NBA: Way-too-early bold individual award predictions for 2023-24

Way-too-early bold individual award predictions for the 2023-24 NBA season. 

The start of the 2023-24 NBA regular season is roughly a week away. After a long offseason, meaningful basketball is nearly here. One of the bigger storylines every year heading into the season revolves around the individual awards.

As we countdown the days until the official start of the regular season, we predict who will win the big individual regular season awards in the NBA.

NBA Coach of the Year: Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat

It’s been almost strictly doom and gloom for the Miami Heat this offseason. They missed out on Bradley Beal and Damian Lillard and also lost two key components to their NBA Finals run last season in Gabe Vincent and Max Strus. That said, if there’s one head coach who’s going to get the most out of their team and defy the odds this season, it’s Erik Spoelstra.

It’s actually quite amazing that Spo has not yet won an NBA Coach of the Year award and downright wrong. With nearly every NBA pundit already counting out the Heat, this could finally be the year where Spo wins a Coach of the Year award.

If the Heat can finish as a top 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, Spo should be in the conversation. And if he finds a way to finish behind just the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics, he should win the award without a vote. I predict this is finally the year where Spo gets his flowers.