With today being the last day of the regular season in the NBA, I think it is time to bring out this season's awards and overall analysis in what was a surprise season for some teams while others shared in utter disappointments.
Most Valuable Player: LeBron James- This is the best overall season by any player in quite some (29.7 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 8.6 APG) and led Cleveland to back to back 60+ win seasons and having homecourt throughout the playoffs. Kevin Durant became the youngest player to win a scoring title but James nearly quadrupled his APG compared to Durant's. I am not taking anything away from Durant but James has played on another level in terms of being a complete player now. James now shattered Larry Bird's record of APG in a season by any forward (Larry Bird was around 7 APG).
Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard- as we look towards a back to back MVP season by James, we are also looking at back to back Defensive Player of the Year for Howard. Howard led the league in blocks and rebounds and is the defensive nucleus to a strong Orlando Magic this season. Though he may "only" score about 18 a game, it is his attitude in the paint and on the defensive end that keeps the Magic a possibility to return to the NBA Finals.
6th Man of the Year: Jamal Crawford- without a doubt the favorite to win this award this year. He has been just as valuable to the Hawks this season as any other starter. In his first season with the Hawks, he not also got into the playoff the first time in his career, but has helped the Hawks get to the 50 win plateau since the '97-'98 season. His 18 PPG is the highest of any sixth man since Ricky Pierce when he averaged 22 a game in the 90-91 season.
Rookie of the Year: Tyreke Evans- a big and pleasant surprise for the not so good kings as he joined Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James as the only rookies to average at least 20 PPG, 5 APG, and 5 boards a game. He is the favorite but the only reason I can see him missing out on this award is that Brandon Jennings has helped the Bucks into the postseason and have a winning record since the Big Three of Sam Cassell, Glen Robinson, and Ray Allen. Otherwise, Tyreke should bring ROY honors to Sacramento.
Coach of the Year: Nate McMillan- this award is perhaps the hardest to pick and choose this year. I pick Nate just over Scott Brooks (who would also be a deserving coach to have this award). The primary reason I chose Nate over Scott Brooks was that Portland has been injury-plagued this season and still managed to win 50 games in the highly competitive Western Conference (and the Thunder look to finish with 50 wins also). Oklahoma is perhaps one of the best and biggest surprises this season which makes Brooks a favorite and his ability to utilize the young talent around him but as I said, Portland I think overcame more to get where they are now.
Most Improved: Aaron Brooks- the favorite to win this award as he improved his scoring by 7 a game this season (last season he average 11 PPG while he maintained 18 PPG this season). His improvement heled the Rockets linger for awhile and had a pretty good season despite not having their star center for all this season.
Surprise Team of the Year: Oklahoma City Thunder- this was another tough one to call as Memphis played pretty well despite not having a really deep roster in the more competitive Western Conference. However, the Thunder are in the playoffs for the first time in 5 seasons since they were the Sonics and I really don't know if anyone predicted they would do this well this year. Milwakee is anther team as they have done well against the NBA's best this season.
Disappointing Team of the Year: No surprise it is the Nets in this category. They at least avoided the ultimate mark of futility by winning more than 9 games this season which was set by the Sixers in the early 70's. However, I would like to actually add a seconday team in this category with the Boston Celtics. Yeah, they won 50 games this season but showed no signs throughout the season they can hang with Cleveland and Orlando and heck, the Hawks have played at a more consistent level than the C's. As one person said on NBA.com, this may be the worst 50 ball club in history (that is obviously debattable).
Don't be too surprised...............to see an 8 seed knock out the Lakers in the first round. The Lakers have the best record in the West for a reason and this because they are good. But for the second time in about 3 seasons, the Western Conference will have all 8 of its playoff teams with at least 50 wins (compare that to 4 teams in the East). It would be an upset for sure and I am not making a bold prediction to say the Thunder are going to upset the Lakers or whoever takes the 8th seed, but every team in the West has a chance of winning their series.
Thunder do have the 8 seed and I think they'll beat the Lakers. So the Lakers will sweep.
Coach of the year and surprise team of the year has to be Hollins and Memphis. Come on, they went 40-42! They almost made the playoffs! That was a fun team to watch. Obviously OKC and Brooks will win, so might as well throw in a dark horse.
Most Improved is Zack Randolph and Disappointing Team is the Hornets, that's all I got.
I'm not saying he'll win any awards, but I think Scott Skiles should at least get mentioned for the job he did in Milwaukee. I don't think anyone predicted this type of season for them.
Originally posted by CorajudoI'm not saying he'll win any awards, but I think Scott Skiles should at least get mentioned for the job he did in Milwaukee. I don't think anyone predicted this type of season for them.
Though they really should, at this point. This is clearly his established pattern: turning a 10-12 seed into a 4-6 seed and then the team and him falling apart in a couple years.
Kevin Durant if worthy of the MVP by numbers he put up this season.
Scott Brooks for coach of the year. The Thunder were garbage last season and nobody was expecting much from them this season.
Rookie of year its a toss up. I believe Darren Collison(Hornets) is worthy of the award for the numbers he put up when CP3 went down to injury. I believe Darren even got rookie of the month.
Team to watch out for in playoffs? The Atlanta Hawks(Sting Army's team).
Originally posted by CajunManTeam to watch out for in playoffs? The Atlanta Hawks(Sting Army's team).
Shhhhh! Don't tell anybody!
Actually, if we can even make it past the Bucks (we beat them in the season series but they're pretty darn good) I don't know how we're going to handle our second round opponent. I'm hoping for the Bobcats to oust the Magic but I don't think the Bobcats would be an easy out for us either.
What I AM hopeful for is Jamal Crawford's heroics. I love that dude.
Originally posted by CorajudoI'm not saying he'll win any awards, but I think Scott Skiles should at least get mentioned for the job he did in Milwaukee. I don't think anyone predicted this type of season for them.
Though they really should, at this point. This is clearly his established pattern: turning a 10-12 seed into a 4-6 seed and then the team and him falling apart in a couple years.
If by 'established pattern', you mean one job, then yes. And in that one job, he was fired the season after taking them to the 7th seed. Not a year or two later.
So I don't think Milwaukee has too much to worry about just yet.
Originally posted by CorajudoI'm not saying he'll win any awards, but I think Scott Skiles should at least get mentioned for the job he did in Milwaukee. I don't think anyone predicted this type of season for them.
Yeah, he is definitely in the mix in Coach of the Year honors turning a team no one predicted to win more than 30 games into a club that was 4 wins shy of its first 50 win season in quite some time. I think the other awards are not going to be as close but with Coach of the Year, there are a number of deserving candidates for this award and chances are it will go to a coach who has put their team into the playoffs from obscurity (so that may hurt my Nate McMillan pick).
Originally posted by StingArmy Actually, if we can even make it past the Bucks (we beat them in the season series but they're pretty darn good) - StingArmy
The Hawks should get past the Bucks, minus Bogut, relatively easily. If Bogut had not been hurt, it could have been a really good series. I'll be reading the BrewHoops recaps and hoping for the best anyway.
Originally posted by CorajudoI'm not saying he'll win any awards, but I think Scott Skiles should at least get mentioned for the job he did in Milwaukee. I don't think anyone predicted this type of season for them.
Though they really should, at this point. This is clearly his established pattern: turning a 10-12 seed into a 4-6 seed and then the team and him falling apart in a couple years.
He's going to be the modern Larry Brown. He'll come in and make you a winner, but it's going to be a short run and will probably end with some bitterness.
No suprises with today's award; Dwight Howard wins the Kia Defensive Player of the Year and becomes the 7th player to win this award in consecutive seasons.
Dwight also joins Walton, Jabbar, Olajuwon, and Ben Wallace to lead the league in rebounds and blocks in the same season..........however Dwight Howard becomes the only player to do that feat twice.