Bleacher Report's Ultimate 2016-17 NBA Re-Draft: Season Results & Awards

If you haven't yet seen the detailed explanation of the B/R NBA re-draft's first 30 picks or the the 13-man rosters, you should. This will make a lot more sense that way.

We'll be waiting here for you:

• 2017 NBA Re-Draft First Round

• 2017 NBA Re-Draft 13-Man Rosters

But we haven't revealed any winners and losers until now. We don't know whether Stephen Curry is going to repeat as the league's scoring champion. We're uncertain about how Andre Drummond's extreme rebounding chops will play in a new home. We aren't sure which teams will rise to the top of the league-wide standings. 

To answer all of these questions and plenty more, we're turning both to votes from our own panel of general managers and to our favorite simulation machine—NBA 2K17.

What follows are the league leaders in every major statistical category, the favorites for each significant award, the standings in each conference and the overall title chances, all of which are based upon a set of 50 single-season simulations run with our re-draft rosters. 

Stat Leaders

Scoring Champion

A player averaged at least 30 points during only nine of the simulations, and Kyrie Irving was responsible for eight of those feats. The lone exception came courtesy of James Harden, who sparked the Los Angeles Lakers one season with 30.7 points per game. 

Six different scoring champions led the Association during various simulations, but Irving was the clear standout. With a ton of inexperienced options and a playmaking power forward surrounding him in the Timberwolves' starting five (Terrence Ross, Gary Harris, Kristaps Porzingis and Boris Diaw), the offense depended wholly on his shot-creating. 

Assist Champion

Frankly, no one ever came close to John Wall or Chris Paul. 

A lack of turnovers made Wall the more impressive distributor in re-draft world, but Paul took the assist crown more often than not. Perhaps CP3 was just surrounded by more useful teammates, with Harrison Barnes and Allen Crabbe spacing the floor while he ran pick-and-roll action alongside Julius Randle and Steven Adams. 

Rebounding Champion

As it turns out, relocation to the bayou didn't affect Andre Drummond. 

Health was the big man's only issue, since he went down for a stretch in each of the six seasons in which he didn't grab the most rebounds per game. His worst qualified year saw him average 14 boards; no one else posted more than 12.5 in any campaign.

Steals Champion

Chris Paul has led the league in steals per game six times during his real-life Hall of Fame career, most recently in 2013-14.

It's too bad this can't count in the here and now, since he ran away with the category and only had Russell Westbrook challenging him during most seasons.  

Blocks Champion

During three of the last five real seasons, it's taken at least three blocks per game to win this title. But the re-draft world is a bit more sparse with rejections, presumably because of parity throughout the league and the diminished playing time created by more well-rounded benches.

Anthony Davis was the lone player to hit the threshold, averaging an even three swats for his New York Knicks during Season 14. At least Andre Drummond (2.9 in Season 29) came close. 

Field-Goal Percentage Champion

It's impressive that DeAndre Jordan led the league in field-goal percentage during all 50 simulated campaigns, even making over 70 percent of his shots in Season 21. But it may be even more stunning that he never shot worse than 62 percent from the field. 

Three-Point Percentage Champion

Fifteen different players led the league in three-point percentage—10 of whom emerged on top in multiple simulations. The names ranged from the expected (Stephen Curry, J.J. Redick and Kevin Durant) to the opposite (Lou Williams and D.J. Augustin). 

It's probably good news for the real-life Golden State Warriors that three of their superstars appear in these standings, and that two of them were among the few to top 50 percent in a season. 

Free-Throw Percentage Champion

No other statistical category provided a wider range of winners, but that should be a secondary focus. In terms of significance, even Stephen Curry's 11 free-throw titles fall behind Karl-Anthony Towns' ridiculous Season 42. 

The reigning Rookie of the Year went absolutely nuts for the Los Angeles Clippers, making 415 of his 419 attempts from the stripe. And that's only part of an all-around-ridiculous line—22.2 points, 13.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.8 steals and 2.1 blocks per game while shooting 55.0 percent from the field, 42.9 percent from downtown and 99.6 percent at the line.

In that go-round, he won MVP, Most Improved Player and Defensive Player of the Year. 

Three-Point Champion

In 2015-16, Stephen Curry blew away his old three-point record (286) by knocking down 402 shots from beyond the arc.

No one in our re-draft world came close to that tally, but C.J. McCollum, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Curry and Isaiah Thomas each had at least one simulated season in which they displaced the baby-faced assassin's second-place total. 

Major Awards

Most Valuable Player

Stephen Curry nabbed the MVP during each of the last two real-life years, but that's changing in the re-draft: The sharpshooting point guard only earned the Maurice Podoloff Trophy twice in 50 attempts. 

Players at Curry's position still dominated the award, winning in all but seven simulated seasons (all but four if you count James Harden as a floor general, since he's listed as such in the Los Angeles Lakers' depth chart). But it was a first-time MVP rising to the top more often than not. 

Rookie of the Year

Ben Simmons is injured in real life, and there's no telling when he'll return from his foot fracture. But all players start the season healthy in this scenario, which benefited the point forward immensely. He suited up next to Karl-Anthony Towns and helped lead the Los Angeles Clippers.

Defensive Player of the Year

Andre Drummond finished 10th in the Defensive Player of the Year voting for his 2015-16 efforts with the Detroit Pistons. Here, he rose up the leaderboard on the laurels of his improved shot-blocking abilities, excellence on the defensive glass and knack for anchoring the Pelicans. 

New Orleans consistently finished near the top of the standings for defensive rating, boasting few distinct negatives on the point-preventing end. But its excellence still stemmed primarily from Drummond's interior work, pushing him past Kawhi Leonard to become a surprising, but legitimate, winner. 

Most Improved Player

We had our fair share of shocking results here—C.J. McCollum winning for the second year in a row, Karl-Anthony Towns following up his Rookie of the Year season with another award, Kevin Love getting the nod so late in his career, etc. 

But the unpredictability itself shouldn't be surprising. 

Most Improved Player is always one of the toughest awards to forecast because the criteria are so ambiguous. Do you reward an older player who suddenly got better? A youngster who could've reasonably been expected to break out? A player who maintained his level in a bigger role? All possibilities were covered here. 

Coach of the Year

Shocker: Coach of the Year tended to go to the man who helped lead his team to the top of the standings. As you'll soon learn (and may already be realizing), the 2K17 simulations loved the Utah Jazz. Naturally, they also loved head coach Jason Kidd. 

All-NBA

LeBron James and Kevin Durant receiving All-NBA first-team nods isn't exactly surprising, even if the two superstars weren't often mentioned among the statistical leaders and award winners. What's more shocking is Stephen Curry falling to the second team while Russell Westbrook could only muster up a third- team selection. 

Then again, the pool of talent is pretty stacked and evenly dispersed throughout the league. Every star had a chance to shine—not just those in the right situations. 

Also receiving votes: Karl-Anthony Towns (48), Paul George (41), Kemba Walker (34), Kyle Lowry (20), Isaiah Thomas (13), Damian Lillard (13), Nicolas Batum (8), Kevin Love (6), Mike Conley (4), Marc Gasol (2), Pau Gasol (2), Nikola Jokic (2), Brook Lopez (1)

All-Defense

What's incredible about these teams is just how hard it would be to score against honorable mentions such as Tony Allen, Jimmy Butler, Paul George, Draymond Green and Rudy Gobert.

Good luck. 

Also receiving votes: Jimmy Butler (44), Tony Allen (21), Paul George (14), Rudy Gobert (11), Dwight Howard (9), DeAndre Jordan (8), Draymond Green (7), Derrick Favors (5), Nerlens Noel (4), Nicolas Batum (1)

All-Rookie

Rejoice, real-world Philadelphia 76ers. 

All three Sixers rookies make the All-Rookie first team here, which shouldn't be too surprising when the whole trio is healthy. In fact, the whole top five was fairly predictable, and only the inclusion of Tomas Satoransky should drop any jaws on the second team. 

Also receiving votes: Dejounte Murray (12), Skal Labissiere (11), Jakob Poeltl (7), Taurean Prince (6), Thon Maker (6), Domantas Sabonis (4), Malik Beasley (2), Wade Baldwin IV (2)

Eastern Conference All-Stars

The ever-durable LeBron James was the lone player to make the Eastern Conference All-Stars in all 50 seasons, but a handful of studs weren't far behind. Few spots were truly up for grabs during most simulations, and they tended to be filled by the same rotating set of players.

That didn't prevent a few dark horses from sneaking in, though. If you expected Tyreke Evans to make the All-Star roster in this universe, please let us borrow your crystal ball at some point. 

Also receiving votes: Jimmy Butler (26), DeMar DeRozan (24), Nikola Jokic (16), Dwyane Wade (12), Chris Bosh (10), Pau Gasol (7), LaMarcus Aldridge (6), Marc Gasol (4), Brandon Ingram (2), D'Angelo Russell (2), Tyreke Evans (1), Dennis Schroder (1)

Western Conference All-Stars

The Western Conference contained even more surprises: Karl-Anthony Towns didn't make the cut in 35 simulations. Kristaps Porzingis earned a nod five times. Joakim Noah, Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo fought against Father Time and their recent histories to gain some recognition. 

Oh, and not a single player earned a berth in all 50 seasons. 

Also receiving votes: Kyle Lowry (31), Al Horford (21), Karl-Anthony Towns (15), Giannis Antetokounmpo (11), Eric Bledsoe (9), Draymond Green (5), Kristaps Porzingis (5), Klay Thompson (4), Reggie Jackson (3), Joakim Noah (2), Derrick Favors (1), Derrick Rose (1), Rajon Rondo (1), Ben Simmons (1)

Team Results

Eastern Conference

Our final standings were determined by polling the 11 participating GMs, averaging the win totals in the 50 simulated seasons and then averaging those two core components. Sometimes, each portion produced opposite results. 

Such was the case for the Toronto Raptors, who were the No. 1 Eastern Conference team in the survey but finished with a sub-.500 record on NBA 2K17. And even they didn't create as much controversy as the LeBron James-led Brooklyn Nets. 

B/R's GMs either loved the Nets or hated them: Two people had the Nets as the re-draft's best team, and another three placed Brooklyn within the top 10. On the flip side, four GMs stuck the Nets within the bottom 10, including one who gave James and Co. a last-place nod. 

2K17 tended to agree with the latter group, allotting the Nets an average record of 33-49 and pulling them just outside the playoff picture. 

Western Conference

Our GMs loved the San Antonio Spurs—and for good reason. It's tough to scoff at a team starting Stephen Curry, J.J. Redick, Justise Winslow, Aaron Gordon and Marcin Gortat in a league with so much parity. Every single GM had them in the playoffs.

The simulations weren't quite as optimistic, though they still put San Antonio above .500. 

But throughout the rest of the West, dissent yet again ran wild. The Portland Trail Blazers were the only squad that didn't receive a top-10 vote. Meanwhile, the Spurs were the only outfit that never finished in the league's bottom half. 

Title Favorites

The Utah Jazz were rather easily the most frequent champions, but a plethora of teams had a legitimate shot at holding up the Larry O'Brien Trophy each time. 

Finals MVP

There are plenty of expected names scattered throughout the upcoming leaderboard, but it would've been hard to forecast Kyle Lowry as the most likely Finals MVP. 

Then again, it's even more out of the ordinary that Tyreke Evans managed to get his name engraved on that very same award during one simulation. 

Voting Results

The following are the results of our GM survey:

Best Pick of the Draft

1. Two votes: Stephen Curry (No. 1), Nikola Jokic (No. 57)
2. One vote: Will Barton (No. 126), Rick Carlisle (No. 167), Kevin Durant (No. 5), Blake Griffin (No. 16), John Henson (No. 203), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (No. 93), Damian Lillard (No. 17)

Worst Pick of the Draft

1. Five votes: DeMar DeRozan (No. 23)
2. Three votes: Gregg Popovich (No. 59)
3. One vote: Danilo Gallinari (No. 58), Andre Iguodala (No. 37), Lance Thomas (No. 119)

Best Team Offense

1. Two votes: Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs
2. One vote: Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz

Worst Team Offense

1. Three votes: Oklahoma City Thunder
2. Two votes: Milwaukee Bucks
3. One vote: Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, Toronto Raptors

Best Team Defense

1. Seven votes: Toronto Raptors
2. One vote: Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, New Orleans Pelicans, New York Knicks

Worst Team Defense

1. Four votes: Detroit Pistons
2. Two votes: Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacramento Kings
3. One vote: Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, New Orleans Pelicans

Most Entertaining Team

1. Four votes: San Antonio Spurs
2. One vote: Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Sacramento Kings

Least Entertaining Team

1. Six votes: Indiana Pacers
2. Two votes: Oklahoma City Thunder
3. One vote: Memphis Grizzlies, Orlando Magic, Portland Trail Blazers

Special thanks to Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey, Jacob Bourne, Joel Cordes, Dan Favale, Adam Fromal, Grant Hughes, David Kenyon, Alec Nathan, Kelly Scaletta, Greg Swartz and Jonathan Wasserman for their participation.