The NBA: Where Do We Stand 1/4 of the Way Through

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With the NBA regular season being over 25% over, I figured it would be a nice time to examine some interesting story lines and hand out some of my personal awards. Let's get to it.

Eastern Conference coach of the quarter: Doug Collins. Did anybody expect the Sixers to be this good? It seems like Philadelphia is trying to prove that last year was not a fluke and have been absolutely destroying teams, while barely losing most of their games. I have no idea if they will keep this up, but if the season ended today, Collins would likely get the nod for coach of the year. Collins narrowly edges out Tom Thibodeau, whose Bulls squad has only lost four games so far while winning seventeen.

Western Conference coach of the quarter: (tie) Rick Adelman, George Karl, Gregg Popovich, Nate McMillan. Yeah, I did just put four guys in a tie here but can you blame me? Every one of them has done an outstanding job so far, whether its improving a team (Adelman), performing miracles (Karl), or refusing to let injuries cripple them (Pop, and Nate). Honestly, it is a joy to watch these guys coach night in and night out. I would like to point out that, had Zach Randolph not been injured, then Lionel Hollins would probably be on the list too. Look for him to be a dark-horse candidate for COY once Z-bo gets back.

The 2007 Golden State Warriors award for: "we might be 10x better when we get player x back from injury". This one goes to the Knicks and the Grizzlies who are waiting for Baron Davis and Zach Randolph to be healthy enough to play. If Davis can even give 60% of what he gave to the Warriors in 2007 then the Knicks might just be a contender. As for Memphis, they survived the Randolph loss by winning 7 in a row but have since lost 3 on the run. With Arthur out for the year and Speights not providing great back-up, the Grizzlies are pretty thin in the front court where they usually excel. What these two teams do in the playoffs will depend on the health of their injured stars.

Eastern Conference rookie of the quarter: Kyrie Irving. He has somewhat exceeded expectations and even has this dreadful Cavs team in a playoff contention spot (will the East ever have a season where a team 8 games below .500 realistically has a shot at the playoffs?-Toronto is 6-14 and only 2.5games out). At this point his only competition seems to be...

Western conference rookie of the quarter: Ricky Rubio. He hit a recent shooting slump that dropped his shooting percentage way down and teams are still forcing him into rookie mistakes, but that will be about it for the negative column. His passing, decision making, leadership, and defense have impressed even those who thought he would excel in the NBA. It took him about 10 games to crack the starting rotation and Rubio is delivering 10+ assist and 2+ steal games like they're going out of style. He has been so good that Kevin Love decided to stick around in Minnesota and sign a new contract. He has been so good that watching Wolves games is now encouraged. While he may not be far ahead of Irving statistically, his impact in other aspects has to push him over the top. The rookie of the year race will probably come down to the last week of the season.

Defensive Players of the first quarter: Dwight Howard, Tony Allen, the Chicago Bulls, Rajon Rondo. Any of these players (in the case of the Bulls and Sixers, their team defense is amazing. Holding opponents to 87ppg in the era of no hand-checking is a spectacular feat, and their key defenders should all get a nod) could get this award but Dwight Howard will probably win it. I dislike how there is a bias towards big-men who can block shots when it comes to this award, especially today where being a good perimeter defender is much more difficult then it was 10 years ago.

The "How does he make this list" award, given to the player who constantly makes all NBA defensive teams, despite better candidates out there goes to: Kobe Bryant. I have never heard so many coaches talk about how over-rated his defense is, yet he still makes the defensive teams. No doubt he exerts more effort on the defensive end them most shooting guards do but the fact is that he can no longer shut people down like he used to. This should be the year that Kobe's spot rightfully goes to a more deserving player.

The "David West" award for the player selected by coaches that makes the fans and the media question how it could have happened award goes to: Paul Pierce. The poor Celtics start, coupled with many forwards playing well in the East (Iguodala, Granger, Anthony, James, Stoudamire, Bosh) will probably lead to a lot of questions about whether or not Pierce is deserving of a spot. This is just a prediction and I think that by the time the All-Star weekend does come around, Pierce will have played well enough to justify his selection.

The "Dwight Howard trade me" award, given to players that absolutely need a change of scenery goes to the following players: Dwight Howard and Steve Nash. I have to admit, its a little sad watching Nash try to make players around him better, when his owner only cares about saving money (this team once had Shawn Marion, Amare Stoudamire, Joe Johnson and picks that turned out to be Luol Deng and Rajon Rondo) and will get rid of players to save costs. Hopefully Phoenix and Orlando will come to their senses and trade these guys before they get nothing in return during the off-season.

The "Most Entertaining Team" award goes to: The Denver Nuggets, who could potentially add J.R. Smith and Wilson Chandler before the playoffs. They are built almost exactly like the 2007 Warriors, its kind of scary actually.

Eastern Conference MVP of the first quarter: LeBron James. Its not even close.

Western Conference MVP of the first quarter: Kevin Durant (for now) but he has some competition. Danilo Gallinari, and Chris Paul. I know that 18-5-3 are not even close to MVP numbers, but if Denver finishes first in the West ins't Gallo at least considered? If the Clippers finish first however, Chris Paul would be a natural candidate. At this point its to early to call anyways. I will be back with more thoughts and awards later in the season but this week its all about the Super Bowl. Look for some previews from us on that and more this week

We at Millennium Sports & Entertainment try to bring you interesting and thought provoking views from the worlds of sport and entertainment. Follow us on Twitter @MillenniumSandE

The Millennium NBA preview

Tweet With the NBA serving up an incredible Christmas day slate doubling as the opening day we at Millennium could not be more excited. So without further ado here are some of our thoughts on the upcoming season. I will lead off.

Daki:

The thing I am most glad about is the fact that the NBA will keep the momentum from last year's wonderful season going. Last year was the first time in a long time that both the regular and post seasons truly mattered. We had a star breaking out in Derick Rose, we had a true villain (Lebron and the heat), and we had some major surprises (Pacers, Grizzlies). Best of all, we had a group of guys who all won the ring that had eluded them for their entire careers (Kidd, Peja, Marion, Dirk, Terry, Mark Cuban). This year the only thing we know for sure is that Miami and Lebron are still very much the villains but we have no idea what teams will surprise us, what teams will emerge as contenders, or which player will emerge as the next star. Finding out these unknowns is what excites me the most about this season, along with an exciting Kings roster that should be fun to watch its really all I could ask for. Luka and Igor will cover most of the major story lines so I will explain my picks for MVP, the champion and rookie of the year awards. ROY: Brandon Knight (just a hunch). MVP: Kobe Bryant (I will wait for you to stop laughing). Phil Jackson has said numerous times that Kobe knows how to achieve and embrace being the perfect team mate, but chooses not to due to the pursuit of selfish accolades such as scoring titles. I firmly believe that Kobe is aware of his declining abilities and as much as he wants to pass Kareem on the all-time scoring list, I think he cares about winning just a bit more. This season the Lakers are a really popular pick to be a disaster and the only thing that will prevent that is if Kobe finally chooses to play the right way (making team mates better, passing to open team mates for game winners, rebounding, taking smarter shots). If he does decide to play the right way, look for a slew of stories around February about how Kobe "finally gets it" as well as a few "Kobe may not be the best player anymore, but you can argue he has been the most valuable" (I fully expect someone like Skip Bayless to do this). If Kobe instead chooses to keep doing things the way he always has we can safely assume that he desires to pass Kareem (in points) rather than Jordan (in titles). As for my title pick, I am taking Chicago over Memphis in 6.

MVP: Kobe Bryant
ROY: Brandon Knight
Champion: Bulls (with Rose winning Finals MVP)

Igor:

It doesn’t seem real that the NBA season is actually going to start soon since I pretty much convinced myself that it wasn’t going to happen. There are a few key things that I’m really looking forward to watching this coming season.

In the East the biggest story will be whether the Heat can “redeem” themselves from losing in the finals after everyone (including themselves) considered them the champions before the season started. One year of chemistry building between the big 3 (or 2.5) is crucial and I doubt that they will start the season off 9-8 like last year. The only problem is that they haven’t really added many pieces other than Battier, but he does not fix their lack of a center and point guard. Regardless they are still the favourites to come out on top of the East. The Knicks will be very fun to watch this year and could give the Heat some problems during the season. The additions of Chandler and Davis (once he heals) are important for their improvement from last year. As a Bulls fan, I’m interested in seeing how much Hamilton will help the team out and if Boozer can put together a solid year. Rose should maintain his great performance from his MVP year and with offensive help from Boozer and Hamilton, the Bulls look like a team that will go deep in the playoffs. After giving the Bulls a run for their money in the first round last year, Indiana should be the dark horse of the East especially after the addition of West. As crap as I think the Raptors will be this year, I will be closely watching Casey’s coaching and hoping to see some improvement on defense (already seen some glimpses of it during pre-season). Also keep an eye out for my friend Jan Vesely on the Wizards. Playing with John Wall will only be beneficial to his career.

The West is loaded with great teams and it will get very competitive down the stretch of the season. Here are a few questions to think about this season. Is there a new best team in L.A.? Will Rubio live up to the hype? Can Portland put it together after losing Roy? Will Memphis come out as a top 3 team in the West? Can the Mavs maintain their championship form? Most teams are interesting in the West, but my two favourite teams are the Warriors and the Thunder. Despite the Warriors’ struggles in the past few years, they are my favourite team to watch in all of sports due to their unpredictability and high pace. They can beat the best teams and lose to the worst teams on any given night. This is the year that Mark Jackson steps into the head coaching position and shows the league how to play “hand down man down” defense. Jokes aside I think he will be great for Ellis and Curry (since he was a great point guard during his career) who are probably the most talented backcourt in the NBA. If you’re bored at 10:30 any night you can’t go wrong with watching a Warriors game. With the addition of Perkins, improvement of Ibaka and Harden, and Durant and Westbrook entering their primes, this is the year of the Thunder. They have it all from lockdown defense to great offense and will be at the top of the NBA. Watch for them to storm through the West and win it all.

MVP: Durant                  

ROY: Kemba Walker

Finals: Bulls vs. Thunder

Winner: Thunder in 6 (Durant finals MVP)

Luka:

The NBA will finally make its long-awaited return tomorrow with 5 great games. During the lockout I always thought that the season would be cancelled since both sides seemed like they did not care about losing a season. It made me think that I would not care as much about the upcoming season. And yet, when the season was announced I immediately forgot about the whole lockout, and even stranger was the fact that I did not care. All I wanted to do was watch. It felt as if David Stern and Billy Hunter did their best men in black impression on me and the rest of the NBA's fans. And now with the opening less then 24 hours away there are a countless number of things in my head that I cant wait to see how they will play out.

Here are some of my thoughts/questions/things to look forward to about the upcoming NBA season (some of these are jokes).

The Dallas Mavericks trying to win back-to-back titles without their 2nd and 6th best players from last years run. The Heat being the only great team with seemingly no other teams at their level at this point. Hating the Miami Heat again. Watching Lebron's headband increase in size as the season progresses. People realizing that Shane Battier is old. Vince Carter and Tracy Mcgrady trying to out-suck each other in Dallas and Atlanta respectively (my money is on T-mac because I think he died 2 years ago). The Raptors being absolutely awful. Relictantly watching every Raptors game in the hope that they are not absolutely awful. My grades dropping because each team plays 66 games in 120 days!!! Kobe buying Vanessa a 4-million dollar ring for each women he cheated on her with. Kobe going bankrupt in 3 days. Baron Davis' rejuvination in New York. Brian "the custodian" Cardinal. Wondering how Calderon is making 10 million dollars this year. The Durant/Westbrook relationship. The Phil Jackson to the Knicks rumours that wont stop. Dwight Howard trade talks. The battle for L.A. The Indiana Pacers being a sneaky-good basketball team. Whether or not Memphis will be able to surprise people again (I think yes). Will anyone watch a Bobcats game? (Only if MJ suits up). Shaq recording a "tell me how my ass tastes" remix with Vanessa Bryant, Karl Malone, and Ruben Patterson. The Celtics relying on Keyon Dooling. Gregg Popovich ruining fantasy leagues everywhere by resting Parker, Duncan, and Manu more then people think he will. Lastly, seeing if this season can top last season.

Champion: Heat over Mavs in 6 

MVP: Carmelo Anthony

ROY: Kemba Walker