Good stuff from Hollinger, as usual. http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=PERDiem-110411 Rookie of the year: 1. Blake Griffin 2. Greg Monroe 3. John Wall Rookie of the year (announcer: Matt Harpring Harpring, who played for the Jazz for seven seasons, was a revelation in his new career behind the mike, offering clear, concise explanations and shunning the rah-rah stuff that affects too many local-market announcers. Harpring showed a rare ability to point out the home team's mistakes without sounding critical, and because he played in this system he could point out exactly when and where the mistakes were being made. About the only downside for Utah fans is that Harpring has been so good, it may not be long before the national broadcasters pluck him away. Coach of the year: 1. Tom Thibodeau 2. George Karl 3. Gregg Popovich 6th Man of the year: 1. Lamar Odom 2. Thadeus Young 3. James Harden Most Improved Player: 1. Darrell Arthuer 2. Derrick Rose 3. Kevin Love Cruel World Award: Houston Rockets Houston will end up someplace between 42 and 44 wins and miss the playoffs, which is doubly cruel because Yao Ming played only five games and the Rockets were one of the league's best 12 teams anyway (see the Power Rankings) -- and because this keeps happening to the Rockets. Believe it or not, this is the fourth time in 11 years that Houston has won 42 games or more and missed the playoffs entirely. Alas, the Rockets dropped a lot of close games early in the season and played in the wrong conference; the fact that they're better than four playoff teams in the East will be of little solace when they watch the Hawks, Knicks, 76ers and Pacers tip off playoff series on Saturday. Defensive player of the year: 1. Dwight Howard 2. Kevin Garnett 3. Tony Allen Most valuable player: 1. Dwight Howard 2. LeBron James (tied) 2. Dwyane Wade (tied) 4. Derrick Rose 5. Kobe Bryant 6. Dirk Nowitzki Exec of the year: 1. Gar Forman and John Paxson, Bulls 2. Masai Ujiri, Nuggets 3. Pat Riley, Heat Trade of the year The Carmelo Anthony Deal My one misgiving about not voting for Ujiri above is that the Nuggets had a deal basically forced upon them at gunpoint and somehow emerged with a total victory. Starting from the position that they'd have to trade Anthony, Denver's brilliant poker ploy with New Jersey rattled the Knicks enough that New York gave the Nuggets more than they could have reasonably expected. Denver is now under the luxury tax and has an amazingly strong cap situation for the post-lockout labor agreement; only center Nene, a potential free agent, is expected to make more than $7.5 million next season. They have six good perimeter players age 26 or younger; they have a bunch of future draft picks; and, ironically, they're in position to make exactly the kind of red-chips-for-a-blue-chip deal the Knicks thought they were making with the Anthony trade. Free agent of the year Tony Allen, Grizzlies Because it's so far off the national radar, I don't think people outside Memphis have fully grasped the importance of the Tony Allen Experience this year. Allen began the year getting DNPs and is now a cult hero there; he's one of the unique players in the league in terms of leaving his stamp on the game because he's so hyperaggressive at both ends of the court. In doing so, he's helped change the mentality of a Memphis team that couldn't have cared less about defense a year ago but now is a top-10 defensive squad. More importantly, he's changed the mentality of a city that couldn't have cared less about its basketball team and is now charged up about a return to the playoffs. The amazing part? It cost Memphis just $9.4 million over three years. In a summer when countless ridiculous contracts were handed out to players who haven't been one-tenth as good (the Phoenix Suns alone gave out more than five times as much -- $50 million -- to Josh Childress and Hakim Warrick, neither of whom plays), Allen's acquisition has proved to be an absolute Brink's Job.
More from article: [rquoter] ... And at No. 4? Derrick Rose, who moved himself up two spots on my list with a strong final week, continuing his penchant for blowing up in national TV games and precipitating an avalanche of tweets in my direction from his MVP supporters. Of course, these games don't count extra in the standings -- and looking at the 82-game body of work, the three Floridians still have him trumped. I'll throw in two side points that may interest only me, but what the heck. First, as near as I can tell, Rose has not spent a single second campaigning for this award, which I haven't seen anyone write about but which is a pretty remarkable display of maturity for a 22-year-old. Second, presuming he does win, I would not consider it a mistake on par with the Allen Iverson vote in 2002 or the second Steve Nash win in 2006. It would be more similar to Nash's win in 2005 -- a down year for MVP candidates overall, allowing the figurehead player on an emergent 60-win team to ride a wave of momentum. It may look a little weird a couple of years down the road, because it's unlikely to be Rose's best season, but it could easily be his only MVP award. Further, I can't say I'm encouraged by the way we ended up here. But in the big picture, there have been far worse votes than this one. [/rquoter]
dhoward most valuable? 1) 8th best team in the league 2) worst team record than last year 3) low ft pct renders him a risk at closing minutes of a close game 4) sat out multiple games for petty reasons stats for the FAIL
More from article: [rquoter] Second and third place on the ballot go to Detroit's Greg Monroe and Washington's John Wall, respectively. While Monroe doesn't have anywhere near as much upside as Wall, he was better as a rookie thanks in equal parts to Wall's injuries and Monroe's quietly excellent second half. The Detroit big man averaged 14.2 points and 9.9 boards after the break on 58.7 percent shooting; more amazingly, he averaged nearly two steals a game from the center position.[/rquoter]
I like Hollinger but I'm beginning to get the impression that he likes to swim against the current of common sense, in spite of it.
His choice for ROTY, COTY, 6th man of the year, and DPOY are all the front-running candidates, I think. My impression is that he's less swayed by the current of hype and media popularity because his opinions tend to be more grounded in facts. Not that I agree with all of his choices, but its good to read things from a slightly different perspective every once and a while, isn't it?
1. His teammates suck. 2. His teammates suck. 3. Guess Shaq shouldn't have gotten those MVPs either 4. NBA's being pissy about the technicals. It was only 2 games anyways. Howard's my MVP. Rose is second, than Dirk, and then LeDouche. But who the heck is Darrel Arthur? I know he's a Grizz, but that's it.
D. Arthur as MIP... really? Seems to me like Hollinger is desperately trying to push PER upon the basketball community, and doing anything within his power to make that statistic relevant.
Yes those I agree (not too sure about Lamar), but I find mind boggling choosing Darrel Arthur as MIP, that and the super-friends over D Rose (I understand and respect his long campaigning for Dwight Howard).
1. based on this year's stats while playing with DH or career stats? 2. based on this year's stats while playing with DH or career stats? did watch the last bulls vs magic game? offensively and defensively, richardson >>> bogans defensively, bass > boozer playmaking, turkeyglue > deng
From article ... [rquoter] I wrote extensively about this already, so I'll keep it brief here. Arthur has no chance of winning this award in real life, since even the most hard-core fans are only dimly aware of his existence, but he's improved more than anyone else in basketball. Unplayable a year ago, he's honed a reliable face-up jumper and vastly improved his team defense, and as a result has become a vital cog in the Memphis frontcourt rotation. Second place goes to Derrick Rose of Chicago; as you may have heard, he's had a pretty good season. An improved jumper, more free throw attempts and a better defensive effort have been the primary motors, but he's improved across the board. In third I have Kevin Love of Minnesota, who is likely to win the award in real life after running away with the rebounding title.[/rquoter] Also, from his All-Improved team article: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=PERDiem-110407 [rquoter] And now it's time for my most and least favorite award … the Most Improved Player award. Least favorite because conceptually I think giving a trophy for most improved is kind of silly and random; this is the only sport that does such a thing. Most favorite, because it allows me to review all of the players who made major strides this year and give them a big pat on the back. Thus, today's piece -- my All-Improved team for 2010-11. I looked first at each player's PER difference from last season, but I considered everything -- defense, playing time, even all that touchy-feely subjective stuff. Before we get started, note that I was looking mostly at peak-to-peak improvement, as opposed to "rebound" years from players who previously had played at or near this level. So, I say to Kevin Martin, Tony Parker, Elton Brand, Ramon Sessions, Chris Andersen, Marcin Gortat. D.J. Augustin and Nick Young -- good for you for your play this season, but I'm not putting you on this team. That still leaves 16 players for me to commend for their progress, which I've neatly organized into three teams of five before getting to my award pick at the bottom. I've also put the players' PER improvement from a year ago in parentheses. ... Darrell Arthur, Memphis. (plus-5.34). Who?!?!?! OK, I know Arthur is not a household name, but he's been a big part of the Grizzlies' story this year, and a rather unexpected one at that. A year ago Memphis had the worst bench in basketball, hands down, and Arthur looked like a wasted late-first-round pick as he struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness. This season, he's been a rock-solid team defender, a money midrange jump shooter and the primary reason the Grizzlies haven't fallen apart when the second unit checks in. Arthur improved to 82.2 percent from the line after hitting 63.3 percent his first two seasons, added nearly 10 points to his TS% and six to his 40-minute scoring rate. We generally like our MIP picks to be a bit more prominent in terms of stardom, but if it's improvement you're after, this is the guy. [/rquoter]
