The NBA: Where We Stand 3/4 of the Way Through

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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 6^th 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 10^th 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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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