This is my fourth year running the Alternative Awards, got great responses in 2020, 2021 & 2022 as well as a historical retrospective! Now presenting your candidates for the only awards that matter, the 2023 Alternative NBA Awards!

*For the awards with an asterisk, there were no stat-trackers that I found, so I had to scrape them myself. Here's the GitHub link for that (it's a mix of Python & R)!

(for players who are between sixth and ninth on their team in minutes played per game, must have played 50% of team's games and started less than 50% of games, credit to KokiriEmerald for the reasoning behind re-implementing the starting criteria)

By PPG:

1. Malcolm Brogdon (14.9)

2. Malik Monk (13.5)

3. Alec Burks (12.8)

4. Bruce Brown, Max Strus & Naz Reid (11.5)

By VORP:

1. Malcolm Brogdon (2.1)

2. Tyus Jones & Delon Wright (1.7)

3. Larry Nance Jr. (1.4)

4. Onyeka Okongwu & Brandon Clarke (1.3)

Most charges drawn per 36 minutes (minimum 70% of games played), credit to morron88 for the idea to separate charges & loose balls

1. Kevin Love (0.962)

2. Isaiah Joe (0.509)

3. Patrick Beverley (0.423)

4. Jalen Brunson (0.411)

5. Davion Mitchell (0.378)

Shoutout to Jaylin Williams, who played in only 60% of games, but drew 1.69 charges per 36 minutes!

Per 36 minutes, minimum 70% of games played

1. T.J. McConnell (1.418)

2. Tari Eason (1.407)

3. Paul Reed (1.379)

4. Jordan Goodwin (1.145)

5. Jarred Vanderbilt (1.086)

most deflections per 36 minutes, minimum 70% of games played

1. Alex Caruso (5.217)

2. Matisse Thybulle (4.559)

3. Herbert Jones (4.09)

4. T.J. McConnell (3.953)

5. De'Anthony Melton (3.923)

most points generated by screen assists per 36 minutes, minimum 70% of games played

1. Kevon Looney (14.28)

2. Domantas Sabonis (13.92)

3. Onyeka Okongwu (13.79)

4. Drew Eubanks (13.73)

5. Rudy Gobert (13.37)

Shoutout to Steven Adams, who played in only 51% of games, but generated 16.83 points by screen assists per 36 minutes!

best qualifying 3 point percentage (Basketball-Reference)

1. Luke Kennard (49.4%)

2. Al Horford (44.6%)

3. Damion Lee (44.5%)

4. Malcolm Brogdon (44.4%)

5. Tyrese Maxey (43.4%)

worst qualifying 2 point percentage (Basketball-Reference)

1. Killian Hayes (42.9%)

2. Tim Hardaway Jr. (43.1%)

3. Luguentz Dort (44%)

4. Dillon Brooks (45.1%)

5. Fred VanVleet (45.5%)

most minutes played per game (Basketball-Reference) (credit to FurryCrew for the idea)

1. Pascal Siakam & Kyrie Irving (37.4)

2. Jayson Tatum (36.9)

3. James Harden (36.8)

4. Fred VanVleet (36.7)

alternatively: most total minutes played (Basketball-Reference) (credit to FrankEMartindale for the idea)

1. Mikal Bridges (2963)

2. Anthony Edwards (2844)

3. Zach LaVine (2764)

4. Nikola Vucevic (2747)

5. Julius Randle (2734)

most FGAs per assist, minimum 50% of games played (credit to Moose4KU for the idea)

1. Chris Boucher (18.2)

2. Kelly Oubre Jr. (15.2)

3. Mark Williams (13.9)

4. Jaren Jackson Jr. (13.7)

5. Michael Porter Jr. (12.6)

least FGAs per assist, minimum 50% of games played (credit to Moose4KU for the idea & ajayod for the name)

1. Ben Simmons (0.918)

2. Draymond Green (0.948)

3. Jordan McLaughlin (0.98)

4. Chris Paul (1.27)

5. Ish Smith (1.31)

highest personal fouls per 36 minutes, minimum 50% games played & 12 minutes/game (credit to PsychoM & BrightGreenLED for the idea)

1. Christian Koloko (5.75)

2. Isaiah Jackson (5.32)

3. Zeke Nnaji (5.19)

4. Dwight Powell (5.16)

5. Naz Reid (5.06)

best 5th starter by VORP (must have started 50% of a team's games) (credit to memeticengineering for the idea)

1. Tyrese Maxey (1.3)

2. Gary Trent Jr. (1.1)

3. Grayson Allen (1)

4. Herbert Jones & Jonas Valanciunas (0.8)

most blocked dunks as the blocking player

1. Brook Lopez (23)

2. Drew Eubanks (20)

3. Jaren Jackson Jr. & Myles Turner (17)

4. Walker Kessler (15)

most blocked dunks as the dunking player (credit to Legdrop_soup for the idea and asw7412 for the sponsor)

1. Aaron Gordon (13)

2. Ivica Zubac (11)

3. Tari Eason (10)

4. Jarrett Allen (9)

5. Joel Embiid, Kenyon Martin Jr, Kristaps Porzingis, Patrick Williams & Walker Kessler (8)

highest percent of blocks that stayed inbounds & recovered by blocker's team, minimum 40 blocked shots (credit to gibberisle for the idea)

1. Mo Bamba (72.1%)

2. Jabari Smith Jr. (70.3%)

3. Draymond Green (70%)

4. Patrick Williams (68.6%)

5. Tari Eason (68.1%)

Most prolific alley-oop duo (credit to lactardenthusiast for the idea)

1. Clint Capela & Trae Young (91)

2. Onyeka Okongwu & Trae Young (35)

3. John Collins & Trae Young (33)

4. Dwight Powell & Luka Doncic (30)

5. Brandon Clarke & Ja Morant (25)

Topical: Kyle Anderson & Rudy Gobert are tied for 8th with 20 alley-oops completed (+ 1 punch)

Lowest sum of per-36 percentile ranks in the following: charges, contested shots, deflections, defensive boxouts, defensive loose balls recovered (minimum 50% of games played)

a look at two other relevant players

Highest sum of per-36 percentile ranks in the following: charges, contested shots, deflections, defensive boxouts, defensive loose balls recovered (minimum 50% of games played) (credit to memeticengineering for the idea)

most charges committed (credit to Kdog122025 for the idea)

1. Giannis Antetokounmpo (23)

2. Kyle Kuzma (19)

3. Bennedict Mathurin (16)

4. Deni Avdija & Julius Randle (15)

most goaltends committed (credit to Kdog122025 for the idea)

1. Daniel Gafford & Nic Claxton (19)

2. Nick Richards (16)

3. Jalen Duren & Mark Williams (13)

most kicked ball violations

1. Nikola Jokic (47)

2. Nic Claxton & Nikola Vucevic (19)

3. Jakob Poeltl (18)

4. Jaden McDaniels (16)

most shots blocked as the blocker where the blockee is at least 5 inches taller

1. Fred VanVleet (28)

2. Patrick Beverley (23)

3. Kyrie Irving (21)

4. Chris Paul (18)

5. Donovan Mitchell & Kyle Lowry (16)

credit to watchingsongsDL, kingcobweb & An-Indian-In-The-NBA for the idea

1. Dillon Brooks (10)

2. De'Anthony Melton, Deni Avdija, Jalen McDaniels & Luguentz Dort (9)

most 3-point shooting fouls drawn (Source at PBPStats)

1. Stephen Curry (37)

2. James Harden (34)

3. Jayson Tatum (33)

4. Jordan Clarkson (31)

5. Damian Lillard (30)

highest points as percentage of counting stats (rebounds, assists, steals, blocks), minimum 70% of games played

highest percentile rank within position in usage, descending VORP, descending TS% (minimum 50% of games played) (credit to eewap for the idea)

biggest difference in on/off splits in weighted average with and without best (minimum 50% of games played) (credit to eewap for the idea)

biggest difference in on/off splits in weighted average with and without worst (minimum 50% of games played and 10 minutes/game) (credit to eewap for the idea)

Wouldn't take too much stock in this tbh, Banchero was carrying the Number 1 scoring burden for the Magic as a rookie

Highest percentage of unassisted field goals as portion of total field goals, minimum 50% of games played

1. Luka Doncic (84.7%)

2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (79%)

3. Trae Young (78.7%)

4. Ja Morant & De'Aaron Fox (76.1%)

Highest percentage of assisted field goals as portion of total field goals, minimum 50% of games played

1. Duncan Robinson (97.7%)

2. Davis Bertans (97.1%)

3. Reggie Bullock (95.3%)

4. Joe Harris (94%)

5. Mike Muscala (93.9%)

Lowest contested rebound percentage, minimum 50% of games played

1. Tyus Jones (7.5%)

2. Seth Curry (8%)

3. Dennis Schroder (9.1%)

4. Cameron Payne (9.4%)

5. Austin Rivers (9.6%)

alternatively: restricting to players > 6 foot 6 inches in height

1. Joe Ingles (13.4%)

2. Terrence Ross (14%)

3. Amir Coffey (17%)

4. Bojan Bogdanovic (17.6%)

5. Jayson Tatum (18%)

Highest contested rebound percentage, minimum 50% of games played

1. Wenyen Gabriel (63.9%)

2. Mitchell Robinson (60.5%)

3. Luke Kornet (58.9%)

4. Romeo Langford (57.8%)

5. Isaiah Jackson (55.7%)

alternatively: restricting to players < 6 foot 7 inches in height

1. Romeo Langford (57.8%)

2. Derrick Jones Jr. (51%)

3. Josh Okogie (45.9%)

4. Kenrich Williams (42.5%)

5. Aaron Wiggins (39.9%)

contract overperformance by fewest contract $ per 1 VORP, excluding rookie contracts & lower salary than CBA minimum (like 10-days, two-ways, hardship, etc) (credit to memeticengineering for the idea)

alternatively, also excluding players making less than 5% of the salary cap:

(the awards I agonize over the most & still get wrong lmao)

I value depth over one solitary star (it’s a rotation after all). My attempt to make this more objective than past years:

• Get position estimates from Basketball-Reference

  • players with most minutes at PG & SG: guard

  • players with most minutes at SG & SF or SF & PF: wing

  • players with most minutes at PC & C: big

  • exceptions: all players greater than 7 foot are bigs and all players less than 6 foot are guards

• Filter out players with less than 12 MP/G

• Rank teams based on highest positional VORP without positional VORP leader

East

1. Wizards (Delon Wright, Bradley Beal, Monte Morris, Jordan Goodwin, Kendrick Nunn)

2. 76ers (James Harden, De’Anthony Melton, Tyrese Maxey)

3. Cavaliers (Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Ricky Rubio)

4. Boston (Derrick White, Malcolm Brogdon, Marcus Smart, Payton Pritchard)

5. Knicks (Jalen Brunson, Immanuel Quickley, Derrick Rose)

West

1. Grizzlies (Ja Morant, Tyus Jones, Luke Kennard)

2. Mavericks (Luka Doncic, Spencer Dinwiddie, Kyrie Irving, McKinley Wright IV, Frank Ntilikina)

3. Warriors (Steph Curry, Donte DiVincenzo, Ty Jerome, Jordan Poole, Gary Payton II)

4. Nuggets (Jamal Murray, Bruce Brown, Bones Hyland, Reggie Jackson)

5. Pelicans (CJ McCollum, Devonte’ Graham, Jose Alvarado, Dyson Daniels)

East

1. Boston (Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, Grant Williams)

2. Bulls (Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Derrick Jones Jr, Ayo Dosunmu)

3. Raptors (Scottie Barnes, Chris Boucher, OG Anunoby, Thad Young, Juancho Hernangomez)

4. Cavaliers (Caris LeVert, Isaac Okoro, Dean Wade, Cedi Osman, Lamar Stevens)

5. Pistons (Bojan Bogdanovic, Alec Burks, Saddiq Bey, Hamidou Diallo, Kevin Knox, Eugene Omoruyi, Isaiah Livers, Rodney McGruder, Jared Rhoden)

West

1. Suns (Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Torrey Craig, Josh Okogie, Ish Wainright, Damion Lee, Terrence Ross, TJ Warren)

2. Clippers (Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Terance Mann, Robert Covington, Marcus Morris, Luke Kennard, Amir Coffey)

3. Kings (Kevin Huerter, Harrison Barnes, Keegan Murray, Malik Monk, Terence Davis, Kessler Edwards)

4. Pelicans (Trey Murphy III, Brandon Ingram, Herb Jones, Josh Richardson, Naji Marshall)

5. Timberwolves (Kyle Anderson, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Taurean Prince, Jaylen Nowell)

East

1. Bucks (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis)

2. Nets (Kevin Durant, Nic Claxton, Cam Johnson)

3. Knicks (Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson, Isaiah Hartenstein, Jericho Sims, Obi Toppin)

4. Cavaliers (Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, Kevin Love)

5. Hawks (Clint Capela, Onyeka Okongwu, Jalen Johnson, John Collins)

West

1. Lakers (LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Thomas Bryant, Wenyen Gabriel)

2. Grizzlies (Jaren Jackson Jr, Brandon Clarke, Santi Aldama, Steven Adams, Xavier Tillman)

3. Jazz (Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, Jarred Vanderbilt, Kelly Olynyk, Damian Jones, Rudy Gay)

4. Pelicans (Zion Williamson, Larry Nance Jr, Jonas Valanciunas, Willy Hernangomez, Jaxson Hayes)

5. Timberwolves (Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid, Karl-Anthony Towns)

What are some other awards you'd like to see? Feel free to give me feedback on my choices, especially for the Rotation Awards contenders!