NBA Midseason Awards
It's about time for the All Star break, and what a fantastic season it has been! I'll start thinking of this year as the "Twilight Zone Year", as so many weird things have happened. By the time you're done reading this, you'll agree with me. Trust me. But I digress...on to the awards!
Defensive Player of the Year: Does anyone care about this this year? Does anyone notice? Let's just give it to Big Ben Wallace again. He's having a nice season.
Coach of the Year: Avery Johnson, Mavericks. Do you relize the Mavs have the third best record in the entire league? And that they are a half game behind San Antonio for the second? Did you know that the Mavs are ninth in the league in DEFENSE? Did you ever think that would happen? Yeah, me either.
Flip Saunders got some strong consideration here, but he inherited a team that was already great. And I've been telling you for years that Larry Brown is ridiculously overrated as a coach, so he doesn't get as much credit with the oustanding play of the Pistons this season.
Player Who Has Amazed Me the Most This Year: Richard Hamilton, Pistons. He's shooting 50.6% from the field. HE'S A JUMP SHOOTER. He's shooting 50.8% from the three point line! That's insane! Watching him play is just amazing. I know Chauncey is having his best year, and is doing a great job, and is setting everyone on the team up so well, but Hamilton is the one who is most responsible for taking the team to another level. I bet I've watched the Pistons play at least 10 times this season, and every single time the other team goes on a run and the Pistons need a bucket, he scores. EVERY TIME.
And he used to drive me crazy. I used to not be able to stand his game. But since he never misses anymore...wow. Great job Rip.
ROY: Chris Paul, Hornets. This isn't even close. He's on my top ten list for the MVP of the fricking league. We all thought we'd seen the last of the true, great point guards with Jason Kidd, but Paul is even better. He's a pure scorer who shoots well but doesn't look to dominate the game by scoring, is amazingly quick, is surprisingly strong, and is already one of the 5 best passers in the league. Do you realize the Hornets are in the playoffs if the season ended today? How amazing is that? In the West? I thought they would be the worst team in the league! This is a team who's three best players are a rookie, a third year player who averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds his first two seasons, and some white boy who just got kicked out of the league for two years for using one of the "serious" drugs (cocaine, heroine, et all. Nothing wrong with marijuana in the NBA though, don't worry!). He also gets bonus points for being the first player I have ever taken in all 3 of my fantasy leagues (normally I don't like to commit that much to one player, but I felt safe with Paul). He's fantastic.
Player We'd Most Like To See Hit by a Mack Truck (or the Shawn Bradley Memorial Award): Mark Blount, Timberwolves. Bill Simmons has been ranting about him ever since he played hard one season and tricked the Celtics to signing him to a $40 mil deal. He (correctly) predicted that after signing said deal, that Blount would go back to sucking and not caring. Then, when he played the Celtics his second game after being traded to the Wolves, suddenly he was able to have his best game of the seaons (16 pts, 11 rebounds, 4 blocks).
Mr. Blount, we salute you. With our middle fingers.
Most Underappreciated Player in the NBA: Michael Redd, Bucks. Sure, he's making $90 mil, but Redd is avergaing 25.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.07 steals while leading surprising Milwaukee to fifth place in the East. Nobody's giving him any credit for continuing to play well and hard after signing his big deal, and for being a great leader on a young team with a lot of new faces. Way to go, Michael!
The Antoine Walker Memorial Most Overrated Player in the NBA: Ron Artest, Kings. I just don't get it. Why do people keep thinking he's going to be a productive player on any team? Even though I'm not a big fan, I do like this quote from Bill Parcells (he was referring to injured players at the time): "I can't do anything with a player that isn't here." RON ARTEST WILL NEVER BE THERE! He's going to be suspended, either by you or the league, all the time. And if you (the team) don't penalize him when he says things like, "I want to take a month or two off to promote my rap album in the middle of the season", then he's either A) going to go out there and pout and suck until he ruins your team, or he's going to go out there and do something to get himself suspended by the league so he's off like he wanted. Good God.
SOMEONE PLEASE CHECK HIM FOR STEROIDS!!!!!
Things I Never Thought I'd See Happen: Do you realize that KG, Shaq, and Tim Duncan don't matter anymore? Did you ever think that would be the case? KG's team is bad and going nowhere, probably for the rest of his career. Unless he goes somewhere else, he will never truly compete for a title ever again in his career. FUCK YOU, SAM CASSELL AND LATRELL SPREEWELL.
Sorry. Shaq is one, MAYBE 2 seasons away from being done. I mean, he's moved into that Patrick Ewing area of "Good God, my joints start hurting just watching you run up and down the court." He's so stiff it's scary, and it's only going to get worse. In 2 years he won't be able to move.
TD is almost in the same category. I don't think it's so much that his body has given out on him yet; I think it's just that he is smart enough to know that he is one or two injuries away from that happening, so he's out there playing like he's walking on broken glass barefoot. I don't blame him for trying to stay healthy for the playoffs and prolong his career. It just means that he's not nearly as effective. I mean, do you really consider him to be the MVP of the Spurs this year? I'd say--as much as I hate to say it--that Tony Parker is the MVP so far this year, and you could even make a case of Manu being more important than him. Sure, he's the glue that holds the bunch together, but they have been the differencemakers so far.
Maybe he'll turn it around in the playoffs. But the fact is he is averaging career lows in every category--something is off here. But if he doesn't turn it around and I'm Mavs playing him in the playoffs, I'm covering the other four members of the team like crazy and making them not score, and saying to Timmy "score as much as you want buddy. I'm betting whatever your aging body and 65% foul shooting can put up isn't enough to beat us."
Finally, Mid Season MVP's: Honorable Mention: Paul Pierce, Celtics (consider him considered), Gilbert Arenas (poor man's Kobe), Richard Hamilton/Chauncey Billups (no one can decide who is more important, so they cancel each other out from going higher), Allen Iverson (almost made the TD/KG/Shaq list, but his 33pts keeps him here one more season), Chris Paul (see above).
5. Elton Brand, Clippers: 24.6 pts, 10.4 rebs, 52.2% fg, 77.2% ft, 2.6 blocks. Here's what frustrates me about Elton Brand: HE HAS A SEASON LIKE THIS EVERY YEAR. His FG% is a little higher, but other than that he's right where he is every year. He's right there with Shawn Marion for being the Perenially Underappreciated Player.
The difference is the Clips are winning this year. However, since he's averaging pretty much the same stats, does that have more to do with him, or more to do with the additions of Sam Cassell, Cutino Mobley, and the emergence of Chris Kaman? I guess if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, there is no sound.
4. Dirk Nowitzki, Mavs: 25.9 pts, 8.4 rebs, 47.7% fg, 42.9% 3pt, 88.9% ft. Oustanding season for a surprising Mavs team. Even more surprising considering how poorly he handled the leadership of the team in the playoffs. He did a good job of rebounding from that.
He's be higher if he wasn't averaging career lows in rebounds, blocks, steals, and assists. I'm much more enthusiastic about Avery winning Coach of the Year than I am about Dirk winning the MVP.
3. Lebron James, Cavs: 31.2 pts, 6.9 rebs, 49.3% fg, 35.4% 3pt, 73.1% ft, 6.3 asts, 1.7 stls. Phenominal season, and the Cavs finally have enough firepower to go not only make but make some noise in the playoffs (not a knock on Lebron; it wasn't his fault his teams weren't good enough in the past). However, he needs to be more clutch. Quit settling for bad jumpers at the end of the game Lebron! He doesn't seem to have that "I'm going to fin kill them" desire to take over the game at the end like--dare I say it--Jordan did. Also, let's raise that FT% too.
Yes, we're nit picking you Lebron. But you're so good we have to.
2. Steve Nash, Suns. 19.3 pts, 4.5 rebs, 47.9% fg, 42.4% 3pt, 92.4% ft, 11.4 asts, .9 stls. If there were any doubts as to Nash being the MVP last year, he put them to rest this year. I agree with those pundits who say that Nash is even more deserving of the trophy this year than he was last. Nash has taken a mediocre team and moved them into SECOND FRICKING PLACE in the West. Not only that, but his leadership has been incredible. Do you think Boris Diaw would be half the player he is without having to Nash to watch and learn from night in and night out? You can watch Diaw watch him and say, "hey, I can kind of play like that too!" James Jones is averaging 10pts a game. JAMES FRICKING JONES. Just incredible. Hats off to you, little Stevie Nash. You would assuredly be the MVP most years had it not been for the insane performance of...
1. Kobe Bryant, Lakers. 81 points in one game.
Sure, I can put all his stats up there, which are impressive. But we all know what kind of season he is having. And though I still loathe Kobe, he's been so good he's done two things I never thought would ever happen: 1) He's got people outside of LA cheering for him, and 2) his Lakers are in position to make the playoffs, in spite of the fact that outside of him and Lamar Odom they are absolutely horrible.
So I begruggingly give Kobe the MVP award. Congrats Koab. It's what you always wanted.
And yes, I watched (most) of the Stephen A interview with him last night, and yes, more on that later.
Remember everyone...the NBA...it's FANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNTASTIC!!!!
Defensive Player of the Year: Does anyone care about this this year? Does anyone notice? Let's just give it to Big Ben Wallace again. He's having a nice season.
Coach of the Year: Avery Johnson, Mavericks. Do you relize the Mavs have the third best record in the entire league? And that they are a half game behind San Antonio for the second? Did you know that the Mavs are ninth in the league in DEFENSE? Did you ever think that would happen? Yeah, me either.
Flip Saunders got some strong consideration here, but he inherited a team that was already great. And I've been telling you for years that Larry Brown is ridiculously overrated as a coach, so he doesn't get as much credit with the oustanding play of the Pistons this season.
Player Who Has Amazed Me the Most This Year: Richard Hamilton, Pistons. He's shooting 50.6% from the field. HE'S A JUMP SHOOTER. He's shooting 50.8% from the three point line! That's insane! Watching him play is just amazing. I know Chauncey is having his best year, and is doing a great job, and is setting everyone on the team up so well, but Hamilton is the one who is most responsible for taking the team to another level. I bet I've watched the Pistons play at least 10 times this season, and every single time the other team goes on a run and the Pistons need a bucket, he scores. EVERY TIME.
And he used to drive me crazy. I used to not be able to stand his game. But since he never misses anymore...wow. Great job Rip.
ROY: Chris Paul, Hornets. This isn't even close. He's on my top ten list for the MVP of the fricking league. We all thought we'd seen the last of the true, great point guards with Jason Kidd, but Paul is even better. He's a pure scorer who shoots well but doesn't look to dominate the game by scoring, is amazingly quick, is surprisingly strong, and is already one of the 5 best passers in the league. Do you realize the Hornets are in the playoffs if the season ended today? How amazing is that? In the West? I thought they would be the worst team in the league! This is a team who's three best players are a rookie, a third year player who averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds his first two seasons, and some white boy who just got kicked out of the league for two years for using one of the "serious" drugs (cocaine, heroine, et all. Nothing wrong with marijuana in the NBA though, don't worry!). He also gets bonus points for being the first player I have ever taken in all 3 of my fantasy leagues (normally I don't like to commit that much to one player, but I felt safe with Paul). He's fantastic.
Player We'd Most Like To See Hit by a Mack Truck (or the Shawn Bradley Memorial Award): Mark Blount, Timberwolves. Bill Simmons has been ranting about him ever since he played hard one season and tricked the Celtics to signing him to a $40 mil deal. He (correctly) predicted that after signing said deal, that Blount would go back to sucking and not caring. Then, when he played the Celtics his second game after being traded to the Wolves, suddenly he was able to have his best game of the seaons (16 pts, 11 rebounds, 4 blocks).
Mr. Blount, we salute you. With our middle fingers.
Most Underappreciated Player in the NBA: Michael Redd, Bucks. Sure, he's making $90 mil, but Redd is avergaing 25.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.07 steals while leading surprising Milwaukee to fifth place in the East. Nobody's giving him any credit for continuing to play well and hard after signing his big deal, and for being a great leader on a young team with a lot of new faces. Way to go, Michael!
The Antoine Walker Memorial Most Overrated Player in the NBA: Ron Artest, Kings. I just don't get it. Why do people keep thinking he's going to be a productive player on any team? Even though I'm not a big fan, I do like this quote from Bill Parcells (he was referring to injured players at the time): "I can't do anything with a player that isn't here." RON ARTEST WILL NEVER BE THERE! He's going to be suspended, either by you or the league, all the time. And if you (the team) don't penalize him when he says things like, "I want to take a month or two off to promote my rap album in the middle of the season", then he's either A) going to go out there and pout and suck until he ruins your team, or he's going to go out there and do something to get himself suspended by the league so he's off like he wanted. Good God.
SOMEONE PLEASE CHECK HIM FOR STEROIDS!!!!!
Things I Never Thought I'd See Happen: Do you realize that KG, Shaq, and Tim Duncan don't matter anymore? Did you ever think that would be the case? KG's team is bad and going nowhere, probably for the rest of his career. Unless he goes somewhere else, he will never truly compete for a title ever again in his career. FUCK YOU, SAM CASSELL AND LATRELL SPREEWELL.
Sorry. Shaq is one, MAYBE 2 seasons away from being done. I mean, he's moved into that Patrick Ewing area of "Good God, my joints start hurting just watching you run up and down the court." He's so stiff it's scary, and it's only going to get worse. In 2 years he won't be able to move.
TD is almost in the same category. I don't think it's so much that his body has given out on him yet; I think it's just that he is smart enough to know that he is one or two injuries away from that happening, so he's out there playing like he's walking on broken glass barefoot. I don't blame him for trying to stay healthy for the playoffs and prolong his career. It just means that he's not nearly as effective. I mean, do you really consider him to be the MVP of the Spurs this year? I'd say--as much as I hate to say it--that Tony Parker is the MVP so far this year, and you could even make a case of Manu being more important than him. Sure, he's the glue that holds the bunch together, but they have been the differencemakers so far.
Maybe he'll turn it around in the playoffs. But the fact is he is averaging career lows in every category--something is off here. But if he doesn't turn it around and I'm Mavs playing him in the playoffs, I'm covering the other four members of the team like crazy and making them not score, and saying to Timmy "score as much as you want buddy. I'm betting whatever your aging body and 65% foul shooting can put up isn't enough to beat us."
Finally, Mid Season MVP's: Honorable Mention: Paul Pierce, Celtics (consider him considered), Gilbert Arenas (poor man's Kobe), Richard Hamilton/Chauncey Billups (no one can decide who is more important, so they cancel each other out from going higher), Allen Iverson (almost made the TD/KG/Shaq list, but his 33pts keeps him here one more season), Chris Paul (see above).
5. Elton Brand, Clippers: 24.6 pts, 10.4 rebs, 52.2% fg, 77.2% ft, 2.6 blocks. Here's what frustrates me about Elton Brand: HE HAS A SEASON LIKE THIS EVERY YEAR. His FG% is a little higher, but other than that he's right where he is every year. He's right there with Shawn Marion for being the Perenially Underappreciated Player.
The difference is the Clips are winning this year. However, since he's averaging pretty much the same stats, does that have more to do with him, or more to do with the additions of Sam Cassell, Cutino Mobley, and the emergence of Chris Kaman? I guess if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, there is no sound.
4. Dirk Nowitzki, Mavs: 25.9 pts, 8.4 rebs, 47.7% fg, 42.9% 3pt, 88.9% ft. Oustanding season for a surprising Mavs team. Even more surprising considering how poorly he handled the leadership of the team in the playoffs. He did a good job of rebounding from that.
He's be higher if he wasn't averaging career lows in rebounds, blocks, steals, and assists. I'm much more enthusiastic about Avery winning Coach of the Year than I am about Dirk winning the MVP.
3. Lebron James, Cavs: 31.2 pts, 6.9 rebs, 49.3% fg, 35.4% 3pt, 73.1% ft, 6.3 asts, 1.7 stls. Phenominal season, and the Cavs finally have enough firepower to go not only make but make some noise in the playoffs (not a knock on Lebron; it wasn't his fault his teams weren't good enough in the past). However, he needs to be more clutch. Quit settling for bad jumpers at the end of the game Lebron! He doesn't seem to have that "I'm going to fin kill them" desire to take over the game at the end like--dare I say it--Jordan did. Also, let's raise that FT% too.
Yes, we're nit picking you Lebron. But you're so good we have to.
2. Steve Nash, Suns. 19.3 pts, 4.5 rebs, 47.9% fg, 42.4% 3pt, 92.4% ft, 11.4 asts, .9 stls. If there were any doubts as to Nash being the MVP last year, he put them to rest this year. I agree with those pundits who say that Nash is even more deserving of the trophy this year than he was last. Nash has taken a mediocre team and moved them into SECOND FRICKING PLACE in the West. Not only that, but his leadership has been incredible. Do you think Boris Diaw would be half the player he is without having to Nash to watch and learn from night in and night out? You can watch Diaw watch him and say, "hey, I can kind of play like that too!" James Jones is averaging 10pts a game. JAMES FRICKING JONES. Just incredible. Hats off to you, little Stevie Nash. You would assuredly be the MVP most years had it not been for the insane performance of...
1. Kobe Bryant, Lakers. 81 points in one game.
Sure, I can put all his stats up there, which are impressive. But we all know what kind of season he is having. And though I still loathe Kobe, he's been so good he's done two things I never thought would ever happen: 1) He's got people outside of LA cheering for him, and 2) his Lakers are in position to make the playoffs, in spite of the fact that outside of him and Lamar Odom they are absolutely horrible.
So I begruggingly give Kobe the MVP award. Congrats Koab. It's what you always wanted.
And yes, I watched (most) of the Stephen A interview with him last night, and yes, more on that later.
Remember everyone...the NBA...it's FANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNTASTIC!!!!
Labels: NBA Awards
posted by Michael Pondrom at 11:43 PM
4 Comments:
I could write a whole post on why I hate Kobe. I may already have? Can't remember. Anyway, here's the thing. Obviously, I hate him for cheating on his wife/sexually assaulting a young girl. But he wasn't found guilty, and I won't let that influence my judging of his basketball performance, though it does influence my feeling about him.
Yes, Kobe Bryant is one of the best scorers in the history of the game. He's probably top ten. He might be top five. But he's The Guy No One Wants To Play With. Sure, he's good, and you'll probably even win with him. But you dislike him so much, you almost would rather lose without him than win with him.
TGNOWTPW is out there for his glory, and no one else's. He can give a shit who the other 4 guys on his team are. He's not really interested in winning; he's interested in making himself look good. Now he wants to win, but not because that is the goal of athletic competition--he wants to win because that will make him look better. And you can't stand that about him.
TGNOWTPW will take all of the credit when you win--and absolutely none when you lose. And he's not quiet about it. He's going to let you everyone know for sure whichever one happens.
TGNOWTPW not only has no problem publicly deriding you and/or embarrasing you, he's looking for opportunities to do so, ESPECIALLY if you are doing well and are taking any attention away from him. If you are a threat to his attention, you want him gone.
Sound familiar? Sound like Kobe? Kobe makes no bones on the court about who he is. He treats teammates with disrespect (look at the expression on his face anytime Lamar Odom shoots in the fourth quarter), and he's willing to toss winning championships aside in order to enhance his own image. And the worst part, THE WORST PART, is the condescending way Kobe treats us, the fans, like complete morons. He gets up there, tells the worst lies, has the stupidest facial expressions I've ever seen, and just tosses them out there over and over again to try to get us to believe how great and sincere and nice he is. He's such a bad actor it would be commical if it weren't so insulting.
I give Kobe credit for the outstanding season he is having, which is why he's my midseason MVP. He's dominating scoring almost like no one has ever done. His team is barely in the playoffs, but barely is still impressive. So I give him the accolades that he deserves as a basketball player.
But like him? Trust him? Never. I trust Kobe to be what he is: an egomaniacal, totally self-centered asshole who will do whatever he wants with no regards to the consequences/thoughts/feelings of others. The one nice thing about Kobe is that he will never achieve his goals (championship with him completely running the team) or his dreams (for everyone to love him and recognize him universally as the greatest player ever). His own ego and selfishness will keep him from achieving his greatest desires. It's heartening and sad at the same time.
Michael
I forgot to address Lamar Odom. He's averaged a double double (I'm going to round up and count 9.5 boards as 10) each year the last three years. Add his 4 assists a night to that, and that's pretty damn good. He's not a perenial All Star--he's not in Kobe's category--but he's a pretty damn good player.
As for the rest...ummm...okay. Remove "trust" and replace with "hope" or "wish" as you suggested. He's still a selfish dick.
{shrugs}
Michael
Nick,
Lewis is a good comparison. I think Lewis is better than Odom--IE closer to being an All Star--so that's a good benchmark to compare his stats too.
lewis' career averages are 1.6 assists to 1.5 TO's a game. That's basically a 1:1 ratio. He's improved over his career, but not very much past that. Odom's sitting at 1.5:1 ratio, and is currently at 1.9. So I think it's fair to say he's significantly better at that than Lewis, especially since Odom's teammates are a lot worse and thus are not as good at catching his passes.
Shooting? Yes, he's a bad shooter. His FT% alone proves that. That's a part of his game he should have been working on for years.
He's an OUTSTANDING rebounder, especially for his style of play.
Defensively he's as good as Lewis. Gets almost as many steals, and gets slightly more blocks. It basically washes out in the end.
So of the four categories which measure pretty much every player's performance (assists to turnovers, shooting, rebounding, defense) we have Odom as Better, Much Worse, Much Better, and Even to a player of similar skill set who we both agree is a borderline All Star.
In conclusion, I am correct in calling him a "good" player. Not great...not an all star...but a "good" player.
Michael
Quid pro quo...I agree with your assessments. I think he's a number 3 on a contending team, he's a number 4 on a championship.
I'll take him over J-Will any day of the week, but I agree with his placement everywhere else on your list. Good call my friend.
And thus concludes our debate of where Lamar Odom actually ranks. Wasn't this so very civilized? :-)
Later Nick!
Michael
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