Coach of the Year: Sam Mitchell
I bet there are a good portion of people who have no friggin idea who Sam Mitchell is what he looks like and would never recognize him walking down the street as Sam Mitchell even if he was wearing a t-shirt that said My Name is Sam Mitchell. Well Mitchell got the Raptors, yes the Raptors, the 3 seed in the east and a division crown. Sure its the worst division in the NBA, but somebody had to win it, and technically they aren't the worst division winner, even though the Heat have a worse record because of the obvious fact that Wade missed signifcant time.
2nd Place: Avery Johnson
3rd Place: Jeff Van Gundy
Sixth Man: Leandro Barbosa
Barbosa is the perfect sparkplug for the Suns, he is lightning fast, can shoot the three or drive the lane, is a scoring machine, can play sidekick to Nash or can take over with Nash on the bench. He's a pretty easy pick for sixth man.
2nd Place: Jarry Stackhouse
3rd Place: Manu Ginobli
Defensive Player: Bruce Bowen
The defensive player of the year is such a huge crapshoot for the NBA. I don't know if this is ever given out on the basis of anything other than reputation. I mean I'm just gonna give it to Bruce Bowen because of his reputation and because of his ability to guard just about anyone on the court with the exception of a center. He guards Dirk, Kobe, Nash, he guards the best player on the other team every night and the Spurs don't give up many points.
2nd Place: Marcus Camby
3rd Place: Shane Battier
Rookie of the Year: Brandon Roy
This is pretty much the easiest of all the choices, Brandon Roy after sitting out much of the start of the season came in and was the only consistant rookie in the NBA. He was an impact scorer and helped turn the Blazers into not the worst franchise in the country.
2nd Place: Andrea Bargnani
3rd Place: LaMarcus Aldridge
Most Improved Player: Al Jefferson
I might be a wee bit biased here, but Big Al emerged this season, especially the second half of the season as a dominant low post threat and was putting up very similar numbers to year in year out All-Stars like Elton Brand and a guy everyone considers great Dwight Howard. In fact Jefferson was so good this year that the Celtics had to sit him in order to tank their last two weeks of the season.
2nd Place: Kevin Martin
3rd Place: Monta Ellis
Most Valuable Player: Tracy McGrady
Everyone says this award comes down to Dirk and Nash this season, with a few whispers in the distance for Kobe, but I really think T-Mac should get consideration. The Rockets were brutal without him, 2-8. And unlike the Suns and Mavericks the Rockets had to deal without their second best player for 32 games in which T-Mac lead the team in just about everything to the tune of a 20-12 record. With both T-Mac and Yao in the lineup the Rockets were 30-9. Extrapolate that over the entire season and they are just as good as the Mavs the Suns and the Spurs. Without T-Mac the Rockets are just as lost as the Suns are without Nash, and with him a healthy roster they are just as good as the Suns. Who would you rather have as your 3rd best player, Shawn Marion or Shane Battier? Can it be argued that Amare is better than Yao? Sure.
So why no love for Dirk, he's not good in the closing seconds. T-Mac has dropped multiple triples in the last 20 seconds of a game, Dirk perpetually struggles and if Avery was smart would just continue feeding the ball to Jason Terry at the end of the game.
In the end I just wanted to go with someone a bit different and I think it could be argued that McGrady should be behind Nash and/or Nowitzki, but I think people are overlooking just how important he is to the Rockets. How bad were they last season when he missed games, they missed the playoffs.
2nd Place: Steve Nash
3rd Place: Dirk Nowitzki
I bet there are a good portion of people who have no friggin idea who Sam Mitchell is what he looks like and would never recognize him walking down the street as Sam Mitchell even if he was wearing a t-shirt that said My Name is Sam Mitchell. Well Mitchell got the Raptors, yes the Raptors, the 3 seed in the east and a division crown. Sure its the worst division in the NBA, but somebody had to win it, and technically they aren't the worst division winner, even though the Heat have a worse record because of the obvious fact that Wade missed signifcant time.2nd Place: Avery Johnson
3rd Place: Jeff Van Gundy
Sixth Man: Leandro Barbosa
Barbosa is the perfect sparkplug for the Suns, he is lightning fast, can shoot the three or drive the lane, is a scoring machine, can play sidekick to Nash or can take over with Nash on the bench. He's a pretty easy pick for sixth man.
2nd Place: Jarry Stackhouse
3rd Place: Manu Ginobli
Defensive Player: Bruce Bowen
The defensive player of the year is such a huge crapshoot for the NBA. I don't know if this is ever given out on the basis of anything other than reputation. I mean I'm just gonna give it to Bruce Bowen because of his reputation and because of his ability to guard just about anyone on the court with the exception of a center. He guards Dirk, Kobe, Nash, he guards the best player on the other team every night and the Spurs don't give up many points.
2nd Place: Marcus Camby
3rd Place: Shane Battier
Rookie of the Year: Brandon Roy
This is pretty much the easiest of all the choices, Brandon Roy after sitting out much of the start of the season came in and was the only consistant rookie in the NBA. He was an impact scorer and helped turn the Blazers into not the worst franchise in the country.
2nd Place: Andrea Bargnani
3rd Place: LaMarcus Aldridge
Most Improved Player: Al Jefferson
I might be a wee bit biased here, but Big Al emerged this season, especially the second half of the season as a dominant low post threat and was putting up very similar numbers to year in year out All-Stars like Elton Brand and a guy everyone considers great Dwight Howard. In fact Jefferson was so good this year that the Celtics had to sit him in order to tank their last two weeks of the season.
2nd Place: Kevin Martin
3rd Place: Monta Ellis
Most Valuable Player: Tracy McGrady
Everyone says this award comes down to Dirk and Nash this season, with a few whispers in the distance for Kobe, but I really think T-Mac should get consideration. The Rockets were brutal without him, 2-8. And unlike the Suns and Mavericks the Rockets had to deal without their second best player for 32 games in which T-Mac lead the team in just about everything to the tune of a 20-12 record. With both T-Mac and Yao in the lineup the Rockets were 30-9. Extrapolate that over the entire season and they are just as good as the Mavs the Suns and the Spurs. Without T-Mac the Rockets are just as lost as the Suns are without Nash, and with him a healthy roster they are just as good as the Suns. Who would you rather have as your 3rd best player, Shawn Marion or Shane Battier? Can it be argued that Amare is better than Yao? Sure. So why no love for Dirk, he's not good in the closing seconds. T-Mac has dropped multiple triples in the last 20 seconds of a game, Dirk perpetually struggles and if Avery was smart would just continue feeding the ball to Jason Terry at the end of the game.
In the end I just wanted to go with someone a bit different and I think it could be argued that McGrady should be behind Nash and/or Nowitzki, but I think people are overlooking just how important he is to the Rockets. How bad were they last season when he missed games, they missed the playoffs.
2nd Place: Steve Nash
3rd Place: Dirk Nowitzki
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