Welcome to the Morning Shootaround, where every weekday you’ll get a fresh, topical column from one of SI.com’s NBA writers: Howard Beck on Mondays, Chris Mannix on Tuesdays, Michael Pina on Wednesdays, Chris Herring on Thursdays and Rohan Nadkarni on Fridays.
In many years, nay, most years, end-of-season awards voting is not especially difficult. For as much agonizing that goes into the top spots, for as many digital column inches that are devoted to arguments for or against particular players, beefs over winners are fairly rare. Not since Steve Nash’s razor-thin win over Shaquille O’Neal in 2005 has the MVP winner come within 100 total points of the runner-up; Rookie of the Year has been a…
