NBA Awards
If there's one thing NBA players care about, it's this blog and the opinions contained herein. The following are how I would vote for the big end-of-season awards if I had a vote.
MVP: Chris Paul
You can go look at the numbers (statistically, the best season any point guard, ever, has enjoyed) but really, this is about more than that. Dude's not 23 yet, and put a team which features David West, Tyson Chandler, and Peja Stojakovic as its second, third, and fourth best players, and took it to the top of the most brutal conference in the game's history. Normally if the leader of a come-from-nowhere team is in the running for MVP, it's because his team exceeded expectations and got to, say, the 3rd or 4th seed with little or no help. Chris Paul has kept the Hornets on top of the West the whole goddamn season. Furthermore, in a rare show of unanimity, myself, Nikhil, and Zeyd all agree on something basketball related, which doesn't happen all that often, I can promise you.
Of course, Kobe will win it. But he shouldn't.
Coach of the year: Phil Jackson
As much for everything that happened off the court as on it. He had to (a) placate Kobe at the beginning of the season, (b) babysit Bynum at the beginning of the season, and (c) deal with the massive trade for Gasol in the middle of the season (I don't care how good a trade looks on paper; you've still got to make it work on the floor, and that responsibility falls on the coach). Throughout it all, his Lakers have played defense when they needed to, kept games close when they needed to, and gotten the hell out of Kobe's way when they needed to. And remember, they were atop the West before the Gasol trade.
If Mo Cheeks, Jerry Sloan, or Byron Scott win it, I won't mind terribly.
Rookie of the year: Kevin Durant
Everyone's saying Durant, so I might as well agree with them, even though his shooting numbers are atrocious, and Al Horford has helped his team to the playoffs. Oh well.
Sixth man: Manu Ginobili
No explanation needed, other than to say he's arguably their best fourth quarter player now. Still hate the cunt, though.
Defensive player of the year: Kevin Garnett
Really no explanation needed. If you don't know why, you don't know basketball.
Most improved: Hedo Turkoglu
What a story this guy is. Having exemplified all this soft Sacramento teams from earlier this decade, he's been reborn. Do you know he ranks among the league leaders in fourth quarter points this season? He's the crunch-time option for the ultimate dark-horse in the East. He's rejuvenated his career, and he deserves this.
All NBA first team:
Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Kevin Garnett, Amare Stoudemire.
All NBA second team:
Steve Nash, Deron Williams, Tracy McGrady, Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard.
All NBA third team:
Allen Iverson, Baron Davis, Manu Ginobili, Dirk Nowitzki, Marcus Camby.
MVP: Chris Paul
You can go look at the numbers (statistically, the best season any point guard, ever, has enjoyed) but really, this is about more than that. Dude's not 23 yet, and put a team which features David West, Tyson Chandler, and Peja Stojakovic as its second, third, and fourth best players, and took it to the top of the most brutal conference in the game's history. Normally if the leader of a come-from-nowhere team is in the running for MVP, it's because his team exceeded expectations and got to, say, the 3rd or 4th seed with little or no help. Chris Paul has kept the Hornets on top of the West the whole goddamn season. Furthermore, in a rare show of unanimity, myself, Nikhil, and Zeyd all agree on something basketball related, which doesn't happen all that often, I can promise you.
Of course, Kobe will win it. But he shouldn't.
Coach of the year: Phil Jackson
As much for everything that happened off the court as on it. He had to (a) placate Kobe at the beginning of the season, (b) babysit Bynum at the beginning of the season, and (c) deal with the massive trade for Gasol in the middle of the season (I don't care how good a trade looks on paper; you've still got to make it work on the floor, and that responsibility falls on the coach). Throughout it all, his Lakers have played defense when they needed to, kept games close when they needed to, and gotten the hell out of Kobe's way when they needed to. And remember, they were atop the West before the Gasol trade.
If Mo Cheeks, Jerry Sloan, or Byron Scott win it, I won't mind terribly.
Rookie of the year: Kevin Durant
Everyone's saying Durant, so I might as well agree with them, even though his shooting numbers are atrocious, and Al Horford has helped his team to the playoffs. Oh well.
Sixth man: Manu Ginobili
No explanation needed, other than to say he's arguably their best fourth quarter player now. Still hate the cunt, though.
Defensive player of the year: Kevin Garnett
Really no explanation needed. If you don't know why, you don't know basketball.
Most improved: Hedo Turkoglu
What a story this guy is. Having exemplified all this soft Sacramento teams from earlier this decade, he's been reborn. Do you know he ranks among the league leaders in fourth quarter points this season? He's the crunch-time option for the ultimate dark-horse in the East. He's rejuvenated his career, and he deserves this.
All NBA first team:
Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Kevin Garnett, Amare Stoudemire.
All NBA second team:
Steve Nash, Deron Williams, Tracy McGrady, Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard.
All NBA third team:
Allen Iverson, Baron Davis, Manu Ginobili, Dirk Nowitzki, Marcus Camby.
Labels:
Basketball
9 comments:
As great as Camby's and Iverson's seasons have been and as much as I know you love the Nuggets, I don't think you can justify having two players from the 8th (marginally) best team in the West in your top 15 players.
I think I'd have to put Pierce, Boozer or Billups up there before a second Nugget.
i knew someone would come in with this nonsensical argument. at the end of the day, the difference between the "8th (marginally) best team in the West" and the best team in the west is something like 5 games. so it's really not a big deal.
more importantly, however, camby's on there more as a result of his position than the nuggets' success. AI's had a (significantly) better season than billups and pierce, and boozer isn't a center. i'm open to replacing nowitzki with boozer, though.
first of all, it's like 7 games. and secondly, OF COURSE it's a big deal. there are 7 BETTER teams in the CONFERENCE.
whatever, i'm not going to argue with you, i just happen to have a different opinion.
as for your problem being just positional, i'd solve it by putting ginobili in the second team, and move howard to c in the third, probably replacing camby with either pierce or boozer.
I'm just posting because i want to know who this delightful fellow called Mo Cheeks is.
oba:
mo cheeks is a nice guy who happened upon some success this year, which no one begrudges him because he's so nice.
that atta khan chap on your blog is a complete and utter choot, by the way.
First of all you have three guards on your 3rd team. I'd suggest replacing Iverson with either Carmelo or Pierce.
Secondly, Camby is the one of the most over-rated guys out there. The DPOY last year was completely unjustified. You can move Dirk to centre and put in Boozer.
Thirdly, Kobe is the MVP. Hornets would have been higher up last year if it wasn't for injuries so its not as big a turnaround as it looks. Also those other guys are pretty good players and Paul isn't a good defender as his 3 steals per game suggest.
http://atthehive.wordpress.com/2008/04/13/is-chris-paul-bad-at-defense/
For pro-Kobe arguments I think Mark Stein is pretty much spot on.
Kobe's gonna win it and I'm gonna feel sick. CP3 deserves it more this year than Nash did either of the 2 years he won it. I mean, just look at the team that he's working with. Mo fucking Peterson is their starting 2 guard. West was an all-star! Tyson Chandler is a beast? A beast! Kobe's played well but who's made their team better? CP3 or Kobe? Simple for me really.
Dude (by dude I mean Ahsan) don't you think Doc Rivers deserves some mention in the COY debate? They've got 65 odd wins (biggest turnaround ever i think) and they're playing defense as well as anyone out there. Plus they have a pretty damn good record against the west. Think he deserves some sort of accolade, official or not.
The NBA is nothing if my Knicks aren't doing well.
shariq:
manu's a 3, not a 2, though i supposes he switches back and forth quite a bit. actually with SA, it's sort of hard to figure out bowen's and ginobili's positions, but i'm ok with keeping manu as a 3. no way do pierce or carmelo deserve to be over any of AI, BD, or ginobili.
i don't think camby is overrated. he's a beast on the boards, and defends the paint for a team that's ATROCIOUS at defending the perimeter.
zeyd:
yeah i agree. everyone can say they're in the east and all, but they're got 10 more wins than anyone else, and they have, as you mention, an excellent record against the western teams too.
isiah:
in that case, the NBA's been nothing for a while.
Post a Comment