Saturday, February 26, 2011

A Look Back At The NBA

As you can see by the above title, the NBA is making it's stretch run towards the title. Because of the NFL draft, pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, and March Madness, this all-too-important part of the NBA season is overlooked by all but the most diehard fans. This also means that the NBA season has passed it's midway point, and it's now possible to look at it with a sense of objectivity. Here, I want to frame the NBA through the prism of the end of year award races.
MVP:
In my mind, the obvious pick for MVP is Lebron James. He's still the best player in the world, whether you simply look at the stats, or actually watch the games. He's the leader of one of the best teams in the league and a legitimate contender for at least a conference title, if not a championship. What more do you need? This is one of those rare cases where the best player in the league, and the best player on one of the best teams in the league are one and the same.
However, I know the chances of James winning MVP are slim. Why? For one, he's already won it two straight times, and voters can tire of awarding MVP to the same player too many times in a row, whether he's Lebron James or Michael Jordan. He also happens to not be Derrick Rose, this season's breakout player. Rose has exploded this year, not only showing individual excellence, but also pushing his team to the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference. So why is he not my pick? It's not that I believe he's not deserving. In a league without James, I would have no problem with Rose, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, or, heck, even Steve Nash winning the trophy. Strong cases can be made for all them. However, as long as a healthy Lebron James is still in his prime, the MVP trophy is his to earn, and he's certainly done that this year.
DPOY:
The Defensive Player Of The Year award is perhaps the second most coveted award in the NBA, after the MVP. To win, a player must show that he can not only put up good stats on the defensive side of the ball, but also make his team defense better as a whole. In my mind, there's one player who does that more than anyone: Dwight Howard. This is an obvious pick, yes, but for good reason. Even though the Magic traded away their best perimeter defender, Mickael Pietrus, and a solid interior defender, Marcin Gortat away to acquire defensive liability Hedo Turkoglu and defensive neutrality Jason Richardson, he's kept them on pace to finish with the third-best Defensive Efficiency (a measure of points allowed per 100 possessions) in the league at 99.0. Kevin Garnett and Joakim Noah also deserve consideration for their respective team successes, but they have the luxury of excellent team defense. Howard has been forced to cover for the mistakes of his wings, as well as handle his man, and he's excelled.
ROY:
Blake Griffin. End of story. I look stupid for picking Demarcus Cousins, but there's nothing I can do about it.
6TH MAN:
My pick for 6th Man goes to Glen Davis, under the assumption the Celtics pick up a bought out center, and Davis continues to come off the bench to anchor a suddenly fearsome Celtics 2nd squad, after the addition of Jeff Green and return of Delonte West. Davis has been one of the better help defenders in the league for years now, and his ability to move his feet, cut off angles to the basket, and draw charges is almost unparalleled. Ryan Anderson's offensive contributions were also considered.
MIP:
This year's Most Improved Player has to be Derrick Rose. His improvement from last year is simply amazing. He managed to significantly increase his usage without sacrificing efficiency, and he was able to do this by becoming a deadly long-range shooter and getting to the FT line at an increased rate, where he also hit a higher percentage. It's not just the scoring though. He managed to increase his TRB, AST, STL, and BLK % while bettering his Offensive and Defensive Ratings and almost doubling his Win Shares per 48 minutes. I'm starting to feel unsure about not naming him MVP, in fact, so I'll stop there. Suffice it to say, Derrick Rose is your MIP.
COY:
Your Coach of the Year this year has been Gregg Popovich. Yes, he's been blessed with great talent, but he's also done an amazing job of integrating his veteran core with younger role players, and transitioning from the greatest power forward of all time leading the squad, to one of the best international players and 6th men of all time leading it. Through it all, he's masterfully managed his rotations, saved his important players for the playoffs, somehow extricated the best record in the league by far from his team, and, perhaps most surprisingly, is objectively liked by almost all NBA fans. That, my friends, is a difficult task.

So, that was a look at the important awards of this NBA season. With the exception of MVP, I think these will turn out correct. Regardless, I'm excited as hell to see these playoffs. We should be in for some great matchups. The NBA truly is faaaaaaantastic.