Year End Awards: Short Form

I'll do a more exhaustive version of this at the end of the playoffs, but for now let's see who's who in the NBA. Adrian Wojnarowski put this into a nice format today, so I'll do mine the same way.

Most Valuable Player
Steve Nash
Woj makes an interesting point when assessing Nash's career best season by saying Amare's return buoyed Steve's numbers. Well, I agree Amare's return made the Suns better. But Nash is shooting a career best FG% and 3PT% and I'm not sure how much that really has to do with Stoudy. Sure you can argue that Amare's tenacious play in the paint has freed up Nash to trigger 3s at will, but I think Nash's offensive output has more to do with the fact that while he's been long recognized as the best dimesman in the league, in reality he should also be recognized as the flat out best pure shooter in the game. As far as form and function go, Kevin Martin is the only guy in the league who sports a competitively frightening shooting ability. On top of the fact that Nash has put in a career best 11.6 assists and has noticeably improved his defense, I'm loathe to award him the honor for the last 2 years and not this, his best, year.
As for Dirk, he's obviously one of the beastliest dudes in the league, and is the best player on the best team. But saying that Amare's return takes from Nash's accomplishment, and not saying that Josh Howard's emergence does the same for Dirk is unfair. I would argue that Howard becoming a legit superstar and offensive threat has made life far easier for Nowitzki. It's definitely neck and neck, but I'm leaning toward Nash... again.
The rest of the guys in the discussion: LeBron is getting unfairly cut out. His "sub par" first half was still pretty stellar. His team has about as good a chance as any to win the East, and his post All Star Break performance has been arguably the best in the league. For his name to not even be discussed is criminal. Same goes for Tim Duncan. In fact, I think John Hollinger made an exceptional case for Tim Duncan as MVP... but not quite. Bringing up the rear would be Dwayne Wade. His team has been unimpressive, and he missed 2 months, but nobody's more valuable to their team than Dweeani (that's a phonetic spelling of how one would pronounce his name, not knowing that's it's the same as Dwayne).
An honorable mention goes out to Chris Bosh who had a stellar year and is clearly as important to his team as anybody. A dishonorable mention goes to Kobe, who is undeniably one of the greatest ever. However his team is so god awful (I'm more and more convinced it's his fault too) that I can't even abide by his name being thrown into discussion. If you honestly believe his name belongs in this debate, then you should really be considering, Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, 'Melo, Elton Brand, Gilbert Arenas and Baron Davis, all of whom have comparable, if not better, numbers and play for mediocre to lousy teams that are more frightening to me than the Lakers.

The Ballot: Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade
Honorable Mention: Chris Bosh
Dishonorable Mention: Kobe Bryant


Rookie of the Year
Brandon Roy
This may be the least interesting R.O.Y. race in history. Roy's been very good, Bargnani's been good too, then there's a long list of intriguing guys who didn't get as much of a chance to show their stuff. Based on sheer numbers, you have to give it to Roy. But the more interesting discussion is upsides. It looks like Brandon Roy's showed us pretty much what he can do. His numbers should improve from experience next season, but I'd be shocked if they took the type of steep uphill climb that DWade's took in his second year. On the other hand, Bargnani looks like he just gave us a taste of what's to come. I could definitely see Bargnani developing into somewhat of Dirk Lite over the next few seasons.
Tyrus Thomas, LaMarcus Aldridge, Jorge Garbajosa, Rudy Gay and Rajon Rondo have extremely intriguing futures. By the time the All Star break rolled around, it had become exceedingly clear that neither the Grizzlies nor the Celtics had anything to play for except Oden and Durant. So they both started giving their rookies chances to shine. And shine they did. Gay's turning into a frightening multi position offensive/defensive beast. I wouldn't be shocked to see him put up Shawn Marionesque numbers within the next few years. Same goes for the tenacious and scrappy Rajon Rondo, substituting JKidd's name for Marion's in the comparison. Thomas is clearly the defensive monster of the future, and if he can develop any semblance of a mid range shot, he could become a terrifying low post presence. Aldridge's game shows more equilibrium, less room for improvement, but still a promising future.
Honorable mentions go to Craig Smith and Paul Millsap, who show mad heart and hustle, which you gotta love. Dishonorable mention goes to the guy I picked as a lock to be a huge disappointment: Adam Morrison. What can I say about Morrison that I haven't already screamed about college basketball? He sucks, it sucks, end of story.

The Ballot: Brandon Roy, Andrea Bargnani, Rudy Gay, Rajon Rondo, Tyrus Thomas.
Honorable Mentions: Lamarcus Aldridge, Jorge Garbajosa, Craig Smith, Paul Millsap, Randy Foye, Tarrence Kinsey
Dishonorable Mention: Adam Morrison

Defensive Player of the Year
Tim Duncan
Dude, are you kidding me? Without Timmy's rock solid D, the Spurs would be nowhere. He can do it all, and when everybody's been warning of decline, he just keeps up the same old same old. The Spurs are still my favorite to win it all, and he's the reason why. Nobody more terrifying in the playoffs, plus, the icing on the cake of any case for Duncan as D.P.Y. is the fact that he has the hardest to defend position on the planet; PF/C in the West. He could probably convince me he deserves this award if he was covering 3rd string point guards, but he's not. On a nightly basis he's covering Kevin Garnett, Elton Brand, Dirk, Yao, Pau, Boozer/Okur, Amare, Nene, Randolph and that's not even bringing the East into the discussion, which adds Bosh, Shaq, Jefferson, Howard, Sheed, Jamison and Jermaine O'Neal. Bottom line, he does it against the best, and nobody does it better. This is a tough category to quantify, so I won't even bother ranking the rest, I'll just list the defensive stalwarts who deserve recognition.

The Ballot: Tim Duncan, Shawn Marion, Bruce Bowen, Shane Battier, Marcus Camby
Honorable Mentions: Ben Wallace, Raja Bell, Kevin Garnett, Tayshaun Prince, Emeka Okafor, Josh Howard, Gerald Wallace, Josh Smith
Dishonorable Mentions: Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph, Chris Webber


Most Improved Player
Al Jefferson
I know the popular choice here is Kevin Martin. And I'm not even suggesting that Martin isn't the better player. I like Martin a lot. In fact he's pretty much the best shooter in the league next to Steve Nash. But the thing is; I knew that last year. The only reason KMart didn't do the exact same thing last year, is that the offense was still running through Mike Bibby and Ron Artest primarily. Then the next two guys were Brad Miller and Bonzi Wells. Look at Martin's numbers from last year. They were almost exactly where they are this year in %s, and they reflected that he played about 10 minutes less per game. Which he did. I'm not saying Martin isn't awesome, he's just a guy who didn't get as many minutes, and when he did, his numbers inflated in a perfectly proportional way.
Jefferson's numbers more than doubled on less than double the minutes. He claimed the paint like a beast. He rebounds among the best in the league, he blocks shots, he shoots a high percentage. He's flat out turned into a monster big man. Things just seemed to click for him, and I gotta give him the award over the other guys 'cause I thought he was an official bust, and he flipped overnight. Monta Ellis showed a drastic increase in FG% and FT%, and that is why his minutes are drastically up, and though he's not playing quite twice as much, his numbers are doubled everywhere (unfortunately including turnovers, but that'll happen with a guy who drives to the hoop this viciously). I love Monta's energy, he's on the perfect team to get to showcase his skill set. He drives like Kevin Johnson used to, only even more controlled.
Biedrins has to be in the discussion, he's clearly got a huge future in this league. He might become one of the elite big men... but I doubt it. He's weak, and I don't buy his "tough face." I'd also nominate Sasha Pavlovic, who looks like a newer, sleeker, meaner version of himself. He's cutting to the hoop like a maniac, and almost providing LeBron the true running mate Larry Hughes was supposed to be.
Wojnorowski put Tyson Chandler on the ballot, which I can't agree with, 'cause I knew he could rebound and block shots like a beast. And he changed to a team with no other legit centers, so he got ample more space to showcase his beastliness. If you put him in, you have to put Josh Smith, but we all knew he could do what he's done too. I like this category for the guys you couldn't predict. Honorable mentions go to the 3 headed 6th man on the Golden State Warriors. Barnes and Azibuike were waiver fodder, and Pietrus in a rut, but Nelson let them break loose. Whichever one is in the game can take over. Also Eddy Curry, who is massively better, but still makes me want to vomit with his 900 TOs per game, lack of steals or blocks (or defense of any kind) and pitiful FT%. And to think, it may end up that the Knicks traded Durant/Oden for him.
Dishonorable mention to Larry Hughes who I wish I could say was a candidate here, but he continues to disappoint. Chump.

The Ballot: Al Jefferson, Monta Ellis, Kevin Martin, Andris Biedrins, Sasha Pavlovic
Honorable Mention: Eddy Curry, Mickael Pietrus, Matt Barnes, Kelenna Azabuike
Dishonorable Mention: Larry Hughes

6th Man of the Year
Leandro Barbosa
This one is a no brainer. Manu is not really a 6th man, and the difference between Barbosa and the next best candidate, Stackhouse, is not even close. This would only be a competitive category if Ben Gordon was still coming off the bench like he did in the first half of the season. Barbosa puts up (stellar) starter numbers in bench minutes. He's a blur, he can shoot from anywhere, and he's pretty much the heir to the throne in Phoenix.

The Ballot: Leandro Barbosa, Manu Ginobli, Jerry Stackhouse, Andres Nocioni, Sasha Pavlovic
Honorable Mention: Monta Ellis/Andris Biedrins/Mickael Pietrus/Matt Barnes/Kelenna Azibuike (whoever doesn't start and comes off the bench 1st).
Dishonorable Mention: LeBron James (that dude starts too damn well, he's the worst 6th man ever)

Artestify

Rappin' Ronnie has to stay away from his family, as he pleaded no guilty to charges that he roughed up his wife, wrongfully imprisoned her and, in a Placer County first, charges that he's an all around prick with a misshapen head. Fortunately for him, those charges are all misdemeanors. You see, in Placer County, there were two cousins, Luke and Bo...

Read the whole thing here, from RealGM.

Smoketown Beat Down

I just got back from the Warriors Wolves game tonight, to which I had 11th row tickets. Golden State looked better tonight than I've seen 'em all year. They exhibited something I haven't seen from them... ever: defense. They held the Wolves to 36% from the field tonight, including an embarrassing 16% from downtown. I can't imagine what a quiet plane ride the Wolves are gonna have tonight. KG looked scary. It wasn't that he was pissed, or fired up, or disappointed. KG looked like he didn't give a shit anymore. After all the years he's put into this team, it was just heartbreaking to see the warrior, KG, broken. He's checked out, and I for one can't wait to see him in LA next year. He and Kobe will be flat out unstoppable.
For the Wolves, there were few bright spots. Foye had maybe his best game of the year, but it was mostly garbage numbers. KG was the only pulse on the court, save for rookie Craig Smith, who I was very impressed with. Even though his numbers don't show it, he far outplayed Foye. Mike James barely made it off the bench, logging 11 minutes that didn't start until late in the 3rd quarter. It's clear that honeymoon is long over. But the worst performance award has to go to Wrong Rim Ricky Davis, who had a humiliatingly awful night, exacerbated by my non stop heckling. If this game was televised anywhere, I bet I made it on TV. I was yelling for RD to screw up so hard I lost my voice.
For the Warriors, J Rich, BDiddy and SteJax all had nice outings, but Monta Ellis stole the show. I've seen him before, but until you see him in person, you just don't understand. This kid is the future of the NBA. And the future looks bright. He hit jump shots, cut through the TWolves defenses, passed, dunked, he did it all tonight. Some of his drives to the hoop looked like LeBron moves, being done by a guy half his size. He had no trouble dropping soft kisses off the glass against everyone on Minnesota, from KG to RD and he even played a little defense. But the run of the night goes to Mikael Pietrus, another dude with an extremely bright future. In the middle of the second quarter, he hit back to back threes and then got an alley-oop from Jason Richardson that brought the house down. Then he came right back 2 plays later and drained another 3.
I also had a good night, as I cavorted with 2 of the sexier Golden State cheerleaders. I didn't catch their names, so I'll just refer to them as my first and second wives.

G Walls: Get Yer Dollar Up

Gerald Wallace is one of my favorite players in the game right now. Both as a multi pronged Fantasy WMD, and as a solid, versatile swingman. He's one of the few guys in the league that can give Bronny and Kobe fits, he can shoot from anywhere on the court, he's a high flying dunksmith, and he's the polar opposite of Artest in terms of media whoring. He's everything you wanna see out of a combo guard-forward, with the exception of a nagging injury bug that has caused him to miss 154 games over the last 6 seasons. He's the best offensive player and best defensive player on the young Bobcats. So this little bit from the Sacramento Bee is pleasing:

Come July, though, Wallace will have options. He is considered among the top free agents available. The Bobcats seem to place Wallace as a priority and have the spending room to follow through, but they are also amid change. Michael Jordan, the team's managing member of basketball operations, announced Tuesday that coach-general manager Bernie Bickerstaff won't be courtside next season, though he likely will retain his upper-management duties. Still, Wallace said he likes the direction of the franchise. "It feels pretty good to me, the way the organization is going and the way they're putting everything together," Wallace said. "I like the guys they're (bringing) in, so it's pretty much a good situation for me here." Wallace had it good against the Kings, with his squad winning despite his struggles against Ron Artest. The Kings small forward held Wallace to 13 points on 5-for-13 shooting, and Wallace fouled out with 3:37 remaining.

I haven't liked a Gerald this much since this guy.

Cavs on Fire

We don't need no water. That's right, the Cavs are peaking at just the right time. The most recent spanking was a 24 point bitchslapping applied to the Kings by a Bron-less Cavs squad. It's getting ugly for the rest of the league. With just under a quarter of the season to go and the playoffs looming, the Cavs are suddenly the best team in the East, and when they're on I wouldn't hesitate to throw them in with the top 5 seeds in the West. Buckle up Cleveland faithful, the legacy is about to begin...