Zgoda's NBA Insider: Handing out the regular-season awards

A three-time winner already, he's such a predictable pick…and such a right one again this season. He's part point guard, part shooting guard/small forward, part big man, not to mention a versatile defender whose work gets overlooked in that department and a stunningly efficient 56-percent shooter from the field.

Contenders: Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City; Chris Paul, L.A. Clippers; Carmelo Anthony, New York; James Harden, Houston.

J.R. Smith probably is the favorite for his late-season surge and Jamal Crawford gets a lot of pub, but let's go with an underrated, multi-dimensional pick. Steph Curry, David Lee and Klay Thompson get all the credit, but the Warriors wouldn't be where they are — the playoffs — without this guy off the bench.

Contenders: Smith, New York; Crawford, L.A. Lakers; Ryan Anderson, New Orleans; Manu Ginobili, San Antonio.

Sorry, Wolves fans, I gotta do it. The guy the Wolves would have been in position to pick if they were willing to trade Jonny Flynn for the 2010 draft's 10th pick has blossomed into a bona-fide star. He'll play shooting guard at 6-10 and is turning into a hellacious defender as well.

Contenders: Larry Sanders, Milwaukee; Nikola Vukevic, Orlando; Jrue Holiday, Philadelphia; Greivis Vasquez, New Orleans.

This contest was over almost before it started, due to Anthony Davis' season-starting injuries. Lillard was near unstoppable in games against the Wolves, and against just about everybody else. Even Kobe Bryant gushed last week over a guy who sure looks like your classic scoring point guard.

So many shot blockers get consideration (see the list of contenders below), but let's go off the board for a shooting guard, underrated even after all these years. He's a tenacious perimeter defender in a perimeter-oriented league.

Contenders: Sanders; Joakim Noah, Chicago; Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City; Tim Duncan, San Antonio; Marc Gasol, Memphis; Roy Hibbert, Indiana; Avery Bradley, Boston.

He claims he doesn't want it because the winner often gets fired a year or two later, but there's no denying the job done by a guy who has won more 1,100 games but never has won this award. He's knitted a collection of players with nary a superstar into a team aimed at winning more games than any Nuggets team since they played in the ABA.

Contenders: Tom Thibodeau, Chicago; Erik Spoelstra, Miami; Gregg Popovich, San Antonio; Kevin McHale, Houston.

The stats geek hired a coach who can barely turn on a computer and then last offseason completely rebuilt a team that will make the playoffs. He fashioned creative contracts to sign free agents Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin, landed the star he sought in a trade that brought James Harden from Oklahoma City and has done so much acquiring other pieces that you almost forget he drafted Royce White.

F Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City; F LeBron James, Miami; C Tim Duncan, San Antonio; G Chris Paul, L.A. Clippers; G Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers