NBA Awards

Here’s my NBA Awards.  Why?  Because I can.  Also, I really should be given a vote.  I mean, really, my opinion is better than fact.

All-NBA Teams:

I look at this in three ways: (i) Per 36 stats.  I like this better that just averages.  It helps to weigh players who play a ton of minutes versus those who play minutes in the mid-30s, (ii) How important was the player to his team?  This is why Howard is more important than Bynum, if not necessarily better (we’ll get to that), and (iii) How good is your team?  Kevin Love has the fifth best Player Efficiency Rating (PER) but Minnesota was 5-20 after Rubio went down. How can the “Best Power Forward Alive” lead his team to a 5-20 record? (and yes, I know he didn’t play the last few games, but w/ Love they went 4-14 w/o Rubio)  They only beat two playoff teams the last two months of the year.  Love is very good, but you could argue Rubio is more important to his team than Love is.

First Team:

PG – Chris Paul (it’s underrated just how average his supporting cast is and I’m including his coach…)

SG – Kobe Bryant (Hard to argue for anyone else.  This team undertook a huge change: new offense, new defense, new coach and no Lamar Odom and the team still finished 3^rd.)

SF – LeBron James (No explanation needed) 

PF – Josh Smith (BELIEVE IT!  Here’s my proof:  Atlanta lost their second best player, Horford, very early on and yet continued to finish with the fourth best record in the East.  Why?  Josh Smith had a great year and became his team's best player.  He put up 19p-10r-4a-2b and 5 FTA per game, 2 more than the next most for the team, Joe Johnson.  Also, even though I’m not a huge fan of these types of stats, but Josh Smith did lead the NBA in defensive wins shares.  Either way, Smith carried a team to the fourth best record in the East and just because you don’t care about Atlanta, doesn’t mean he didn’t have a very good season)

C – Dwight Howard (I’d take Bynum over him, but, without Bynum, Lakers are still a playoff team.  W/o Howard, the Magic would struggle to win 20 games)

Second Team:

PG – Russ Westbrook (Very good player on both ends of the court, hard to go wrong here)

SG – Dwyane Wade (I thought about Harden, but Wade put up 24-5-5 per 36 and Harden put up 19-5-4)

SF – Kevin Durant (yes, he had the second best season overall.  The only problem?  It was the second best year at his position and that’s how this voting works)

PF – Blake Griffin (Let’s compare 6 players on per 36 stats: K. Love 24-12, 44.8% FG; Dirk 23-7, 45.7%; Aldridge 22-8, 51.2%; Blake 21-11, 54.9%; Pau 17-10, 50.1%; J. Smoov 19-10, 45.8%.  Blake’s numbers are similar to K-Love’s but Blake was the second best player on the 4^th best team.   Love was the best player on a team that fell apart when the next best player got injured.  Remember, the Clips lost Billups and he was playing 35+ minutes a night before his injury.  Plus, Blake’s shooting percentage was a lot better than Kevin Love’s, even though the perception is Love is a much better shooter)

C – Andrew Bynum (if Orlando offered me Dwight straight up for Bynum, I’d say no.  Dwight is a better athlete and defender, but Bynum is just as long as much better offensively.  Bynum has some real good low post moves that will make him a beast down the road)

Third Team:

PG – Tony Parker (Let’s compare Parker to Rondo, the next logical pick.   Parker’s per 36’s: 21-3-9, 3 TOs, 5 FTA, 48% FG.  Rondo’s per 36’s: 12-5-11, 4 TOs, 3 FTA, 44.8% FG.  Now, both lines are respectable, but less turnovers and getting to the line more often tips the scales in favor of Parker for me)

SG – James Harden (already discussed why Wade is ahead of him)

SF – Carmelo Anthony (I wanted to give this to Rudy Gay, but he just didn’t do enough to earn it.   Carmelo may be a coach killer, but look at his per 36 compared to Gay’s and Paul Pierce: 24-7-4 Melo; 21-6-5 PP; 18-6-2 Rudy.  When Melo was moved to PF late in the year, it made him the third best SF.  I know, it doesn’t make sense to me either.)

PF – Kevin Love (Dirk took too long to kick it into gear, Love grabbed a lot more rebounds than Aldridge and Pau was really the third best player on his team and it showed when Kobe got injured and the offense ran through Bynum)

C – Al Jefferson (This one was tough, let’s compare 7 centers here on per 36’s: Gortat 17-11, 1.7 blocks, 55.5%; Chandler 12-11, 1.6, 67.9%; Noah 12-12, 1.7, 50.8%; Al Jefferson 20-10, 1.8, 49.2%; Duncan 20-12, 1.9, 49.2%; Hibbert 16-11, 2.4, 49.7%; Marc Gasol 15-9, 1.8, 48.2%.  For me, it came down to Duncan and Jefferson.  The difference?  Jefferson was his team’s best player, whereas Duncan could lean on Parker a lot more.)

Rookie of the Year: Kyrie Irving

Coach of the Year: Frank Vogel (He was 20-18 last year as the interim head coach, his team went 42-24 this year, compared to 37-45 last year.  That’s right, in a partial season, they still got 5 more victories than last year and their only addition was David West)