My End of Season Awards

One of my favorite parts of the NBA season are the end of the regular season awards. My other favorite part is pissing off readers with my "crackpot opinions." So, without further ado, here are my top three choices for each category:

Rookie of the Year: 

3rd place- Devin Booker

So right out of the gates, I'm throwing out a, somewhat controversial, choice. A lot of people are going to be choosing Nikola Jokic or Myles Turner for the third spot, but I ask that you keep an open mind. Devin Booker plays on a REALLY bad team. After Eric Bledsoe went down, earlier this season, as well as Brandon Knight, for some time, Booker stepped up in a big way. The kid became the Sun's best and only real scoring option,  averaging about 14 PPG. Additionally, he took this responsibility and maintained a FG percentage of, almost, 43% and a 3-point percentage of, about 35%. Not too shabby for a rookie, especially one that's doing the majority of the work putting points on the board. So yes, his team is terrible, but so were the 76ers two years back when MCW won the award!

2nd place- Kristaps Porzingis

This guy really impressed me. I'm old school and when I see an international player, not named Dirk Nowitzki, drafted in the top 10, I automatically scream "BUST!" Especially when that draftee is over 7-feet tall and as skinny as he is. But again, he really impressed me. Here's what I liked: he can shoot the three ball, BUT HE DOESN'T RELY ON IT! He can play in the post and midrange, he can pass, he can handle the ball, and he's very athletic. Basically, what I'm saying is, this isn't some second coming of Andrea Bargnani. That's because, unlike Bargnani, he can rebound and play this thing called, 'defense.' Despite being, rail-thin, Porzingis averaged 7.3 RPG and 1.9 BPG. On top of that he proved that he could co-exist with, perpetual ball hog, Carmelo Anthony, by averaging 14.3 PPG. That in itself should earn him ROY considerations. 

1st place- Karl Anthony-Towns

My opinions tend to be a little crazy, at times, but I'm not stupid. This dude is, hands down, the rookie of the year. I feel like I really don't need to say anything to support this, but I will anyways, because I like the sound of my own voice. Karl Anthony-Towns is a BEAST.

B- Blocked shots everywhere

E- Efficiency rating of 22.65

A- Athletic monster

S- Stat line! 18.3 PPG/10.5 RPG/ 1.7 BPG

T- That time I ran out of words for an acronym....


He proved that the Timberwolves made the right draft selection and he's only going to get better. With The Big Ticket mentoring him, KAT is going to be a future MVP, no doubt.



Most Improved Player:

3rd place- Reggie Jackson

This one was hard, because Will Barton was my early pick for this award, but I'm looking at overall effectiveness and his team still sucks. Reggie Jackson's doesn't. I was skeptical of Jackson's ability to run the point on a team with real scoring options. Not to mention, he wasn't much of a shooter before this year and he's playing in a system that demands spacing. Reggie is averaging, just shy of 19 PPG with 6.2 APG. Here's what I really noticed. Everyone had Jackson pegged as a ball hog, yet Andre Drummond's PPG went from 13 last year, to 16.3 this year. Additionally, Andre's FG% rose a few notches as well. This team's offense flows better than it has in years and its players can coexist. Hence, why they'll be going to the playoffs for the first time since 2009. 

2nd place- Jae Crowder

Talk about rags to riches. This guy went from a quick trade add-on to an irreplaceable piece to a contending team. Yes its optimistic to call the Celtics a contender, but let me have this damn it!
It's hard to believe that he started last season on a Mavs team, never averaging more than 3.6 PPG to averaging, just under, 15 PPG, 34% from deep and is the C's most versatile defender. He's arguably their best player, although there's a guy named Isaiah Thomas that has a pretty strong argument for that title. Crowder can guard, almost, every position on the court. He's built like an ox, which allows him to defend guys like Lebron, but quick enough to move with the smaller guards. He plays with a chip on his shoulder and a level of consistency that this team sorely needs. This massive jump in player effectiveness is why Jae Crowder earns the second spot on this list. 

1st place- CJ McCollum

Defensive Player of the Year:

3rd place- Serge Ibaks

2nd place- Kawhi Leonard

1st place- Draymond Green

Sixth Man of the Year:

3rd place-



2nd place- 



1st place- 

Most Valuable Player:

3rd place- Kawhi Leonard





2nd place- Russel Westbrook




1st place- Stephen Curry

Can your roster be too deep?

Bear with me here, but have you ever looked at an nba roster before the season starts and thought, "Wow, now there's a strong lookin team," only to be disappointed? Have you noticed that sometimes teams just don't click? Well if not, then you clearly haven't been paying attention to this season, because there's several strong examples of teams that just have/had trouble getting it together. 

1. Cleveland Cavaliers-

Three starting caliber centers,  a back court that can score at will, a highly underrated power forward in Tristan Thompson, and a badass sixth man and veteran in Jarrett Jack, how could this not work out!? Good question! Cleveland went into the season with, what looked like, one of the fastest "up and coming" rosters in the NBA, but somehow they failed to make it work both on and off the court. 

2. Detroit Pistons-

Now you may be thinking to yourself, "I don't know if I'd call this team especially deep," but think about it for a sec. This team has two future franchise players in Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond. Greg is an offensive beast on the block with a healthy shooting range and not too shabby rebounding numbers. Andre is an athletic freak of nature who defends and rebounds at a ridiculous level, and he's still got a lot of room to grow. On top of these two players you have an offensively gifted point guard in Jennings, an All-Star snub in Josh Smith, a strong two-way player in Kyle Singler, and several legitimate role players after that. BUT despite this ridiculous amount of talent, the Pistons are barely treading water, and even though their rebounding numbers are high, that's about all they have to be proud of in this joke of a season. Poor Chauncey must be regretting coming back. 

3. Brooklyn Nets-

The Brooklyn Nets have been the best team since the turn of the new year so you can definitely argue that they don't belong on this list, however I list them because they just never really fulfilled the expectations of the fans. Brooklyn was ready to have Billy Kings head after the first part of the season. Deron Williams has had trouble with consistency, Garnett didn't look comfortable for the majority of the season, Joe Johnson only showed up about 50% of the time, and Jason Kidd was too busy cleaning up spilled soda to really know what to do at first. Again the Nets are heading into the playoffs strong and they may even be an upset team, but personally, I kinda was hoping they'd be a legitimate contender from start to finish.

Look at all three of these teams and tell me they haven't been disappointing this season. These deep rosters that were supposed to be capable of playoff runs and future franchise players just never really picked up the projected speed they were supposed to. Here's a couple theories why:

A) With such deep rosters, you find that allocating the minutes to keep everyone happy takes away from the effectiveness of the team. The starters are subbed out so quickly that no one has a real chance to get in their "groove." 

B) Too many competing personalities. . This seems to be the most popular theory as to why deep teams don't always pan out, just look at the Pacers. Indiana gave away virtually nothing and got strong depth at center, and a MIP of the year candidate in Evan Turner, yet since the trade they have just plain awful. This seems to be due to the teams contrasting personalities and play styles, simply translated, Bynum is a cancer to his team and Turner is a ball hog. Josh Smith is a perfect example of this as well. One of the most selfish players in the league, Smith chooses to shoot threes and make stupid plays instead of playing to his strengths and truly helping his team. His personality is one of the reasons this team isn't succeeding.

C) Finally the one thing that all these teams had in common were inconsistency at the coaching position. Mike Brown is a joke, sorry but it's true, Lebron is the only reason Brown even has a career and hiring him back was purely a political move to bring King James back. Maurice Cheeks was fired for his ineffectiveness, and frankly, inability to keep Josh Smith under control. Finally Jason Kidd; even though he has really seemed to step up lately, I can't help but wonder if he's still a bit over his head, and this winning streak isn't simply his veterans taking charge. 

The point being that deeper is always better. Sometimes you need to have that nobody bench warmer with a chip on his shoulder on your roster to add a more humble and team oriented dynamic to the atmosphere. If you have a bunch of guys who don't feel they need to prove anything then you really don't have much at all do you?

Meanwhile in Brooklyn....

         In 2007 Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce joined forces to bring home banner 17 to Boston in only their first year together. In 2010 Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh came together to bring in two banners of their own. Whats my point you ask? SUPER-TEAMS WORK! Or at least they can. Last season Brooklyn brought in Joe Johnson to help them become relevant again, this year they acquired KG, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry, hoping that they would be the final pieces. After an 11-21 start I think it's safe to say that it's not working. But why? Now it could be old age. Maybe we, including myself, were wrong and the former Boston stars just don't have anything left in the tank, however as a devout follower of The Big Ticket and The Truth I can't help but think that maybe it's something else.

        If I had to put my finger on it, which I'm totally about to do, I'd say its a coaching problem. Now I don't want to sound like one of those irrational fans who have been calling for Jason Kidd's head the last few weeks but after watching the team play I have certain concerns about his ability to lead. The Nets have the third worst defensive rating in the NBA and are ranked 19th in offensive efficiency. For reference championship basketball is not won with these types of numbers and when you have a defensive savant in KG and two scoring machines in The Truth and Iso-Joe, but still seem to be in the bottom tier of these categories, something is going terribly wrong. Yes it's true, chemistry is not built overnight, although if you watched the 2007-08 Boston team you might think again, but you would think these guys would have started to mesh by now. If you ever find yourself in the unfortunate position of watching a Nets game this season try not to cringe at the slow, random rotations of the defense or the confusing, assist less isolation plays that seem to occur on the offense. When you take all of this into consideration one thing becomes apparent. Jason Kidd has no idea what in the hell he's doing, and after a basically fired assistant coach, player only meetings, crappy rotations, a court walk off, and some spilled soda, this fact is becoming more apparent. Kidd was quoted recently saying that his team was not putting forth a legitimate effort, which for anyone who knows anything about KG knows that's a load of crap. This is sounding like a desperate attempt to push the blame onto someone else when in fact it is the fault of the head coach.

       I have no doubt that Jason Kidd can be a head coach someday, however he needs to spend some time as an assistant and work his way up to it. It makes no sense that they would assign a rookie coach to a veteran team with only a one or two year window to win a championship. My advice, call up the rich Russian owner, have him break out his pocketbook one last time and bring in Lionel Hollins. Hollins is a defensive minded coach who ran a team with a very similar structure in Memphis. If they do that, they may be able to scrap this season and turn themselves into a contending team.