Here we are! The NBA season is roughly 75% complete, so that
means it is time for my quarterly look at the season. If you have read the ¼review and the half-way point post, then you know what to expect; some awards,
some opinions, and some observations about all things NBA. The trade deadline,
as well as some key injuries, probably changed things quite a bit for some
teams and we will get to those points later, but for now let’s hand out the
awards that are sure-fire locks.
The Lock-it down
Award
This goes to two guys who carry ‘James’ in their names. Of
course I am talking about Lebron James being a lock (or at least, he should be)
for the NBAs MVP award, and James Harden being a lock for the NBAs 6th
man of the year award. Realistically, these have been decided for a solid
month, with Lebron’s season ranking higher (in terms of PER, John Hollinger’s
mathematical formula to judge a player) than any other season since, well ever.
Harden on the other hand could easily start for most teams, and many argue that
he should start next to Westbrook on the Thunder. Coach Brooks however, likes
to use him in the ‘Ginobili’ role, where he is the primary creator and is
always on the floor in crunch time. It would take a serious collapse for these
guys not to win their respective awards, as of now they are the least exciting
award ‘races’ that the NBA has.
The “We will make a
lot of people mad, but can’t really do anything about it” award, given to the
coach of the year so far.
Unlike Lebron and Harden, who are already making space on
their shelves for their awards, the race for ‘coach of the year’ is completely
up in the air. There are so many worthy candidates this season that it feels
unfair to pick just one winner, but that’s what I will try to do anyways.
Firstly, the way injuries and playoff races have changed since the all-star
break we can remove Rick Adelman, George Karl, Nate McMillan, and Kevin Mchale
(last cut) from the race. That leaves us with Byron Scott (who has done a
masterful job on the Cavs, they should not be where they are right now), Gregg
Popovich (defying everybody’s predictions about San Antonio’s demise for what
feels like the 10th year in a row), Scott Brooks and Tom Thibodeau
(number one seeds in their respective conferences), Stan Van Gundy (through all
of that idiotic Howard drama, he has this team playing really well), Doug
Collins, Lionell Hollins, and Rick Carlisle round out the long shots. I would
be fine with any of these worthy candidates winning, and I didn’t even talk
about Alvin Gentry, who has done a really good job with Phoenix. Expect a very
interesting distribution of votes for this category at seasons’ end.
The “Our criterion
for awards needs to be better” award for the NBA’s very vague requirements for
winning certain awards goes to the Defensive player of the year award race.
I hate the DPOY award. It almost always goes to a defensive
big-man, and nobody really explains why. Is the award meant to be given to the
best help defender? The guy who blocks the most shots? The guy who plays the
best individual defense? It is 2012! We should be able to figure this out. On
that note, a lot of people say that Dwight Howard should win the DPOY award
because the quality of big-men in the league is terrible; my counter: perimeter
players dominate this league (Lebron, Wade, Kobe, Ellis, Durant, Westbrook,
Nash, Paul, Williams, I could go on for another 30 players but you get the
idea). So what this means is that on any given night, a guy like Tony Allen
will be matched up against a guy who can score, and score a lot, whereas Howard
is guarding scrubs that can’t score at all. This enables Dwight to stay close
to the rim, and provide a lot of off-the ball help, but when matched up against
someone who knows what they’re doing (Bynum) he gets outplayed! What I am
trying to say is that if there were more quality big-men in the league, Howards
defensive impact would be minimal. The DPOY award should take into account
man-to-man defence as well, or have a guard and a big-man category. It goes
without say that if I had a say, I would vote for Tony Allen as the defensive
player of the year.
The “Dilemma” Award
This goes right back to the vague criteria argument. Do you
realize that one of Durant, Lebron, and Kevin Love can’t make the All-NBA first
team because they are all forwards? For some reason the NBA insists on making
everything about positions, so we get outraged every year when it comes to
all-star selections, but almost never when it comes to the all-NBA ones. The
All-NBA selections are the most underrated awards each year, but they may
finally get the attention they deserve when some significant snubs are made. So
for this award, I will dish out my selections for all 3 teams, using my own
criteria.
All-NBA first team: Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James,
Kevin Durant, Kevin Love. I do not care what anyone says, these five guys have
had the best seasons in the league, and should also finish the top five in MVP
voting.
All-NBA second team: Russell Westbrook, Rajon Rondo, Lamarcus
Aldridge, Andrew Bynum, Dwight Howard. Yes, I realize that I have Howard and
Bynum on the same team, so what? I can’t fairly pick one over the other in
terms of who has had a better year, so I am calling it a tie. If you find
yourself questioning the Lamarcus Aldridge selection, watch a Portland game
then get back to me.
All-NBA third team: Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, Dirk
Nowitzki, Blake Griffin, Marc Gasol,
A former regular season MVP, a former Finals MVP, and the
reigning finals MVP all grace our third team! I think that it is very safe to
say that the NBA is in a very good place at the moment. One thing I should
mention is that Marc Gasol has had an amazing season. He was effectively
Memphis’s only reliable big man while Zach Randolph was injured and has
developed to the point where he may be better than brother Pau. This guy
elevates his game in big moments, and plays the game the right way; he
absolutely deserves to be recognized for his achievements this year.
That will wrap up this edition, with the final one coming
sometime at the end of the regular season. In the mean time, we have some Mad
men, some more NBA, and other cool stuff coming at you later this week. Cheers!
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