Monday, April 05, 2004
HoopsHype claims Phil Jackson is this year's NBA Coach of the Year. Stop the madness, people. The Coach of the Year is Hubie Brown. I made the case with this Flyer column and Robert Ducklo adds more evidence with this Hoops World column. Runners-up: Jerry Sloan -- Has the Jazz set to equal last year's pace sans StocktonToMalone and with Matt Harpring missing most of the year. Rick Carlisle -- Has a heretofore underachieving Pacers team atop the league despite some really questionable point-guard play. Stan Van Gundy -- Recovered from an 0-7 start to lead his injury-plagued, centerless team to a possible winning record and possible home-court in the 1st round.
My picks for the rest of the awards:
MVP: Kevin Garnett. This should be unanimous. Runners-up: Peja Stojakovic -- Whose game took a noticeable leap and who was the best player on the best team for most of the season. Tim Duncan -- Numbers down and a little banged up, but has San Antonio ready for another title push. Jermaine O'Neal -- Best player on the East's best team and gets it done at both ends of the floor.
Rookie: Lebron James. Flat-out better than Carmelo, coming straight out of high school, and asked to do more. Runners-up: Carmelo Anthony -- Has been much better than I expected. Kirk Hinrich -- Might be a Top 10 point guard by next season and is a cornerstone of my rebuilding fantasy team. Dwayne Wade -- Who I think may be better than Carmelo in the long-run, if he can stay healthy.
Most Improved: James Posey. This award is a pet peeve of mine, as it tends to go to second-year players making natural and expected improvements or, as John Hollinger illustrates, to players who aren't playing much better than they have before but are only getting more minutes. So, Michael Redd or Zach Randolph will win the award, but if you want to see a player who has actually improved, take a look at James Posey. After shooting only 40 percent from the floor and 31 percent from three-point range for his career, the 27-year-old, five-year vet has shot 47 percent from the floor and 37 percent from behind the arc. He's become the second-leading scorer on a 50-win team and a legit contender for all-NBA defense. As Hubie Brown acknowledged after Posey's back-to-back 30-point games last week and I asserted a couple of months ago in this column, Posey has found a perfect role in Memphis. But he's also seized the opportunity.
Runners-Up: Rafer Alston -- Mix-tape/street-ball hero becomes a quality NBA point in year five. Carlos Arroyo -- Looked like a career scrub off the bench last year. Replaces John Stockton and Utah doesn't lose much ground. Joe Johnson -- I'd resigned myself to the belief that this slow-developing former Arkansas Razorback didn't have star potential, but he's made a huge leap since the Marbury trade.
Defensive Player: Kevin Garnett -- Leading the league in rebounding and can legitimately guard all five spots. Runners-up: Ben Wallace -- Still a beast. Andrei Kirilenko -- Inspector Gadget arms had him in the top five in both blocks and steals last time I checked. Ron Artest -- Beats out Posey as the league's most intimidating perimeter defender.
Sixth Man: Antawn Jamison -- Lots of points and a scintillating field-goal percentage off the bench. Runners-up: Al Harrington -- Maybe the third-best player on the East's best team. Bobby Jackson -- Think Sac is missing him lately? Earl Boykins -- The league's best change-up.
Executive: Kevin McHale -- In a do or die offseason, got Sprewell and Cassell without giving up much and found a boatload of bargain-basement role players -- Hassell, Madsen, Hoiberg -- who have fit in perfectly. Drafting Ndudi Ebi is looking like a mistake, though. Runners-up: Joe Dumars -- a controversial pick since passing on Carmelo was a huge risk (too soon to judge, in my opinion). Replacing Rick Carlisle with Larry Brown was a gutsy move too, but seems to be working out fine. But he gets the nod here for the trade of the year -- adding Sheed without giving up anything significant or hurting his long-range plan. Jerry West -- His best move actually came last season when he hired Hubie and he lucked out a little with the Posey signing. He may have flubbed his second straight draft. But minor deals to add Bo Outlaw, Jake Tsakalidis, and Bonzi Wells have paid off big. Kiki Vandegwehe (not gonna bother looking up the actual spelling, sorry) -- drafting Carmelo was a no-brainer, but he did a fantastic job of completing rebuilding the backcourt without breaking the bank.
My picks for the rest of the awards:
MVP: Kevin Garnett. This should be unanimous. Runners-up: Peja Stojakovic -- Whose game took a noticeable leap and who was the best player on the best team for most of the season. Tim Duncan -- Numbers down and a little banged up, but has San Antonio ready for another title push. Jermaine O'Neal -- Best player on the East's best team and gets it done at both ends of the floor.
Rookie: Lebron James. Flat-out better than Carmelo, coming straight out of high school, and asked to do more. Runners-up: Carmelo Anthony -- Has been much better than I expected. Kirk Hinrich -- Might be a Top 10 point guard by next season and is a cornerstone of my rebuilding fantasy team. Dwayne Wade -- Who I think may be better than Carmelo in the long-run, if he can stay healthy.
Most Improved: James Posey. This award is a pet peeve of mine, as it tends to go to second-year players making natural and expected improvements or, as John Hollinger illustrates, to players who aren't playing much better than they have before but are only getting more minutes. So, Michael Redd or Zach Randolph will win the award, but if you want to see a player who has actually improved, take a look at James Posey. After shooting only 40 percent from the floor and 31 percent from three-point range for his career, the 27-year-old, five-year vet has shot 47 percent from the floor and 37 percent from behind the arc. He's become the second-leading scorer on a 50-win team and a legit contender for all-NBA defense. As Hubie Brown acknowledged after Posey's back-to-back 30-point games last week and I asserted a couple of months ago in this column, Posey has found a perfect role in Memphis. But he's also seized the opportunity.
Runners-Up: Rafer Alston -- Mix-tape/street-ball hero becomes a quality NBA point in year five. Carlos Arroyo -- Looked like a career scrub off the bench last year. Replaces John Stockton and Utah doesn't lose much ground. Joe Johnson -- I'd resigned myself to the belief that this slow-developing former Arkansas Razorback didn't have star potential, but he's made a huge leap since the Marbury trade.
Defensive Player: Kevin Garnett -- Leading the league in rebounding and can legitimately guard all five spots. Runners-up: Ben Wallace -- Still a beast. Andrei Kirilenko -- Inspector Gadget arms had him in the top five in both blocks and steals last time I checked. Ron Artest -- Beats out Posey as the league's most intimidating perimeter defender.
Sixth Man: Antawn Jamison -- Lots of points and a scintillating field-goal percentage off the bench. Runners-up: Al Harrington -- Maybe the third-best player on the East's best team. Bobby Jackson -- Think Sac is missing him lately? Earl Boykins -- The league's best change-up.
Executive: Kevin McHale -- In a do or die offseason, got Sprewell and Cassell without giving up much and found a boatload of bargain-basement role players -- Hassell, Madsen, Hoiberg -- who have fit in perfectly. Drafting Ndudi Ebi is looking like a mistake, though. Runners-up: Joe Dumars -- a controversial pick since passing on Carmelo was a huge risk (too soon to judge, in my opinion). Replacing Rick Carlisle with Larry Brown was a gutsy move too, but seems to be working out fine. But he gets the nod here for the trade of the year -- adding Sheed without giving up anything significant or hurting his long-range plan. Jerry West -- His best move actually came last season when he hired Hubie and he lucked out a little with the Posey signing. He may have flubbed his second straight draft. But minor deals to add Bo Outlaw, Jake Tsakalidis, and Bonzi Wells have paid off big. Kiki Vandegwehe (not gonna bother looking up the actual spelling, sorry) -- drafting Carmelo was a no-brainer, but he did a fantastic job of completing rebuilding the backcourt without breaking the bank.
Saturday, April 03, 2004
Long time, no blog. This is the most horrifying thing I've seen lately that can't be directly linked to the Bush administration, though I haven't been able to verify it. I was pretty disappointed by his solo album, but Satellite Rides is one of my very favorite albums of the last few years and it was such a pleasure to see the whole band playing together at SXSW. (Though now that I think about, Joanna and I did think Miller looked a little creepy that day.)
Then again, this looks pretty bad too. Saw the trailer for this today for about the fourth time. I'm guessing Boondocks will get about two months worth of material out of it.
Then again, this looks pretty bad too. Saw the trailer for this today for about the fourth time. I'm guessing Boondocks will get about two months worth of material out of it.
