might take what hardware home when it all wraps up in a few months …

Last year, voters were almost in universal agreement on the season’s MVP, James Harden, who led his Rockets to the best regular season record in the NBA and kept the award in the Western Conference for the fifth straight season. Since Michael Jordan took home the hardware back in 1998, exactly two Eastern Conference players have been named the league’s Most Valuable – Allen Iverson and LeBron James.

Last season, after signing a rich contract extension to remain in Houston, the Bearded One finally took top honors after posting another ridiculous offensive campaign – averaging a league-leading 30.4 ppg to go with 8.8 assists per, good for third-best – after moving back to the two-guard spot after running the point previous to Chris Paul’s arrival. The six-time All-Star led the Rockets to their first-ever No. 1 seed and were one game away from dethroning the Warriors before Paul’s hamstring injury late in Game 5 of the Conference Finals.

This season’s MVP race will include the usual suspects, although a pair of them will have to win the award in different threads. LeBron James, who turns 34 in late December, will try to win his first in the Western Conference. Kawhi Leonard, who was limited to just nine games last season, will attempt re-start his career with the Raptors.

Russell Westbrook, the previous season’s MVP, is always a serious candidate as is Steph Curry, who took back-to-back honors before Westbrook. But this could be the year some young guns who’ve been in the conversation make the big leap.

New Orleans’ Anthony Davis finished third in the voting last year and, with Boogie signing with the Warriors, he’ll have an entire season to operate in Alvin Gentry’s up-tempo offense. Damian Lillard was fourth after leading his Blazers to the No. 3 seed out West.

In the East, this could be the year that the Greek Freak, playing in the Bucks’ new state-of-the-art arena, ascends beyond superstar status and wins MVP. He’s improved exponentially over the course of his first five years and could break through all the way to the top in 2018-19.

In the Cavaliers corner, Kevin Love takes over as the face of the franchise. And while he’s not a fixture in the MVP conversation and doesn’t play the flashy game that candidates normally do, it’s worth noting that he averaged 22.6 points and 13.7 boards in his last four seasons as the squad’s first option in Minnesota.

In the years since Tyson Cleotis Chandler, the No. 2 pick of the 2001 Draft, was named Defensive Player of the Year in 2012, none the following winners – Marc Gasol, Joakim Noah, Kawhi Leonard, Draymond Green and Rudy Gobert – were drafted higher than No. 9 overall. Gasol and Green were second rounders and last year’s winner, Gobert, was the 27th pick of the first round by Utah.

The point is that defensive studs can come from anywhere in the Draft (or outside of it, as Ben Wallace proved four times) whereas the lowest-drafted MVP ever is Steve Nash (No. 15 overall in 1996).

Last year, after a pair of wing players took the trophy, it was back in a big man’s hands – with Gobert anchoring Quin Snyder’s stingy Jazz defense. Centers also finished second (Joel Embiid) and third (Anthony Davis) in the voting, but Utah’s overseas import – who led the league with 2.5 blocks per contest – took top honors.

Paul George was the next-closest non-center in the voting and New Orleans’ Jrue Holiday was the leading vote-getter among guards.

If two-time winner Kawhi Leonard can return healthy, he could be right back in the conversation this season, especially operating in the weaker Eastern Conference. But he’ll have some competition in the East in terms of two-way wings – with Victor Oladipo establishing himself as a bona fide star on both ends of the floor last season.

Draymond Green, who won the award in 2017, could easily win it again this year. But let’s hope he doesn’t.

And in sticking with a theme from the previous entry, the Cavaliers have had exactly two All-Defensive team First Teamers since the honor’s inception in 1968 – LeBron James (2008-09, ’09-10) and Larry Nance (1988-89). Larry’s son probably won’t take home DPOY honors this upcoming season, but he’s the kind of do-it-all defender who could become the third member of this list in the not-too-distant future.

Just last week, NBA.com’s John Schuhmann conducted his annual Rookie Survey – asking this year’s incoming freshman their opinion on the current class. And the results, for what they’re worth, were pretty favorable to the Cavaliers, with the group predicting that this year’s Rookie of the Year winner will either be the Draft’s top pick, DeAndre Ayton, or the Wine & Gold’s selection at No. 8 – Collin Sexton.

This year’s rookie class will have a hard act to follow after last year’s bumper crop which produced the reigning winner, Philly’s Ben Simmons, along with future stars Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, Dennis Smith Jr., Lonzo Ball, Josh Jackson, Lauri Markkanen and Kyle Kuzma. Making last year’s excellent class even more unique is that its top overall pick – Markelle Fultz – barely suited up for the Sixers.

(As Schuhmann pointed out: Sacramento’s DeAaron Fox had better numbers across the board than the previous year’s ROY – fellow PG Malcom Brogdon – as wasn’t even named to the last year’s All-Rookie Second Team.)

It’s impossible to know whether this year’s class will have the same effect, but there are some youngsters to keep an eye on – beginning with the Young Bull, who comes to the Cavaliers as possibly the squad’s second option as a 19-year-old. He’ll find the spotlight quickly in Cleveland and, after dazzling fans in Vegas Summer League, there’s nothing about him that suggests he’ll shy away from it.

Ayton will get a similar chance to shine with the young Suns and Trae Young will have the green light from opening night in Atlanta. Luka Doncic comes to the Association with the biggest advanced billing and could form a potent tandem alongside Dennis Smith Jr. in Dallas. The rookies voted that Chicago’s Wendell Carter Jr. will have the best career of anyone in their class – and after watching the rugged big man work, it’s hard to argue with his peers.

Guys who win the Most Improved Player award usually go one of two ways afterward. For some, it’s the springboard season for their career ascension – as with Kevin Love, Paul George, C.J. McCollum, Giannis Antetokuonmpo and Jimmy Butler. For others, that jump they made from one year to the next is about as far as they’ll go – as in the case of Aaron Brooks, Ryan Anderson and Boris Diaw.

The Cavaliers got some firsthand knowledge of just how improved Victor Oladipo – last year’s winner – was as he and his Pacers tormented the Wine & Gold during the regular season and gave them all they could handle in the Playoffs.

Of all the awards to predict, this one is the toughest because the winner almost has to be a bit of a surprise. Some might have seen Oladipo’s rise in Indiana – usurping the scoring load from Paul George. But who would have predicted that Houston’s Clint Capela and Brooklyn’s Spencer Dinwiddie would finish second and third in the voting?

Any of the aforementioned rookies from last year’s class could be candidates and there are some players from last year’s postseason who announced their imminent arrival, like Cleveland’s Larry Nance, Jr., Boston’s Terry Rozier, Portland’s Zach Collins, Miami’s Tyler Johnson and New Orleans’ Jrue Holiday.

Other potential up-and-comers to keep an eye on include Orlando’s Aaron Gordon, Sacramento’s Buddy Hield, Charlotte’s Jeremy Lamb and San Antonio’s Dejounte Murray.

When Tristan Thompson was moved to the bench early last season as Ty Lue experimented with Kevin Love at center, he eagerly expressed his goal to become the league’s Sixth Man of the Year. Because everyone in the media loves Tristan, nobody had the heart to tell him that big men don’t win that award anymore.

Lamar Odom was the last non-guard to win the award (in 2010-11), but even at 6-10, no one would consider Odom a big.

Nope, the Sixth Man award now annually goes to a shooting guard who can fill it up. Either that, or just put Jamal Crawford, Eric Gordon and Lou Williams’ names in a hat and pick one. Williams started just 19 games for the Clippers but still led the squad (by a fairly large margin) with a 22.6 ppg average. Coming off the bench last year, the 45th overall pick of the 2005 Draft went off for 40 points twice and for more than 30 on nine other occasions.

Behind Williams (and Gordon), two new names climbed up the list – Toronto’s sophomore point man Fred VanVleet and Denver’s Will Barton, who actually has great games against other teams, not just the Cavaliers.

Last year, the Cavaliers boasted their highest-scoring second unit (41.2 ppg) in franchise history and one of the key pieces of that bench was Jordan Clarkson, who finished second among all NBA reserves at 13.7 ppg. The fourth-year guard notched double-figures in 20 of his 28 regular season appearances with Cleveland before struggling in his postseason debut.

This year, Jordan will likely be expected to provide even more offensive punch for the Wine & Gold – and could very well force his way into what’s been a three-man Sixth Man race for the better part of a decade.

The Coach of the Year award can be a moving target. Does it go to the coach who made the most of a team with less talent or is the coach who’s able to mold a group loaded with talent?

Either way, the man who wins it this year hopes it’s not the kiss of death as it was for the reigning winner, Dwane Casey, who won 59 games in Toronto and took top honors – only to find himself looking for a job not long after. He found one in short order, taking over for Stan Van Gundy as the Pistons bench boss in Motown.

Eight teams will go into next year with new head coaches. Some veterans made moves – including Mike Budenholzer to Milwaukee, Steve Clifford to Orlando, David Fizdale to the Knicks and Casey to the Pistons. Guys like former Cavalier assistant Lloyd Pierce (Atlanta), James Borrego (Charlotte), Nick Nurse (Toronto) and Igor Kokoškov (Phoenix) will get their first experience on the hot seat – each with different expectations heading into 2018-19.

In terms of expectations, Tyronn Lue will be facing a sea change here in C-town. The Cavaliers averaged just over 50 wins per over his two full seasons as head coach and who could forget his 16-5 mark in the 2016 Playoffs when he helped give Cleveland its first championship in over half-a-decade.

Lue is used to winning as both a player and a coach – and he’ll expect the same from a drastically different roster this season. The Wine & Gold won’t be on the fast-track back to the Eastern Conference Finals. The road will be much tougher, and if Lue can help his transformed squad back to the Playoffs and beyond, he might just be the man holding the hardware when the season is all said and done.