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Utah Jazz: Player Awards at the Halfway Point

By Jared Woodcox

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Dec 31, 2016; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) reacts after dunking the ball during the second half against the Phoenix Suns at Vivint Smart Home Arena. The Jazz won 91-86. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 31, 2016; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) reacts after dunking the ball during the second half against the Phoenix Suns at Vivint Smart Home Arena. The Jazz won 91-86. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports /

With the NBA season halfway over, here’s a look at which Utah Jazz players have stood out the most from among their teammates and are deserving of mid-season awards.

Following tonight’s game against the Detroit Pistons, the Utah Jazz will have officially played 41 games this season meaning that they will have crossed the halfway point of the 2016-17 campaign. And depending on the outcome of that game, the Jazz will be sitting at either a 25-16 or 24-17 record.

Given that the Jazz were 18-23 at the halfway point last season, that’s certainly a significant improvement. And anyone who has watched this team can clearly see why they’ve been so much better.

Gordon Hayward has made big strides and stepped up in a big way, the veteran players, particularly George Hill, have been phenomenal and Rudy Gobert is quickly transforming into the top defensive center in the league. As this team gets healthy and continues to build cohesion and undergo further improvements from their young players, there’s no telling just how high their ceiling can be.

https://twitter.com/utahjazz/status/820067804078555136

So now that we’ve reached the midway point of the season, I thought it would be fun to hand out a number of mid-season awards to the appropriate recipients.

Of course, at the end of the year the NBA gives out several awards to select players across the league such as MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and others. Therefore I’ve decided to mimic mid-season versions of those same awards and hand them out to the most deserving Jazz players at the team level based on what we’ve seen out of the guys so far.

Some of these decisions were easy, while others turned out to be quite challenging. Nevertheless I’m content with my list and happy to present the following mid-season Utah Jazz Player Awards:

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