Player	Durant	Curry	Lillard	Doncic (1st)	Embiid	Giannis	Trae Young
Total Votes	1	6	3	7	1	5	1
Percentage %	4.17	25.00	12.50	29.17	4.17	20.83	4.17

 

Interestingly like the above question, the MVP prediction delivered a clear top 3. Of all the possible stars in the league, only 7 received votes and most of the votes came from opposing GMs (Lol Trae Young). Defending MVP Steph Curry is in the mix once again, but is second in the rankings to a younger superstar. According to the GMs, 2021-22 will see a new face for the league and that face is of the Wonder Boy Luka Doncic.

Being the face of the game, both 2k and the NBA is general, is a big responsibility especially for a 22-year-old but if he�s shown us anything in his 3 years in the league, it�s that he�s at his best when in the limelight. Luka appears ready to go to new levels after a disappointing playoff run last season, the big question will be whether he reaches glitch status like Steph Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo who are both unstoppable on a night-to-night basis.

 

Who will win the 2021-22 Rookie of the Year?

Player	Cunningham	Barnes	Green (1st)	Mobley	Giddey
Total Votes	8	1	9	4	1
Percentage %	34.78	4.35	39.13	17.39	4.35

The Rookie of the Year is always a tougher one to predict due to team fit, player make up in the 2k format and tendencies. A rookie can be totally unplayable until their tendencies get a revamp so in the NSL there tends to be certain types of players that play better in their Rookie campaign.

In the NBA it seems a two-horse race heading into the season and the GM vote has reflected that. Green has looked terrific and will get a ton of opportunity to produce. Cunningham has a slight injury which has kept him out of preseason but he appears ready to be the guy both in Detroit and in NSL LA, where he is literally all there is on the offensive end. The third-place vote getter Mobley, might actually be the best bet purely due to his make up as a player. Big men, especially big man rookies, seem to do enough to get the vote. They get boards and even if their ratings aren�t great, they score under the rim. If healthy, Mobley should get a good enough run to keep his ratings high enough to be effective all season in the NSL.

Who will win the 2021-22 Most Improved Award?

Player	LaMelo Ball (1st)	Michael Porter Jr	Anthony Edwards	Mo Bamba
Total Votes	4	2	2	2
Percentage %	17.39	8.70	8.70	8.70

 

The Most Improved Award prediction showed the most variance in the GM responses, which makes sense considering there�s still quite a lot of movement to take place before rosters are finalised. The Most Improved Award usually goes to a player who has a significant uptick in minutes, ratings and tendencies, and often it�s a player with a few glitch-like elements to their game.  

At this point in the year LaMelo Ball looks a terrific candidate for Most Improved. He has become a borderline All-Star in the NBA and will get a HUGE uptick in ratings, minutes and tendencies, in a much-improved Minnesota squad. Ball is long and athletic for a point guard (glitch) and will have the ball in his hands every possession he is in the game. Ethan has professed LaMelo is likely the first option on the team which should bode well for a big uptick in numbers. After a busy off-season in Minnesota, Ball now has greater support around him meaning his percentages should be more efficient and his assist numbers on the rise. There may be games where he takes a back seat to Siakam or Middleton which might be the only thing standing in the way of Ball and the Most Improved Award for 2021-22.  

LaMelo Ball 2020/21 Stats � 12.6 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 1.8 steals.

 

With so much still to unfold in free agency, it�s no surprise that GMs didn�t pinpoint a unanimous favourite. In fact, a total of 17 players received votes in the survey. In the table (above) are all the players who received multiple votes.

Players also receiving a vote:         
Karl Anthony Towns, Desmond Bane, Cam Reddish, OG Anunoby, James Wiseman, Kevin Porter Jr, Klay Thompson, Pascal Siakam, Daniel Gafford, Ben Simmons, Bam Adebayo, Malik Beasley and R.J Barrett.

 

Who will win 6^th Man of the Year?

Player	Terry Rozier (1st)	Tyler Herro	Jordan Clarkson	Derrick Rose
Total Votes	7	2	2	2
Percentage %	31.82	9.09	9.09	9.09

Recency bias hit the vote cards in the 6^th Man of the Year predictions as Scary Terry Rozier ran away with 31% of the votes. Rozier was in the mix for the award last season and would�ve likely taken it out if Portland�s Russell Westbrook was playing his normal starting role. GMs this year noted that with the injury to Leonard, Westbrook would likely slot into the starting line-up for the majority of the season, making him ineligible. Therefore, the door looks wide open for Rozier to claim the 6^th Man as he returns to New Orleans to play a similar role in the Western Conference contender�s up-tempo offense.

Terry Rozier 2020-21 Stats � 17.8 points, 3.4 assists, 3 rebounds and 2.3 threes. 

 

Honourable mentions go to Tyler Herro, Jordan Clarkson and Derrick Rose who will all play the scoring point role off the bench in heavy minutes throughout the season. Interestingly, all of the top vote getters should be playing the 6^th Man role in the NBA and we could be looking at the top 4 both in the NSL and NBA.

Players also receiving a vote:

Malik Monk, Malcolm Brogdon, Lou Williams, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Porter Jr, James Bouknight, Chuma Okeke, Reggie Jackson and Jalen Suggs.

 

2021-22 Risers Vs Fallers

When asked �who will be the biggest risers and fallers?� most GMs seemed to follow a similar line of thinking. There was a clear favourite in each question and a couple of under-the-radar candidates receiving multiple votes.

Risers

Player	Minnesota (1st)	Boston	Denver	Orlando
Total Votes	12	3	3	2
Percentage %	48.00	12.00	12.00	8.00

After an incredibly busy off-season on the trade front and with a significant amount of internal growth, the Timberwolves are the GMs consensus pick for the 2021-22 Team on the Rise. The Wolves have been busy acquiring borderline All-Stars, Khris Middleton and Pascal Siakam, while maintaining a roster full of high-end young talent. If all goes well, the Wolves could be a genuine contender with a ceiling of a top 4 team in the West. A playoff berth seems to be the floor for this rising franchise and the minimum expectation for GM Ethan. If the Wolves reach their floor and achieve a .500 season (which should money in the bank), they would be finishing the season 29-wins ahead of 2020-21. That�s a huge jump from the 12-70 effort last season and likely enough to be the biggest risers of the season.

Another fantastic and underrated candidate for the Franchise on the Rise is the Boston Celtics. GM Toby looks reluctantly ready to not tank after another terrific draft. Though the Celts still hold a number of valuable picks for the future, the tanking might be impossible as their franchise star Jason Tatum takes his game to a new level. It will be exciting to see how GM Toby steers the ship, will he push some assets in to bring back a star or will he continue adding to his impressive stamp collection? 

Denver and Orlando both receive honourable mentions in this conversation. A lot of GMs are sold on Denver being the �real deal� (second place in who will win 2021-22 championship) which means most are expecting a significant jump from their record of 49-33 in 2020-21. If they become a 70-win team they will be right up there as the biggest risers though recognition may be hard to come by after a really solid season last season.  

Orlando�s roster is sneaky good and filled with young guys who�ve either broken out or are threatening to this year. Trae Young is a star in the NBA and his skillset is perfect for the current engine. GM GC had a terrific offseason, bringing in more youth to fit around their star and a backcourt rotation of Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, Jalen Suggs and Markelle Fultz which is one of, if not, the most talented in the league.

Teams also receiving a vote:

Atlanta, 76ers, Sacramento, Miami and Thunder.

 

Fallers   

Player	Detroit (1st)	Sacramento	Phoenix	Brooklyn	Clippers	Portland
Total Votes	7	3	2	2	2	2
Percentage %	31.82	12.00	8.00	8.00	8.00	8.00

A total of 12 teams were nominated to fall this year from the GM survey. There were some surprising nominations in the group when you look at past-season form and the quality of GMs in the discussion. The clear stand-out to fall the most in 21-22 was last year�s Finalist and Eastern Conference Champions, the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons have some wiggle room to improve internally, which will largely be dependent on franchise jewel Bam Adebayo, however most GMs are sceptical due to the unravelling circumstances around Kyrie Irving. GM Sheed is one of the most active and charismatic GMs in the league and will be working around the clock, using every ounce of his charm to make sure the Pistons stay in the Championship window.

GM Klemm will tell you he saw the 2^nd place standing on the Fallers list coming and if I�m totally honest, he may have voted for his team here. The Kings have a star in Vucevic who though outstanding in the 2k engine, could take a minor rating hit as the season goes on due to a lesser role in the offense in Chicago. The Kings have a bit of work to do on the Free Agents and trading front so their exact position is somewhat unknown, but it�s hard to imagine Sacramento climbing in the West with so many teams on the rise around them.

�Despite all the trash talk, arrogant rants and elite media content, everyone is probably pencilling in the Kings as a realistic suckfest.� � GM Klemm

Teams also receiving a vote:

76ers, Warriors, Denver, Washington, Spurs and Indiana.

 

Will the 2021-22 Season be more competitive than last season?

A simple yes/no question seems the perfect note to finish the predictions section of the survey and give us a little hope as we edge closer to a new season. When asked if the coming season would be more or less competitive than the previous, 91% of GMs responded with a resounding YES. It seems with so many young teams on the up and a number of teams trading forward over the offseason, the outlook for competition has never looked better and the league appears to be the healthiest it has been since beginning.

One GM took liberty to articulate their thoughts, evaluating the state of the league in response to a simple yes/no question:

�I hope so. There really isn't any obvious teams that have decided to fully blow it up and go from being right there competing to a team that's flying the white flag high.... Good handful of teams that are going to be better though.� 

This response was then collated by a team of experts and ushered into the �yes� pile. *dear god, pray*

That concludes the GM Predictions section of the Survey. Coming soon will be the slightly less insightful, significantly more entertaining GM Opinon Survey, where we analyse the data on the big questions about GM skills, positional value and sleeping habits across the league. I hope you enjoyed this section of the data and the insights that came with it.