So a friend of mine gave me this idea to give my own awards for the season, and here it goes:
Rookie of the year: Kevin Durant
This guy can straight out play. He lead all rookies in points, 3rd or so in assists, and 1st in 3 pointers made. He also was 4th in rebounding and had a good rookie season.
Coach of the Year: Byron Scott
Byron Scott probably won’t get the award, since it will probably be doc rivers, but you have to give it to this guy. Besides Chris Paul, he really had no superstars on his team, no bench, and played in a city that was trying to get back on their feet. Not only did they have a huge turnaround from last year, but they managed to pull off the #2 seed in the highly contested West.
Runner Up: Phil Jackson
Most Improved: Hedo Turkoglu
I remember watching this guy on Sacramento and thinking he’s an average player. Same with every other year he has played. This year, he goes crazy and boosts his points by more than 6 a game, more than 1.5 assists a game, and 2 or so rebounds a game. He’s the reason the Magic are good this year (also Howard) and should be given the award. Screw Ginobli who plays more than the starters
Runner up: Leandro Barbosa
GM of the Year: Danny Ainge
Reason? Garnett, Pierce, and Allen
Runner up: Mitch Kupchak
MVP: Kobe Bryant
This guy deserved the MVP the year he scored 81 and averaged 35 ppg. Although his stats aren’t as good this year, he is an overall better player, with more assists, rebounds, steals, and has the Lakers at the #1 seed. It’s hard to say exactly what the criteria for MVP is since some years it goes to the best player, while some years (see steve nash’s 2 MVP’s) it goes to individual who best helps their team.
VERY CLOSE runner up: Chris Paul
If chris paul got this award, I wouldn’t mind. He has by far less talent than the lakers, has carried an entire city on his back, made David West into an All Star, and can flat out play
Defensive player of the year: Shane Battier
Did anyone see him play defense on Kobe? This guy gives it his all, does all the fundamentals, and is a clean player, unlike Bruce Bowen or Raja Bell.
Ugliest Player: Sam Cassell
THIS GUY IS AN ALIENNNN!!!
Most Underated: Antawn Jamison and Chris Bosh
Jamison puts up sick numbers (21.4, 10.2) a game, but how often do people talk about him? People only write about Kobe, Lebron, Dirk, or Duncan, but this guy plays day in and day out. He’s the star of the Wizards, not Arenas. Chris Bosh too is never talked about, just cause he’s in Canada. He went off for 40 points against the Magic, that’s with Howard in the paint, and averaged (22.7,8.3,2.4) for the season. If he were anywhere else, he might get recognition.
Most Overated: Jermaine O’Neal and Ben Wallace
Ok, these guys USED to be good, and people still think that. At one point, O’Neal was a young star who led the pacers to playoff appearances, was a threat in the paint, and was a nasty shot blocker. Same goes for Wallace who won back to back Defensive Player of the Year with the Pistons and was an absolute rebounding Machine. These guys couldn’t rebound if their life depended on it now. O’neal hasn’t played all year and people are still saying he’s good, and Wallace has played, but I dont think games of 5 and 5 are gonna do it for the Cavs
Runner up: Kirk Hinrich- what happened to him?
Best player who makes do with what he has: Brandon Roy
This guy doesn’t have a lot of speed, he doesn’t have a huge body, and isn’t that tall, but this guy is smart. He’s led the Trailblazers to a .500 record when everyone thought that, without Oden, they would be one of the worst teams. He played with what he had and became a star.
Biggest Pain in the Ass: Stephon Marbury
This guy is a joke. He was good, and then thought he was the best. I’m sorry for all you New York fans that had to put up with him and his talking, but hey, at least him and Isiah are gonna be gone next year.
Runner up: Ron Artest- just cause he’s Ron Artest
I was thinking about the rookie team:
C: Al Horford
PF: Luis Scola/ Joakim Noah
SF: Kevin Durant/ Al Thorton
SG: Nick Young
PG: Javaris Crittenton
I know the backcourt wouldn’t be that strong, but com’on, that’s a pretty sick group of big men, and with Kevin Durant and Al Thorton doing a lot of the scoring, I’d like to see these guys play together.
3 Comments
Gotta disagree on Danny Ainge. What ainge essentially did himself was get Ray Allen, but Garnett was handed to him by McHale because of they’re best buddies. All the other players that followed werent’ because of Ainge but Garnett.
Mitch Kupchak saw all his draft picks, develop this season. He also got a little someone called Pau Gasol.
Based on Ray Allen vs. Pau Gasol, i’m gonna go with Pau being more impressive. Garnett was just a gift from a friend, not his actual GM skills.
Mitch also traded Shaq for Butler, Grant, traded Butler for Kwame Brown, signed Smush Parker, and yea. He did well this year, but before, not so much. Ainge wasn’t much better, but he couldn’t have predicted his young players would suck so much.
Mitch has had arguably the best draft success for the last 4 years in terms of how players panned out. Sure we missed out on Monte Ellis and few select individuals, but we have made the most of our picks (minus Von Wafer). Drafting a future franchise center with a mid-late lottery pick and seeing the development of Sasha, Farmar, and Turiaf have all been great. The Shaq trade wasn’t so much Mitch as it was Jerry Buss, who actually completed the trade, and Rudy T. Mitch actually wanted to hold out for Dwayne Wade but Rudy T. preferred Caron Butler. Either way, that’s why its GM of the YEAR.
Pau Gasol for “KWAMAY” Brown, a decent guard in Crittenton, and 2 picks between #28 and #30. Oh yeah, can’t forget Aaron Mckie…hahaha.
Yes getting Ray Allen was good, but it came at the cost of the #5 pick in the draft. Garnett, like Vic mentioned, was a gift from McHale but even that came at the expense of the team’s future. Boston has set themselves up to have the CHANCE of winning the finals for the next 2 years or so, but they have no young talent. And Rajon Rondo is not a future all-star like some make him out to be.
I agreed with most of your other awards though. Kirk Hinrich is not really overrated, he’s just a product of a terrible offensive scheme that even made Ben Gordon and Luol Deng look like below average players. Hinrich should improve when/if D’antoni takes over in Chicago.