With the basketball regular season over, it’s time to award the best of the best in the NBA.
NBA Awards
MVP: Lebron James
There is really no contest here. Lebron has been absolutely phenomenal this year. 29.7 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 8.6 APG pretty much says it all. When you add in the fact he made half of his field goals and a third of his three pointers, it just makes this one of the best stat lines that this league has had since the Jordan era. Factor in the 60 plus win season and King James is a hands down winner for MVP. No runner up spot for Kobe this year. KD, in his third season, is already pretty much the most potent scorer in the league. Overall, he is actually a better shooter than James, but cannot contribute to nearly as many areas of the game as James can. Did Durant have a better season than Kobe? You can make a case either way, but what makes Durant get this over the Black Mamba is the fact that Bryant was injured for a chunk of the season, and the Lakers are a much better and deeper team than the Thunder, making Durant much more “valuable” to his team.
Rookie of the Year: Tyreke Evans
Again, another easy pick here. Few doubted Evans would dominate in Sacramento, and he has established himself as the franchise player for the Kings. 20, 5, and 6 is ridiculous for a rookie and has not been achieved since the guy winning MVP this year came in the league. If he improves his range, Evans may become the best scoring point guard in the league. As I have discussed in another post, Curry eclipsed Brandon Jennings as the number two rookie in the league (no longer a point of contention given Jennings’ poor shooting). His game improved tremendously as the season went along, yet Evans remains slightly more dominant a player than the Warriors prospect. Both will be very exciting players for years to come.
Runner up: Dwight Howard, Gerald Wallace
To me, this award is not about who had the most blocks, steals, rebounds etc. I see it as the
Defensive MVP, i.e. the player that contributes most to his team’s defense. Nothing against Dwight Howard, who will probably receive the award for the second straight time, but I think Josh Smith had a monster year defensively, and practically defines defense for the Hawks. Howard is the best post defender in the league, no doubt about it, but Smith’s athleticism allows him to defend on the perimeter as well as down low, allowing for fewer mismatches off pick and rolls, which makes the Hawks defense so effective. The 1.6 SPG and 2.1 BPG also help the case for Smith.
Sixth Man of the Year: Jamal Crawford
Until this season, Jamal Crawford’s career was basically the same story: he was one of the top scorers on some of the worst teams in the league. Such teams included the pre-Ben Gordon Chicago Bulls, the Knicks under Isaiah Thomas, and a season with Don Nelson’s Warriors. It was nice to see Crawford go to Atlanta, a playoff team which could use his services. And services he did provide. To the tune of 18 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 threes a game. In 31 minutes. That pretty much sums up why this guy is the top sixth man this year, and finally gives the Hawks true scoring depth.
Most Improved Player: Aaron Brooks
MIP is a confusing award because it is never clear whether the award is based on the best statistical improvement or the best improvement in terms of a player’s overall game, role, effectiveness etc. Luckily, this year there is not much discrepancy in the player that has most improved this season. Brooks has pretty much improved any way you look at it. Statistically, he has 8.5 more PPG, .6 more RBG, and 2.3 more APG. His field goal and three point percentages have increased by about 3% each. What has grown most, however, is his leadership. He has simply evolved from being the Rockets’ starting point guard to the go-to guy in Houston following injuries to Yao and T-Mac (traded to NY). Landry has also improved tremendously, and was in the lead in the sixth man balloting until he was traded to Sacramento, but Brooks’ emergence as a de facto All-Star has to be awarded.
Coach of the Year: Nate McMillan
Runner Up: Scot Brooks, Scott Skiles, Lionel Hollins, Larry Brown
This is the toughest award to consider because so many coaches have made great accomplishments this season, and I’d like to quickly point out why I have 4 runners up that you could very well make the case for each of them. Larry Brown made the Charlotte Bobcats, the NBA’s newest franchise, into a playoff team and one of the best defensive teams in the league. Lionel Hollins had to deal with drama from the Allen Iverson fallout, and was still able to get a Grizzlies team known for being dysfunctional to perform as a .500 team in the tough Western Conference. Scott Skiles had to endure the loss of franchise star Michael Redd for yet another season, and yet was able to win 11 more games than last season and secure the sixth seed in the playoffs. A great case can be made for Scott Brooks, whose Thunder won 27 more games (from 23 to 50 wins, and the sum of New Jersey and Washington’s wins this season) and transformed his team from cellar dwellers to one of the most exciting team in the league.
Nate McMillan, however, eclipses them all, if only slightly. Like Skiles, he lost an important player, Greg Oden, midway through the season. However, I would argue that Oden was a bigger loss to the Blazers than Redd was to the Bucks because Oden anchored Portland’ defense in the beginning of the season more so than Redd was crucial to their offense. Moreover, McMillan was left with no true center after Joel Przybilla went down for the season as well, and then had to deal with long-term injuries to about half his team, including Rudy Fernandez, Nicolas Batum, Travis Outlaw, among others. This did not deter McMillan and the Blazers and their shorthanded roster kept battling along, with McMillan doing an amazing job in adjusting his rotations after so many injuries and keeping Portland playing great basketball. 50 wins for the Blazers, and with the trade for Marcus Camby, they look solid for the playoffs.
Executive of the Year: John Hammond (Milwaukee)
Runner Up: Kevin Pritchard (Portland)
Major props to Hammond for his transactions this season. First, he took a chance on Brandon Jennings, and yes it was a gamble given Jennings’ lack of college experience and reputation for aloofness. In Jennings, he found a player who he could build the team around. And build he did, but with some unorthodox role players. Hammond reached out across Europe and picked up Ersan Ilyasova andCarlos Delfino, both of whom have had great seasons for the Bucks. Hammond didn’t stop there, signing Jerry Stackhouse and trading for John Salmons before the deadline to replace the scoring vacuum and lack of veteran presence left over from Redd’s injury. The result of these transactions is a deep team that can play good basketball on both sides of the ball and on that should be fun to watch in the playoffs and beyond. Congrats to Mr. Hammond.
All-NBA
First Team
G: Dwayne Wade
G: Kobe Bryant
F: Lebron James
F: Kevin Durant
C: Dwight Howard
Second Team
G: Steve Nash
G: Deron Williams
F: Gerald Wallace
F: Amar’e Stoudamire
C: Chris Bosh
Third Team
G: Derrick Rose
G: Brandon Roy
F: Carmelo Anthony
F: Dirk Nowitzki
C: Tim Duncan
All-Rookie Team
First Team
G: Stephen Curry
G: Tyreke Evans
G: Brandon Jennings
G: Darren Collison
G: Marcus Thornton
Second Team
G: Ty Lawson
G: James Harrden
F: Omri Casspi
F: Jonas Jerebko
C: DeJuan Blair
All-Defense Team
G: Rajon Rondo
G: Ron Artest
F: Gerald Wallace
F: Josh Smith
C: Dwight Howard
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