NBA Blog

Let’s cut to the chase and jump right into the remaining End of the Year Awards:

Rookie of the Year: Kevin Durant.  I considered him to be a lock all season long, but he struggled early by forcing too many shots and avoided grabbing any rebounds.  However, by the end of the season, Kevin Durant (who needs a great scorers nickname) increased his shooting percentages and put a completely dysfunctional team on his back.  Sure, they were not very good, and may struggle for a few years (boy, did I whiff on how bad they would be).  However, Sam Presti has them poised to get better in a hurry, because he has so many available picks and cap room with the moves he made over the course of the season. 

I will have to give Al Horford honorable mention here, because his play made the race much closer than I thought it would.  I also have to give some credit to Joakim Noah for being the most awkward person I have ever seen up close that plays in the NBA.  He made Keith Closs look relatively normal.  Yeesh.

Anti-Rookie of the Year: (Please note, this award is for the second-year player who inexplicably tanked in year two after having a great rookie season.)  Andrea Bargnani.  Man, he was so impressive in his first season that I had to believe that he would continue to improve and become the second fiddle to Chris Bosh.  What a disappointment.

Now for the most important award:

MVP: Chris Paul.  Kobe was impressive but I cannot give the award to a player that openly tanked during the first 12-15 games of the season, because he was upset with his team.  How can that ever make you the Most Valuable Player.  Sure, he should probably win it next year when he takes the Lakers to the best record in the NBA with help from Pau Gasol, a healthy Andrew Bynum (unless he still hasn’t healed), and a vastly improved Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic.

Instead, Chris Paul is the MVP for this season.  He finished second in the NBA in assists, led the league in steals, completely destroyed his opponents when he played top point guards in the league, he invigorated a dead city franchise in New Orleans, and he gave everything he could in the All Star game to try to get the West to win.  I watched a lot, and I mean a LOT, of games this year, and CP3 was the best player on the court in every game he played in this season.  He decimated Jason Kidd, and continues to do so in the playoffs.  He always gets David West, Jannero Pargo and Peja wide-open jumpers, so they never miss.  He knows when to set up Tyson Chandler with an alley-oop off of the pick-and-roll to keep the big man active on both ends of the court, and he knows when it is time to ‘Zeke up his game.  (Please note that the previous sentence is a reference to the NBA player formerly known as Isiah Thomas, now the worst g.m., coach, president of basketball operations the League has ever seen.  I chose ‘Zeke instead of Isiah because nobody even remembers how phenomenal Isiah was at taking over the final minutes of games to push his teams to victory.)

Chris Paul was the best player in the NBA this season, and he just narrowly edged out Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James for the MVP.  This was by far the most exciting MVP race in the most exciting NBA regular season in a very loooooooong time. 

As far as the team awards are concerned, I would have to go with the following:

All Rookie Team:
G - Juan Carlos Navarro
G - Kevin Durant
F - Al Thornton
F - Luis Scola
C - Al Horford

All Rookie 2nd Team:
G - Rodney Stuckey
F - Thaddeus Young
F - Jamario Moon
F - Carl Landry
C - Joakim Noah
(I had to put three forwards in there, because I really was not that impressed with the guard play from the rookies this season.  I hated putting Scola and Navarro on the first team, because they are not truly rookies, but I would have been stuck with an All Rookie First Team of nothing but forwards. )

Rookie Let-Down Team:
G - Mike Conley, Jr.
G - Morris Almond (I know Jerry Sloan is hard on rookies, but man can that guy shoot the ball.)
F - Demetris Nichols (He got cut from the Knicks, and then couldn’t get minutes for the floundering Bulls.  I think he should have stayed in college one more year)
F - Dominic McGuire (He may not be in the league very long)
C - Greg Oden (the knee injury was so disappointing), Runner-Up: Chiek Samb

All Defensive First Team:
G - Chris Paul
G - Raja Bell
F - Bruce Bowen
F - Kevin Garnett
C - Marcus Camby

All Defensive Second Team:
G - Rajon Rondo
G - Kobe Bryant
F - Shane Battier
F - Tim Duncan
C - Tyson Chandler

All Defensive Honorable Mention:
G - Baron Davis
G - Chauncey Billups
F - Tayshaun Prince
F - LeBron James
C - Kendrick Perkins

Anti-Defensive Group:
New York Knicks

1st Team All NBA:
G - Chris Paul
G - Kobe Bryant
F - LeBron James
F - Kevin Garnett
C - Dwight Howard

2nd Team All NBA:
G - Steve Nash
G - Manu Ginobili
F - Tracy McGrady
F - Amare Stoudamire
C - Rasheed Wallace

3rd Team All NBA:
G - Deron Williams
G - Andre Igoudala
F - David West
F - Tim Duncan
C - Chris Kaman

You may notice that there were no Nuggets on the All NBA Teams.  That is because they only played on one half of the court (no defense) and were way too inconsistent over the course of the season.  They should have been much better.  I’m also very disappointed in the lack of development by Carmelo Anthony.  Please keep in mind that I am not referring to his basketball skills.  He should be much better at handling himself off the court at this time.  LeBron, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Dwight Howard, and Dwyane Wade are also young ambassadors for the NBA and are doing a much better job of representing the League off the court.  ‘Melo has made his mistakes, but they should be occurring at a much less frequent rate at this point. 

Anti-NBA Team:
Miami Heat

The Heat win this award simply because nobody on their roster at the end of the season belonged in the NBA.  The Knicks could not win the award simply because there was nothing representative of “team” for them. 

Enjoy the games over the weekend.  Hopefully, I will have something to post tomorrow prior to the NFL Draft.  Stay tuned.

It has been a tumultuous couple of months in the NBA Guru’s household, and that is why there has been little (alright, nothing) coming from me over that span. 

However, I have been watching games, and I have had the pleasure of enjoying the greatest NBA regular season since the 1980’s.  To call this season a resurgence would do this season a great injustice.  My one complaint is that there were so few games being broadcast in the final week of the regular season when so much was still left up in the air for playoff positions.  Alas, I was unable to make the necessary purchase to watch all games this year, and was relegated to the ever-so-slow internet updates of games.  I guess that is what happens when your internet does not work well, and you try to pirate a free wireless network.  Wait, forget that I ever said that.

Anyway, without further ado, I shall delve into my end of year awards, and hopefully this post will be the first in what will become a triumphant return for your favorite NBA blogger. 

(Let’s start with the awards that were already announced.  I had these picks already, but did not get them posted before taking a trip to Boston.  Note to the readers:  Go to Fenway.)

6th Man of the Year: Manu Ginobili.  There was never any doubt in this one, and he should finish in the top-7 of MVP voting.

15th Man of the Year: Gerald Green.  This award was formerly referred to as the Bonzi Wells Award.  Green is a very gifted athlete with nothing between the ears, and to make matters worse, he has had the gall to complain about a lack of playing time everywhere he has been.  I look forward to hearing stories about him when he is playing in the CBA.

Defensive Player of the Year: Kevin Garnett.  He anchored the best defense in the NBA, and was the best defensive player in the league.  Marcus Camby had great stats, but Denver played absolutely no team defense, which everyone is now getting to see in the Lakers series.

Bizarro Defensive Player of the Year:  (tie) Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry.  If Randolph played defense like he fights, he would be a great defensive player.  Then again, the same thing could be said for Curry’s ability to box-out at the buffet line.  Good job Knicks (and team Isiah Dolan.  Look for a recurring theme here).

Executive of the Year: Danny Ainge.  He brought in Kevin Garnett (perhaps the award could go to Kevin McHale for helping the Celtics), Ray Allen (and the greatest jump shot ever), and then landed James Posey and Sam I Am Cassell.  I guess Kevin Garnett should put that trophy on his mantle also, because he is the reason the free agents went there.

Anti-Executive of the Year:  Chris Wallace.  Seriously, how the heck did that guy ever get another job after the Vin Baker debacle in Boston.  The Pau Gasol trade should go down as one of the top-3 worst trades EVER in the history of NBA basketball, and that includes when the Cleveland Cavaliers once gave players away and the league office resckinded the deals.  It absolutely blows my mind that Chris Wallace is allowed to run an NBA team.  I have read the collective bargaining agreement multiple times, and I have a very solid understanding of its language.  I feel comfortable watching college games and picking out the players that will be solid NBA performers without ever having to refer to Marc Stein or Scouts Inc.’s reports.  Yet, I cannot even get a job handing out stat sheets at halftime, and that hack is in his second stint as a G.M.  Ridiculous.

Most Improved: Hedo Turkoglu.  That guy completely vanished in big games when he was playing in Sacramento and in San Antonio.  Now, he’s headlining the Sports Guy’s All-Hombre Team with Kobe Bryant, and his teammates are calling him Mr. Fourth Quarter.  Are you kidding me?  What happened here?  Also, why does Lamar Odom get so much love for being the multi-skilled 6′10″ big guy, when Turkoglu shoots a higher percentage around the arc, and has just as many quality abilities AND is the exact same height?  I’m done before I ask more questions that none of you intend to answer.

Most Regressed:  Stephon Marbury is the obvious candidate here, but then again he could pretty much go anywhere on this list where I go with the Anti-Awards.  Instead, I will go with Kirk Hinrich.  Hinrich cannot even hit a jump shot anymore, and I think it is because he has called it quits on his career after The Lord of the Rings finished filming.  That is a Frodo shoutout to when Hinrich had his long hair. 

Best Contract Push: Sasha Vujacic and Rasho Nesterovic.  All Sasha has done is knock down clutch jumpers at an alarming clip, while Rasho actually posted some pretty amazing stats at the end of the regular season for a guy that was utterly worthless for his tenure in San Antonio and for most of it in Toronto.  You have to hand it to the European players; they are picking up all aspects of the USA game, including mailing it in until the necessary contract push.  Good job fellas. 

Worst Contract Push: (tie) Ben Gordon and Luol Deng.  Great job fellas.  Turn down very good contracts, get caught up in the trade talks, and completely tank this season.  Note to younger players: don’t get too greedy.  Gordon Gecko was right, “Greed is good.”  However, too much greed, when offered very lucrative contracts, is just flat out crazy.

Comeback Player of the Year: Peja.  I’m only referring to him by one name from now on, frankly because his last name is too long and I don’t have time to type it.  Peja looked like he was going the way of Chris Webber, injuries and completely disappearing from our minds which meant we would forget how good he was at what he did, i.e. hit threes.  Instead, Peja came back from back problems this season, and hit nearly every open jumper Chris Paul fed to him. 

Disappear Player of the Year: This goes to the trio of Dwyane Wade, Shawn Marion and Jorge Garbajosa.  Wade and Marion share in this for their part in Tankfest ‘08, the Beasley Quest.  Although Wade was pretty terrible when healthy for one game this year. 
Garbajosa on the other hand gets it for the disgusting and gruesome injury he suffered last year.  Hopefully Grungy Gorbey will win the Comeback Player of the Year next season.

Coach of the Year: Byron Scott.  I anticipate him receiving this award and then in his acceptance speech, looking straight into the camera and shouting “&*$# Jason Kidd!”  Maybe I’m getting my hopes up and setting myself for disappointment, but a guy can dream.

Anti-Coach of the Year: Isiah Thomas.  He wins here after just missing out to Chris Wallace in the balloting for Anti-Executive of the Year.  We nearly had a Knicks sweep of the Anti-Awards, but I did not want to come off as being biased.  But know that they really should have swept those categories.

Biggest Rollercoaster of a Season: J.R. Smith.  He got in trouble with his coach at the end of last year.  He was involved in a driving accident that resulted in the death of his best friend (with some shady stories coming out about the accident).  He had some run-ins with the law.  He struggled out of the gate and was relegated to the end of the bench.  Then he inexplicably figured out what he was good at and had a brief period where he was averaging over 20 points a game off the bench in very limited action.  Now, he’s been one of the best players for the Nuggets first two playoff games.  Craziness, but then again, that’s J.R. Smith for you.

Least Surprising Crazy Season:  Stephon Marbury.  He gave us all kinds of fun this season with his threats to go to Europe, to retire, to out Isiah for all his shenanigans.  Who will ever forget the (not a direct quote), “I’ve got $%&^ on Isiah too,” lines.  He gave us ludicrous interviews that made his interviews in Phoenix seem completely sane.  He gave us all the fun of the stories about the intern and the back of his truck.  His complete tanking of the season, and disappearance, reappearance, benching then playing, and all the other treats over the course of the year.  But you know what, none of this amazed me in the slightest about the guy.  He has become so completely insane that none of this caught me off guard.  It is bizarre, but that is Starbury.

(Sidebar:  Starbury could have played alongside K.G. for fifteen years, and they could have taken Minnesota to the top of the league within two years of playing together.  Instead, he did not want to be second-fiddle to K.G. and now has become the guy that hooked up with a Knicks intern outside of a strip club.  That is his highlight.  Well, that and being traded for Jason Kidd so the Nets could go to the Finals, and being shipped out so Steve Nash could win the MVP in Phoenix.)

Well, hopefully that is enough to tide you over under tomorrow when I will post my pick for MVP and LVP along with my All NBA, All Defensive, All Rookie teams and the ROY.