Backdoor Cut: NBA Regular-Season Awards

Music to listen to: We Are But Hunks of Wood (Full Album) by Little People

We’re days away from the NBA playoffs beginning which means one of the most interesting regular seasons is coming to an end and its time to give out some awards:

 

MVP:

1) Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City

2) LeBron James, Miami

3) Joakim Noah, Chicago

4) Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers

5) Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas

 

Thoughts: There have been comparisons of this MVP race to 1993 and 1997 when the media decided to not give the award to Michael Jordan and instead honored Charles Barkley and Karl Malone respectively. The sense was that people were tired of giving the award to Jordan and decided on pick someone else who was a distinguished pro and had a career year.

 

Barkley went to the Suns and immediately made them a title contender, leading the Suns to the best record in the NBA that regular season while putting up career numbers. The Bulls were attempting to win their third-consecutive title that  season and had an off regular season, by their standards. Jordan still produced his numbers but relative to previous seasons, it was a let down.

 

Malone was arguably the best power forward for the previous five seasons before he won the MVP and the Jazz finally put together a complete season that was commensurate with his performance. The Bulls were going for their second-consecutive titie and Jordan was performing at a Jordan-type level.

 

Durant’s case is different because while Barkley and Malone has strong seasons, they weren’t in comparison to the OKC forward. He’s averaged 32 points, seven rebounds and five assists. The last player to average those numbers in a single season was Jordan in the 1990 season when he averaged 33/7/6.

 

BTW, I’ve never been a fan of comparing eras but I’d bet the farm that the 1988-90 version of Jordan playing in 2014 could average 40 points a contest.

 

Durant has also kept the Thunder among the top teams in the league despite the injuries to Russell Westbrook, lack of consistency from the supporting cast accept for Ibaka and playing in the most competitive conference we’ve seen in several seasons.

 

Furthermore, Durant will never be considered an elite defender but has made significant improvements in this area and may even surpassed James in this category which wouldn’t have seemed possible this time last season.

 

You can make an excellent argument for James because he’s dealt with the same injury issues with Dwayne Wade, an inconsistent supporting cast (I was at the Atlanta contest last week and the point guard combo of Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole would rank as a bottom-ten unit in the entire league) and the burden of being the best player in the world.

 

In the end, I think that Durant has been more consistent and valuable to the success of his team than James. Furthermore, Durant has increased his offensive responsibilities while maintaining incredible efficiency, 50 percent from the floor, 40 percent on three-pointers and nearly 90 percent from the line.

 

Noah gets third-place because the Bulls on paper shouldn’t even be a playoff team, let alone a potential Eastern conference finals team but have persevered through injury (Derrick Rose), trading top talent (Luol Deng) and significant limitations on personnel. Noah pilots one of the league’s best defenses, rebounds and has the offense run through him which as shown off a strong passing skill set as well.

 

Griffin has put together the best season of his career for a title contender. The injury to Chris Paul during the season made the Clippers rely on their star forward more and he responded.

 

Dirk gets the fifth spot because he dragged a weak Mavs team into the playoffs. Monta Ellis is playing the best ball of his career since Golden State, maybe ever. Vince Carter has been a reliable piece. Name three others Mavs on the squad.

 

All-NBA First Team:

 

F Durant

F James

C Noah

G James Harden

G Chris Paul

 

All-NBA Second Team:

 

F Griffin

F Nowitzki

C Dwight Howard

G Goran Dragic

G Stephen Curry

 

All-NBA Third Team

 

F Paul George

F Kevin Love

C Al Jefferson

G Tony Parker

G Damian Lillard

 

Thoughts: Durant, James, Griffin and Noah are slotted where they need to be along with Harden, who would have earned sixth in my ballot. I don’t distinguish spots within the forward or guard spot, meaning that a team can have looks such as two shooting guards or two power forwards.

 

I really wanted to put Curry in the first team and mark down Paul for missing nearly 20 games this year for the Clippers. However, Paul has been the better of the two this season, especially on the defensive end, and on a winning squad.

 

Dragic not only made the top-ten on my MVP ballot, he pushed for a top-five spot. Some may want George on the second team ahead of Nowitzki but the Pacers’ overall regression the past two months has left a negative mark on my voting.

 

Kevin Love put up another impressive statistical season even though he’ll continue to have the distinction of never having a winning record to end a campaign. Jefferson has revived the Bobcats to a playoff position (I know its the East but making the postseason is still an accomplishment).

 

Finally, the Spurs deserve to have someone on the teams but with their player rotation and system, no one sticks out individually for a high-level player award like MVP. I picked Parker because he’s been the most consistent performer on the team with the best record in the NBA.

 

Coach of the year:

 

1) Gregg Popovich, San Antonio

2) Jeff Hornacek, Phoenix

3) Rick Carlisle, Dallas

4) Tom Thibodeau, Chicago

5) Doc Rivers, Los Angeles Clippers

 

Thoughts: The Spurs have the best record in the league and this may have been Popovich’s best regular season during his Hall of Fame-bound career. He’s taken advantage of the deepest roster in the league and done a masterful job of developing a nearly flawless player rotation. The league has gotten smaller and faster with athletic wings and guards who you hope can penetrate to the basket leading to open three-pointer opportunities. The Spurs are running a clinic of this style of play.

 

The coach that may have maximized the talent of his roster to its maximum the most this season may be Hornacek who somehow got the Suns within reach of the playoffs going into the last week of the season. The evolution of Dragic, improvement of Channing Frye, revival of Gerald Green, deployment of Markieff Morris all has ties to coaching.

 

Carlisle actually dragged the Mavs into the playoffs and he may deserve being in the top-three for getting a complete season from Ellis. I’ve seen about ten Bulls games this season in completion and still don’t know how they’re producing wins. An elite defense and ever-evolving offense to match the shorthanded personnel on that end of the floor does that for you.

 

Other awards:

 

Defensive Player of the Year: Noah

Rookie of the Year: Victor Oladipo, Orlando

Most improved: Dragic

 

We’ll give out more awards next week so no worries if you’re a Bucks, Knicks, Sixers, Jazz or any other downtrodden franchise. Your time will come on The Sports Inquirer.