Author: whodeanny

All-NBA Teams for 2009-10

First Team

G Dwyane Wade

G Kobe Bryant

F LeBron James

F Kevin Durant

C Dwight Howard

These selections feel pretty obvious to me. I should note that, for all three teams, I list the players in rank order within position. D-Wade was the first guard on my team while Kobe was the second and so on.

Second Team

G Steve Nash

G Deron Williams

F Dirk Nowitzki

F Amare Stoudemire

C Andrew Bogut

Nash and Williams or Williams and Nash. They were clearly the third and fourth best guards in the league this year. The last game of the year ultimately determined my order for them.

Believe it or not, I almost feel badly for Dirk Nowitzki. Sure he’s won an MVP and is the NBA’s best European player ever but he’ll probably end his career as a top 50 all time player with only 1 or 2 First Team All-NBA selections. As great as he’s been (again) this year, he not only doesn’t make first team this year, but he could have easily fallen behind Amaré and Carmelo. The Mavs finished ahead of the Suns and although Dallas has more team talent, Dirk gets credit for being the only top level guy on his team. Amaré and Carmelo both have dynamic point guards who score well and require lots of defensive attention from opponents. So narrowly, I have Dirk, Amaré then Carmelo.  

As I mentioned yesterday, Andrew Bogut has had a sensational season and clearly deserves this second team nod. At this time last year, I anticipated this slot being filled by Andrew Bynum, Yao Ming, Greg Oden or Andrea Bargnani. I’d given up on Bogut being more than a serviceable center but I was absolutely wrong.

Third Team

G Joe Johnson

G Brandon Roy

F Carmelo Anthony

F Zach Randolph

C Brook Lopez

Johnson and Roy are similar players with similar teams. Johnson gets the nod due to his better health and Atlanta’s team success. Next year may be the season when Roy leaps ahead of him but since Chris Paul will likely be healthy, third team may be B-Roy’s level for the next couple years.

Carmelo was an easy choice here but Z-Bo was not. Lots of folks will probably pillory this choice but virtually all his numbers are in line with the other candidates and he did this great work on a radically transformed team with other scoring happy guys. Randolph kept the Grizzlies in playoff contention even though most of us thought they’d be lucky to win 30 games. And maybe the most amazing thing of all; Zach Randolph made his teammates better. The other four starters for Memphis all did more than could have been expected this year with Z-Bo as the anchor, lightning rod and leader.

Brook Lopez is the center choice for me. Al Horford got the All-Star nod but didn’t deserve it and David Lee put up nice numbers but in a system and environment conducive to great stats, didn’t deliver those. Let’s just put it this way: Wouldn’t you trade David Lee if you could get Brook Lopez, right now?

Honorable Mention (next 10 regardless of position)

Carlos Boozer    Tim Duncan     Chauncey Billups   Paul Pierce   Rajon Rondo  Pau Gasol     Chris Bosh    Danny Granger     David Lee     Chris  Paul   

Out of these ten guys are 8 forwards (Lee is only a center because the Knicks’ legit centers are atrocious.) which means they get squeezed out. Were Duncan willing to be labeled a center (which he really has been since David Robinson retired) he would have been second team. The other guys will have to settle for All-Star games. Rondo has a chance at making All-NBA next year if his mid-range game improves and CP3 may combine with Darren Collison to form the best backcourt in the league next year. Even if Collison regresses some, as long as Paul is healthy he should battle Wade and Bryant for 1st team honors.

FDO

NBA Awards 2009-10 Part 1

NBA’s Best in 2009-10

 

All 82 games matter so I never finalize my awards predictions until the season ends. This year, the only drama for me was between #2 and 3 on my MVP list. I don’t think I would have changed my choice had the Magic and Lakers tied for the second best record in the league but that distinction is pretty important.  

 

 

Part 1

 

MVP

 

1. LeBron James

2. Dwight Howard

3. Kevin Durant

 

LeBron is a clear winner. He’s the best offensive player, one of the best 15 or so defensive players and the catalyst for the best team in the league. Right now, LeBron is the only basketball player in the world that can do everything very well.

 

Dwight Howard edges Kevin Durant by a small margin for me. Durant is my favorite player to watch on the offensive end of the court and Howard my favorite defender. The substitution test says Durant should finish 2nd here. (Imagine replacing each guy with an average player at his position then consider what the team would do.) Durant’s Thunder would be in the 35 win range while Howard’s Magic would still be well above .500. This year, though, the substitution test would fail to acknowledge that the Magic have had important players in and out of the lineup all year but have never really faltered. That’s almost entirely due to Howard. He’s been the constant force that’s maintained some offensive continuity and transformed a group of poor individual defenders into a top tier defensive unit. Durant’s made impressive strides defensively but he’s (at best) the Thunder’s fourth best defender and that difference plus Orlando’s second best record status pushes Howard past Durant by a nose. 

 

 

Rookie of the Year

 

1. Tyreke Evans

2. Brandon Jennings

3. Stephen Curry

 

This is a classic multi-player race reminiscent of MVP races in ’73 and ’90. In the end, Evans’ raw numbers are so extraordinary I believe I would have to search for reasons NOT to give him the nod. As reported widely, he’s joined Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan and LeBron James as the only rookies to average 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Perhaps more amazing is taking a moment to consider the rookies who didn’t meet those marks. We’re talking about the most versatile guys in history, players like Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Rick Barry, Julius Erving, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Grant Hill and Tim Duncan. NONE of those guys did what Tyreke Evans has done. It’s gotta be Evans.

 

In most years, Brandon Jennings would be an easy choice for this award. 55 points in a single game and quarterbacking a basement dweller to the playoffs without their only star player? Jennings’ campaign began and ended in truly spectacular fashion. However a dip in his play during the middle portion of the season provides some justification for pulling him down to second. Second to Tyreke Evans is still a remarkable accomplishment, clearly validating Jennings’ experiment to Italy.

 

Third on my list is the guy many are predicting to be the best in this rookie class and perhaps an all-time great, Stephen Curry. Curry had a slower start than the meteors above him but is already being considered for next year’s All-Star Game. Curry can pass, shoot, score, rebound and defend at a high rate and excelled in the midst of an amazingly dysfunctional situation. The area where Curry’s NBA pedigree serves him best though is his decision making. On a super high volume offensive team, he still managed to create a nice balance of shooting and passing. His backcourt mate, Monta Ellis, was at his very best late in the year when he began mimicking Curry’s efforts to share the rock.  Not to slight, Ellis but because Curry and Evans do so many different things well it’s already become a pipe dream of mine to watch those two play in the same backcourt for a season. ASGs just won’t be enough!

 

FDO

 

Part 2 is next!

NBA Awards 2009-10 Part 2

NBA’s Best in 2009-10

 

Part 2

 

Defensive Player of the Year

 

1. Dwight Howard

2. Josh Smith

3. Rajon Rondo

 

Another easy award. Howard dominates the paint like no player since Hakeem Olajuwon. (No, Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace were not in the same class.) While some folks are suggesting that LeBron may be in the midst of a string of MVP awards, his competition is closer to him than Howard’s is for DPY.

 

Josh Smith is getting lots of attention this year for his improved offensive efficiency but he’s improved even more defensively. As good as Atlanta has become, their lack of size at the center position is still a defensive weakness and neither Al Horford nor Zaza Pachulia does much to discourage penetrators from getting to the rim. That’s where J-Smoove comes in to play. His wingspan, hops and aggressiveness improve the Hawks’ interior defense immensely. As a face up defender, he’s done a stellar job against the amazing variety of power forwards in the league despite giving up inches to most. Being a 4 man who can switch out onto quick, short guards, also helps protect the Hawks’ defensively challenged point guard crew.

 

Rondo has regressed just a little bit this season as his offensive responsibilities have grown but he’s still clearly the best defensive guard in the league. To be fair to Rondo, not only has he done more offensively but with Kevin Garnett’s continuing physical ailments, Rondo’s taken the defensive reins as well. On a team with 3 future Hall of Famers, Rondo was the best and most indispensible Celtic this year.

 

Most Improved Player

 

1. Andrew Bogut

2. Rajon Rondo

3. Aaron Brooks

 

Bogut wins this award for me because he took the greatest leap of any non-star. (Durant’s improvement was the most in the league this year but his potential was so evident as to minimize my level of surprise. Besides, this isn’t the award he wants to win.) Bogut became the main cog on a playoff team that surpassed all expectations. Not only did Bogut score better, but he became a real force defensively. With a rookie point guard and new coach, Bogut moved in one season out of the Top Pick Bust bin into All-NBA consideration.

 

As I mentioned before, Rondo elevated his game tremendously this season. Every element of his game has improved and next year Rondo has a legit chance to be an All-NBA performer.

 

Aaron Brooks has surprised me for the entire year. I kept expecting him to fall apart at some point doing the season and it never happened. I thought he’d struggle because of the stellar West point guards, then I thought Kevin Martin’s acquisition would push Brooks to the periphery, then I expected he’d fall apart from overwork during the Rockets’ playoff push. Instead, Brooks has matured and improved enough that he appears to be Houston’s long-term successor to Stevie Franchise.

 

Coach of the Year

 

1. Scott Skiles

2. Alvin Gentry
3. Scott Brooks

 

Most folks think this is the Scott Squared show but Alvin Gentry’s Suns are just as much a surprise as the Thunder. After considering last year’s directions and the talent on the two rosters encourages me to slide Gentry just ahead of Scotty Brooks. These Western squads are both tremendous stories but Scott Skiles’ Bucks are preposterous! I pegged the Bucks to win around 30 games this year but instead they won 46 and would have had a real chance at winning a playoff series had Bogut not been injured. Skiles makes this a rare, easy selection in this category.

 

 

FDO

 

Remix America

I wrote this poem a couple years ago and a NY Times article today encouraged me to post it. I love the phrase and the sentiment behind it.

Remix America

 

 

Mestizo mulatto hyphenated hybrid

Mixed up creole cultural mélange of meaning

As who we are and what we used to be pale
next to tomorrow’s endless postmodern possibilities of

Perpetual people driven progress

 

All the ‘I’s and ‘US’s can become ‘They’s and ‘We’s sooner than YouTube presents the next

Macaca spewing hate monger would be divider

Who unites us in disdain

For his antiquated rhetoric of race,

Religion and righteousness

The 3 Rs that used to keep the South backwards,

Black folks scared and the rarely compassionate conservatives

entrenched in their oh so corrupting power

 

The beauty of the remix

And the America it is frenetically remaking

Is that all the little boxes

Will mean the very same thing in the end

 

More empty spaces we can fill

Exactly as we choose

 

© Gayle Force Press 2008

Obama’s Best Weekend Ever

Well, at least since his inauguration.

Not only is the world still buzzing about healthcare reform passing but now he's achieved the most substantial nuclear arms reduction in the last couple decades AND gained the country around $8 billion through the Citigroup bailout. Kudos, Mr. President. Let's hope this roll continues!

 

 

FDO

Health Care as Law

This isn't perfect or close to it but it's the kind of first step we need. My parents were lucky to have good health care when my mom developed breast cancer. They got good care and were able to keep their house. Millions more over the years have not been as lucky as they were. Now, they don't have to count on being lucky in terms of where they work; now they can count on the luck of being American.

Watching the signing ceremony on tv was enjoyable personally and politically. What a nice day to be home from work…

FDO

Health Care and Hate- Part 2

I love this phrase from Rep. Cleaver's statement after being spit upon, "Our nation has a history of struggling each time we expand rights."

I think that's exactly true and part of the reason I still feel hopeful. Despite the ups and downs, the pattern remains clear: Americans GAIN rights over time. The right to health care is another in a long line. The same is true for gay marriage. 5 years ago there's no chance gay people in DC could be married. 5 years from now, I think gay marriage will be legal in 15 or 20 states. We're going the right way, it's just damn hard to get there sometimes.

FDO