NBA Preview FAQ

Have you ever had one of those sports weekends, where at least three of your teams play and they all lose? Were they important games? No, that hasn’t happened to you?

Well, then you can take solace in my pain, as I just encountered the worst sports weekend ever.

To recap:

1. My beloved Northwestern Wildcats held a 17-0 lead over undefeated Michigan State at home, on homecoming. It was glorious, especially considering there is no team I hate more in the Big 10 than Michigan State (which makes turning their cheer “Go Green, Go White” into the highly offensive “Can’t Read, Can’t write” even sweeter). But a fumble at the goaline, a crazy fourth and 11 conversion on a fake punt by Michigan State, and Northwestern QB Dan Persa (who didn’t have a game where he completed less than 73% of his passes until Saturday) doing his best (it pains me to say) Donovan McNabb impression on our two last drives, and all of a sudden the ‘Cats lost 35-27. And yes, it seemed like it happened that fast.

2. Ryan Howard, for the love of God, swing the bat.

3. The Eagles secondary decided to make Kenny Brit look like a cross of Jerry Rice and Randy Moss, Kevin Kolb decided he didn’t want a quarterback controversy and Kerry Collins lead the Titans to a blowout victory (seriously though, Kerry Collins? The only reason he’s still in the league is because he needed one more paycheck. And you lose? Pathetic).

What is the point of me telling you this story. Well because you are my six loyal readers and I needed someone to vent to. Oh, and that I couldn’t be more ready to get into the most compelling NBA season ever. I need something to take my mind off of the horrendous end to the Phillies, Northwestern and Kolb seasons. I now realize that it’s more fun to watch sports when don’t have a team, or as it’s more commonly known, being a 76ers fan.

Will the Axis of Evil reign supreme?

It’s time for the Frequently Asked Questions.

Is there any reason to optimistic about the Sixers this season?
To answer this with a question: Would you be optimistic about a team with the worst frontline since the Puerto Rican national team, a second overall pick who has yet to show any discernable skills yet, a “best player” who was the 16th option on offense at the FIBA World Championships, a coach who hasn’t been to the playoffs since 1997, and Elton Brand still collecting eight-figure pay checks?

Most of these things we already knew: Marressee Speights is the Sixers best big man, Andre Iguodala is a third banana on any half-decent team, Doug Collins is not the long term solution at coach and Elton Brand is the basketball equivalent of Jason Peters.

But the major issue comes with Evan Turner, the second pick who was considered a sure thing. I want to avoid being the typical Philly fan who overreacts to every misstep and calls for everyone’s firing and benching at the first sign of trouble….but: 1. Turner was horrendous in summer league. There is no other way to put it. 2. His preseason line is as follows: 29 MPG, 7.7 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 3.7 APG, 2.2 TO, 31%. The only reason this is remotely concerning is 3. DeMarcus Cousins’ preseason line: 25 MPG, 14.3 PPG, 8 RPG with 3 offensive boards per, on 40% shooting.

The day of the draft lottery, when the Sixers secured the second overall pick, I was double rainbow happy, knowing that Evan Turner was waiting in the wings. Minutes before the draft started, I was making statements that Cousins’ would be the best player to come out of the draft this year, barring any future admittance to the insane asylum.

A lot of it has to do with Cousins: when is the last time you saw a rookie big man with his footwork, rebounding prowess and touch around the rim? But then there’s also Turner, who as I started re-watching some of his play, looked a step too slow to be an NBA swingman, has no range three-point range whatsoever (he’s attempted no threes in the preseason while Cousins is 3-4 from distance), was turnover prone and can only play with the ball in his hands.

I am now legitimately afraid of how Cousins may haunt our franchise. If he doesn’t go Sprewell on Paul Westphal, I am convinced that he will be a 22-13 guy in three years as he and Tyreke Evans battle Kevin Durant for the Western Conference crown. I’m going to have nightmares about his drop-steps as Turner throws up mediocre 13, 5 and 5’s for the next few years.

I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

What’s the most underrated story going into the season?
It might be just me, but Allen Iverson having to sign in Turkey is the most depressing basketball story I’ve heard since MJ decided to return with the Wizards.

Does anyone remember that it was Iverson that bridged the gap between Jordan’s first retirement or that he was the most popular player, by far, before Kobe’s resurgence post-Colorado, or that he was the only reason almost everyone you knew had Reebok’s, or that he was one of the top 5 unique players ever, or that he was the most fearless player ever, or that he was the fastest with the ball in his hands than any player ever?

Now he has to go to Turkey and play against ‘C’ competition for one last pay check? I feel like my childhood was a lie.

Can Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder live up to expectations?
Kevin Durant is expected to be somewhere between Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Mother Theresa and Abraham Lincoln. So, yes.

But in all seriousness, there is so much expected of the Thunder and Durant in particular, it’s almost impossible for them to meet expectations (a lot of people have them second in the West and those really concerned about Kobe’s knee have them in the Finals). But still, if you temper expectations, just reasonably, you will see that the Thunder and Durant have an unbelievably bright future.

The things they have in their favor: Durant and Russell Westbrook were the two best players on Team USA in the summer, hands down, Scotty Brooks is a really good coach, Sam Presti is smarter than your GM, and Serge Ibaka is better than you think.

Things not in their favor: They are really young dealing with expectations for the first time (usually ends poorly), Jeff Green, Thabo Sefalosha’s offense, and every big man not named Serge Ibaka.

I think they have more things in their favor than not, the only thing really concerning me is the lofty expectations. But Kevin Durant will finish in the top 2 in MVP voting again, probably lead the league in scoring and throw up crazy silly numbers. The Thunder will be in the top half of the Western Conference, win 50+ games, Westbrook will breakout even more than he did last year and get at least to the second round of the playoffs. Just remember that their best players are all under 25. Let’s not get carried away too quickly.

But we still need to be legitimately concerned about the expectations and pressures we put on Durant. We just got done witnessing LeBron not be who we wanted him to be (more on this later) this summer, not to mention the way we’ve torn down Kobe, Iverson, Bonds, Tiger among countless other athletes for all different reasons. I think we need to realize that athletes can’t always be what we want them to be. Durant might be super humble, loyal and respectful, but then again he might not. We’ve thought these things before. So while it’s great that we ascribe all the behaviors to him that we all love, including me, we need to remember that’s he’s human and going to make mistakes. We just need to accept Durant and every other athlete for exactly what they are: tremendous athletes and that’s pretty much it.

Which Western Conference teams are the biggest threat to the Lakers?
I think it’s a two team race between the aforementioned Thunder and Utah Jazz (though I think the Spurs might possibly, maybe have one last gasp in them if Tiago Splitter is good) especially since the Suns decided not to resign Amare and instead use that money to create TSFF (Terrible Small Forwards Fund).

The Jazz had the best offseason of them all (so good, I could Whip My Hair to it), getting the biggest heists PG (Post-Gasol) in stealing Al Jefferson for two late first round picks. Now they have the size to compete with the Lakers up front (Boozer killed them last year. He just couldn’t get his shot off against the length) and they still have the second or third or fourth best point guard in Deron Williams (because Chris Paul is unequivocally, beyond a shadow of a doubt, Simply Lemonade vs. Tropicana better and D-Rose and Rajon Rondo are closing fast), and a great coach in Jerry Sloan. I like the Jazz.

Who’s the Sleeper Team?
Hell is about to freeze over in three…two…one: the Los Angeles Clippers.

Obviously, they are the worst franchise in professional sports, and a lot of things can be said about Donald Sterling (which I will now proceed to say: he’s a dirty cheapskate racist who doesn’t remotely care about his product) but that doesn’t change the fact that there is still a lot to like about the Clip Show.
Blake Griffin is already one of the top 5 power forwards in the league (in order Pau Gasol, Amare, Dirk, Bosh and Griffin), Eric Gordon was the third best player this summer on Team USA (for reference Danny Granger, Chauncey Billups and Tyson Chandler were tied for the worst), Chris Kaman is an all-star and Mike Dunleavy is no longer the coach, making for an infinite improvement in that department even though I couldn’t tell you who his replacement is.

What’s stopping the Clippers from winning 45ish games and making the playoffs in a down Western Conference? Well their curse that will probably lead to Blake Griffin going Shaun Livingston on us or Baron Davis deciding to show up looking he did last year, where he weighed 15 pounds less than Shaq at the start of the season.

Still, with Houston not quite there, the Suns conjuring memories of the 05-06 Knicks with all their swingman, the Nuggets in limbo with Carmelo (Denver has no choice but to trade him. Get whatever they can and move on. The last thing they need is him on national television saying “I’ve decided to take my talents to Midtown”) and the Trailblazers having chemistry problems, the bottom two spots are definitely up for grabs. If the Clippers hand the keys to Gordon and Griffin, they should snag it.

How do the playoffs shake out in each conference?
For the west, in order: Lakers, Jazz, Thunder, Mavs, Spurs, Blazers, Clippers, Nuggets (if they keep Carmelo) or Hornets.

For the east, in order: Heat, Magic, Celtics, Bulls, Bucks, Hawks, Knicks and Wizards (by the way, I expect the Wizards and Knicks to win about 35 games each. The East is that bad).

If you’re the Lakers, how concerned are you?
I’ve been saying for years that eventually, the Lakers will have a 3-5 year stretch of continual lottery appearances (and what a glorious stretch that will be) and the way Kobe has looked so far, that time is moving mighty close.

However, it’s not quite here. If the Lakers and more specifically Kobe are smart about minutes, numbers etc, hands the keys to Gasol for the regular season and he rests consistently throughout the season, kind of the way Gregg Popovich handles Duncan or Doc Rivers handles his old guys, then Kobe should have just enough juice to get back to the Finals in a weaker West and put up one more 6-24 in Game 7.

The issue lies in the years beyond that. Kobe has officially hit the Tim Duncan circa 2009 stage of his career: he’s still good, can get his numbers but in no way, shape or form can carry his team past the second round the way we’re accustomed.

That means they will have to permanently hand the keys over to Gasol, hope Andrew Bynum can put together a full season (which is truly laughable) and find some way to get the atrocious contracts off the books (which should be easy, just put in a call to Chris Wallace).

Darker days are coming for the Lakers, but that doesn’t start until 2011.

Do the Magic, Celtics or Bulls have a chance against the Heat in the East?
Only the Celtics, if healthy, have a real shot. Last time I checked, the Magic still have Vince Carter, so in big playoff moments they play 4 on 5. The Bulls are much improved (and Derrick Rose has a beastly look about him), but don’t have the wing firepower to stay with Wade or LeBron.

Leaving only the Celtics with a real shot to stop the Axis of Evil (the name I’m giving them). Even though they’ve done their best to get the 2002 All-Stars back together (seriously, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, KG, Shaq and Jermaine O’Neal were all 2002 All-Stars), as we saw last year, they have an ace in the hole: defense.

If they can get one of the O’Neal’s to play pick and roll defense (or at the very least get Jermaine to awake from the coma he suffered in the playoffs last year), they have a shot at stopping the Heat.

The Heat don’t have anyone to matchup with Rondo, KG should be able to score on Bosh’s terrible defense and Pierce manages to give LeBron a hard time every time they play.

But you have to be concerned that Ray Allen may not have anything left, they don’t have near the athleticism to keep up in a track meet and all the years they beat Wade and LeBron, they only geared their defense to one guy, not three.

In other words, the Heat should make it to the Finals and make it pretty easily.

What about the Heat? Can it work?
The big question. Before the answer, let’s consider the factors:

1. The big offseason acquisition to complement the Axis of Evil, Mike Miller, is out for a while. It would be a big deal if his name was James, Wade or Bosh. Alas it’s not.

2. Chris Bosh has finally found his niche: open 15 jumpers created by the two best penetrators in the league. He doesn’t really have to rebound, post up or facilitate offense. His only job is to hit open looks. I maintain he’s the luckiest man in America.

3. Dwyane Wade can now only focus at what he’s really good at: finishing games. No longer does he have to worry about making sure Carlos Arroyo doesn’t blow it in the second quarter. He’s got one mentality: finish in the fourth quarter, which is scary.

4. Erik Spolestra has the most pressure on him of anyone in the organization not named LeBron. I don’t care what Pat Riley says. He’s no better than the Situation when he tries to swoop in and steal Vinny’s girl. Riles always has his eye on the job, and rumors will swirl at the first sign of trouble.

5. LeBron has a look about him that is so encouraging its scary. It was really funny when he tweeted that he was taking mental notes at the people taking shots at him but after watching the focus he’s shown in preseason, it seems like he’s serious. He finally developed a semi-post game after 4 years of people yelling at him to do so. He’s no longer loosy-goosy, taking pictures on the sideline and joking around. He’s all business. He’s Kobe on nights flying to games from Eagle, Iverson in 2001, Shaq in 2000, Jordan in 1996: on a flat out mission to shut all the doubters up. Say what you want about the decision but it has radically changed the way he operates. He’s no longer who we want him to be but exactly what he wants to be (as a really good Nike commercial with a not to veiled shot at Barkley shows). I think he’s finally got it. And all it took was him completely destroying his popularity. He could honestly throw up 22-9-11 and do it with ease.

So to answer the question, yes. I honestly hate this team with everything I got, just because of the way it came together, the way they celebrated like they already won the championship and the fact that it happened to one of the worst fan bases in sports. But this looks like it’s going to work. Everyone seems to accept their role. They are going to out athlete everyone. And it’s going to see all that talent on the floor at once will be amazing to watch.

It pains me to say but they are the best team in the league.

Who will win the major awards?
Rookie of the Year: Blake Griffin. Easiest award to pick if he stays healthy. He’s freaky even though John Wall will be really good.
Coach of the Year: Jerry Sloan. He’s just due.
Defensive Player: Dwight Howard. If he doesn’t win this award, we can stop mentioning him like he’s a top player right?
Most Improved: Jrue Holliday. The lone bright spot on a barren 76ers roster will rack up easy numbers
6th man: Jamal Crawford: He’ll win the backhanded compliment award for the second straight year
MVP: LeBron: It’s almost crazy how because of the summer, we forgot that this guy is still the best player on the planet. Just because he joined the Heat doesn’t mean that he’ll suck. He’s finally playing with good teammates. As much as I love Durant, LeBron is on a mission like he’s never been before.

Finals Pick
Miami over Lakers in 7

Game 7 will be played in Miami. The fair weather fans will decide that it’s an important enough game to go to. Kobe might shoot 5-24 in this game. Ron Artest will take that same three he made last year, only this time it will do what it’s supposed to and get sucked into Rick Ross’ fat orbit. Wade will close like he did when he won Finals MVP. LeBron’s decision will prove to be correct.

The reign of terror is set to begin.

NBA Awards

One of the many dumb things sports leagues do is give out awards that have no bearing on the postseason. The NBA, NFL and MLB all give out their MVP, coach of the year etc., before the playoffs end, or have the voting before the playoffs begin. The most important time of the year, all the leagues say, have no bearing on who wins awards.

The NBA season just ended and I’m here to fix these problems. However, I’m not going to give out the irrelevant awards like 6th man (the league’s best bench player, really?) or most improved player. And I’m not giving out MVP or coach of the year or anything like that (all the major ones should stay the same). Instead, I’m giving out my own awards for this season. But first, an aside on the NBA Finals.

The series as a collective entity was compelling: the back and forth nature, the rise of Ron Artest (he gets his own post later), the fall of Jesus Shuttlesworth, Rajon Rondo vacillating between the best point guard in the league and Jamaal Tinsley, Kobe trying so hard to be Michael Jordan that he nearly shot his team out of games and the finals (more on this later), KG’s momentary resurrections followed by immense brain farts, Shrek and Donkey, Derek Fisher becoming an ageless and clutch wonder, Phil and Doc, and that’s just off the top of the dome.

The games in an individual nature? Intense but poorly played and at times, unwatchable basketball. Game 7 was only interesting and compelling to the outside observer because of the stakes (the rivalry, the legacies on the line, the fact that it was game 7), but as a watchable basketball game, it was on par with a Knicks-Heat rugby match from the 90s. Game 3 is probably the game that has the most rewatchableness (made-up word alert), but even that’s a stretch. Nothing from this series compares with some of the classic Finals games of my lifetime like Detroit-San Antonio Game 5 in 2005, Sixers-Lakers Game 1 2001, or the pantheon of games in my lifetime, Bulls-Jazz Game 6 in 1998 (the legendary lay-up, steal, game-winning jumper 49 seconds by Jordan remains the greatest sequence in basketball history).

The Lakers flat out deserved to win. There was no officiating controversy like there usually is with LA (the refs were very good in games 5, 6 and 7, once they got over the whole “the game is about us and our whistles” thing), they overcame a 13-point deficit at home and the Celtics really gave them everything that they had until their last gasp. I am glad that I correctly picked the Lakers before the series and the season started (I have taken the liberty to ignore my midseason pick and pre-playoff Cavs pick). Enough about the Lakers, let’s get to some awards.

Nas Award

Awarded in honor of a conversation I had with Solomon Parker where we discussed whether or not Nas is an overrated rapper. We didn’t necessarily say he was overrated, but at the very least, it was time to have the discussion considering the fact that his last few albums haven’t been that great. We all know Illmatic is and will remain in the hip-hop pantheon. But as Solomon Parker and I discussed his beats are always subpar and we both thought two of his last three albums (Street’s Disciple, Untitled) left a little to be desired. Again, we aren’t saying he isn’t one of the best of all-time, just that it was worth discussion (however, let the record show that I do love Nas and still feel that he is one of the top ever: God’s Son was great and I really liked Hip Hop is Dead)

Winner: LeBron James

Again, I’m not saying that LeBron is overrated. But it’s time to have that discussion. His no-show in game 5 versus the Celtics where he (and the Cavs) quit harder than Iverson in Detroit…or Iverson in Memphis…or Iverson in Philly (damn you Iverson), was completely unacceptable. He’s still the best, most talented player in the league (for the Kobe camp who will insist that Kobe is currently the best player in the world: against the same Celtics defense in a clinching-game, Kobe went 6-24, netting 23 points and 15 rebounds including the worse half of basketball he’s ever played with Artest, Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher making ALL the plays down the stretch, while LeBron, while playing a fairly average game for him threw up a triple double with the other four Cavs on the court staring at him. So that’s that). However, we now, have a few more questions than we had before.

Last year against Orlando, LeBron was great from start to finish. He carried a team about as far as a single man could legitimately do against a very good team like last year’s Magic. This year, he never felt fully engaged in the playoffs going back to the Chicago series. It looked like he didn’t care about winning or losing. Everyone was well within their right to question his killer instinct. Everyone was well within their right to question whether or not LBJ was truly as great as we made him out to be.

My theory: he looked at his team after he went “We aren’t losing this game” mode after game 3 in Boston and realized that things were no different. Unless he’s carrying them with obscene feats of basketball ability that haven’t been seen ever, he realizes that they cannot beat any of the great teams. It also didn’t help that Mike Brown was completely oblivious to the Cavs athletic advantage up front when JJ Hickson was in the game, instead insisting that they play Shaq and Big Z, which played right into the style the Celtics wanted to play. So he takes it down a notch, plays good but not great except for game 5 when he was awful, and watches his team whither as the Celtics dare anyone not named James to make plays offensively. He was gearing himself for free agency and his eventual move to the Nets, unless the Cavs can swing a move for a legit #2 guy. Sad but probably true.

Now is LeBron overrated at this moment: I don’t think so. He doesn’t have the caliber of help superstars need to have to win right now. But that excuse can only go so far on 60 win teams. Eventually, you have to get it done at the highest level. If we are having the same discussion two years from now, he most certainly will be an evolutionary version of Iverson, Malone, Barkley, Ewing: guys who were great, but not great enough.

Billy King Award

Awarded in honor of former Sixers general manager Billy King, who during his tenure with the team had one of the greatest athletes of his generation during his best years, Allen Iverson, but felt that it was best to surround him with Matt Harpring, over-the-hill Toni Kukoc, drafting Larry Hughes over Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce, one-legged Chris Webber, small dog Glenn Robinson, Dikembe Mutombo and Keith Van Horn to be the second star. He signed Samuel Dalembert and Kyle Korver to ludicrous extensions and traded for Todd MacCulloch’s terrible contract. He thought drafting 5’10” Speedy Claxton to pair with Iverson was a good idea. He was entirely clueless as to what amounted to talent and what didn’t. King’s picture should serve as a constant reminder that most NBA GMs have absolutely no idea what they are doing.

Winner: Danny Ferry

Ferry came from the right organization (San Antonio) and seemed like the right guy to build a team around a superdupstar, considering he watched RC Buford build a four-time champion around the greatest power forward who ever walked the face of the earth, copyright Timothy Duncan. You need a little luck, some savvy veterans, excellent drafting and finding the complementary star to your superstar.

Ferry, never got any of that. He always seemed to be a step behind of what to do. Ferry never added a guy in his prime who could legitimately function as a second guy (Mo is in his prime, but he’s a number 3 guy because of his inconsistencies. Think about what the Lakers get from Odom or Bynum), never drafted an impact guy who played a major role (the Spurs drafted Parker and Ginobili and consistently draft well despite picking at the backend of the draft) and got extremely unlucky at times, especially with Jamison (at the surface, he appeared to be the right addition: a stretch four who could create his own shot off the dribble, in the post, spot up from distance and help create offense for others so LeBron wouldn’t have to carry the burden on every play. Alas, his defensive ineptitudes, lack of aggressiveness and inability to make any contributions down the stretched proved to be too much to overcome).

From the start, Ferry seemed to be building backwards. He was always trying so hard to get a team that could win today to better his chances at keeping LeBron that he lost sight of building a team. The goal should have been getting LeBron some young guys that could grow with him, take their playoff lumps together until they were finally ready to win a championship. Instead, he kept trying to hit homeruns, from the Ben Wallace/Delonte West/Wally Szcerbiak trade, to the Shaq trade and Jamison move. The best way to go about developing a young superstars team is to do what Sam Presti is doing with Kevin Durant: young talented guys that can take their lumps together and enter their primes all at the same time (Kevin Pritchard was also doing this is Portland, but Oden got hurt and now he’s apparently about to get fired, which means Ed Stefanski should also be preparing his walking papers so Pritchard can immediately step in as Sixers GM. Assuming I don’t get the job first).

Was he as terrible as Billy King? Not really but kind of. While he didn’t have the disasters that King had, he always got guys out of their prime or flat out not good enough to play with LeBron and that lands you in the same place as Billy King: the unemployment line.

Tracy McGrady Award

Awarded in honor of Tracy McGrady, who has stolen the pain of defeat from the jaws of victory more than any player in the 2000s. Whether it was when he proclaimed making it to the second round against the Pistons in 2003 after going up 3-1 before soundly losing the next three or his 10-26 stinker in game 7 versus Dallas as they got blown out, McGrady has made the simplest of tasks, making it to the second round, an exhibition in perfect choking technique.

Winner: Vince Carter

The easiest award to give out ever, narrowly surpassing Space Jam as the greatest movie ever made. Vince Carter took the Magic’s chances of going back to the Finals and setting up a rematch with the Lakers and assaulted them with a brutal fury, taking the Magic further from a championship then one of his fadeaways in the lane to avoid even the slightest of contact.

It was a mistake from the beginning to think that Vince Carter would be able to replace what Hedo Turkoglu did for the 2009 runner-up (my thoughts from last summer, ignoring the terrible sentence structure: “Where they really lose in getting Carter and losing Turkoglu is the playmaking ability that Turkoglu brought. In today’s NBA, you cannot have enough guys who can make plays for themselves and others. Carter is not a guy who can create offense for other guys. He mostly creates offense for himself, which is not a problem if they kept Turkoglu, but they didn’t. That leaves them with only one playmaker (Nelson) which isn’t a formula for championships.”). Those problems manifested themselves in the conference finals this year, where Orlando was as confused in crunch time as any team has been in recent memory.

Carter, choked as bad as anyone I can think of. He no showed 30 minutes at a time, was out played by J.J. Redick and not only did he not bring the playmaking ability of Turkoglu, but he also failed to create quality shots for himself. Point blank, when you looked in Vince carter’s eyes, all you saw was fear like a white girl suddenly falling in a horror film right in front of the villian: fear of contact, fear of missing, fear of the game. He feared the game like ABC fears black people.

So next time Vince Carter is the answer to the championship problem, you might want to rethink the question.

Man Crush Award

Awarded to the player who has stolen the heart of yours truly with a magnificent display of grace, attitude and talent. It takes a rare performance for me to truly love you (except if you Matt Forte, who before last year’s fantasy season was my bonafide pick at running back, I guy a loved unconditionally, only to be betrayed like I was Andre Rison and he was Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes. Thank goodness Aaron Rodgers came through or I was vulnerable to commit double homicide. Eff you Matt Forte). Past Winners include: Al Jefferson, Kevin Martin and Danny Granger.

Winner: (Unanimous) Kevin Durant

OK, maybe this was the easiest award selection ever. The unique correlation between each of the past winners is that I always picked them in my fantasy league the year they broke out as fantastic NBA players, further asserting my NBA fantasy dominance.

But on to Durant, a guy who could end up a top-20 player before his career is over. He has no holes in his game offensively. He can shoot from anywhere in the gym, city or state, post up, get to the rim, get to the free throw line (a skill not bestowed upon all NBA ‘superstars’ just ask Joe Johnson), and find his open teammates. He can defend and he also has the clutch gene (watch him close out Portland in Portland by abusing Nicholas Batum before the AS break, rain threes in Utah from 35-feet as he brings OKC back from 12 down with 3 minutes to play before he was robbed by an awful no-call in overtime or simply the fourth quarter of game 3 versus the Lakers). I agreed with Kenny Smith’s assessment that he will be the best player in the three to four years.

Think about it: Kobe will be at the Tim Duncan circa 2010 stage or worse, LeBron will start to lose that physical dominance and have to rely on the skill that haven’t shown many signs of development, D-Wade will be in this 30s probably at Kobe circa 2009 stage, leaving this slight little opening for Durant, who if he continues on this pace that he’s growing, could be averaging 37 ppg, 7-9 rebounds 3-5 assists, 50% shooting, 40% 3pg, 90% ft, which would have to make him the greatest player in the league.

The only thing he hasn’t done yet is learn to win. He was unable to make the necessary adjustments against Ron Artest, not playing to Artest’s weaknesses of moving laterally and always letting Artest get set on him and defend straight up. He can sometimes get to passive in crunch time, passing up opportunities to go at his guy to stay within the flow of the offense, which is fine in the second quarter but with four minutes left in playoff game, the ‘offense’ gets thrown out the window and your two best guys just make the plays.

He’s got to take his postseason lumps. Feel the despair of losing, get knocked down and out before he truly understands how to win. Dr. J and Moses Malone had to go through the Celtics and Lakers before they finally broke through in ’83. Jordan had to go through the Pistons and Celtics before he finally got it. Shaq & Kobe had to go through Utah then San Antonio before they could do it. Give Durantula four years and a serviceable center and he’ll bring Oklahoma City a championship. Having said this, somebody will run up on him Paul Pierce style and he’ll never be the same.

Resident Evil Award

Awarded in honor of the player or team that most resembles the kinda-crappy Resident Evil video games. They look like zombies, you kill them, you kill them again, you kill them again, you kill them again, and you finally think you have them beat. Until they bring another annoying, unsuspected wave that catches you just enough by surprise that they defeat you. The classic ‘never count out the heart of a veteran-laden team of champions.’

Winner: The 2009-2010 Boston Celtics

They were six minutes away from invalidating the 2009 NBA Finals, permantely damaging Kobe’s legacy as the closest Jordan imitator, making Kevin Garnett one of the greatest power forwards ever, opening a case for Paul Pierce as a top 5 player of his generation, vaulting Ray Allen to the greatest shooter in NBA history (past Reggie Miller), making Doc Rivers the greatest coach not named Jackson or Popovich in the last 15 years, Rajon Rondo the best point guard in the league, making the Ron Artest move look like a failure and me extremely happy, all while doing this after so many predicted them to lose to the lowly Heat.

Then they ran out of gas. That’s the only way you could describe it. The ferocious champion who rose from the regular season ashes (making its results utterly worthless, more on this later) didn’t have enough left in the tank to close it out. Allen didn’t have the legs to get jumpers to the rim. Rondo couldn’t get into the paint. Pierce had nothing left. Down the stretch offensively, the Celtics had nothing but a few miracle threes.

Their defense, in succession, successfully stifiled D-Wade, LBJ, the Orlando three-pointers and Kobe (and before the Kobe fans come out of the wood work, Kobe shot 40% from the field, 29% in fourth quarters and averaged 4 turnovers). Each of the elderly Big 3 had their big playoff moments: KG vs. Cleveland, Pierce against Orlando and the home games against LA, Ray Allen game 2 of the finals. Rondo took that team as far as he could. He was clearly hampered by some sort of injury from the Orlando series onward, as he never looked as explosive as he did in the Cleveland series.

But look, we need to give credit where credit is due. And the Celtics have earned their credit. They kept saying that they would be there when it counted and they were. They abused the Cavs (which caught me completely by surprise), owned the Magic and pushed the Lakers, who I thought would have a much easier time dispatching the old fellas, to seven games. There are two lessons to be learned from the Celtics.

First, chemistry matters and the way we measure chemistry should be completely different from now on. Chemistry like the Magic and Cavs had is all good during the regular season when there isn’t any adversity, the big time teams aren’t getting up for games like the playoffs and you get to face the New Jersey Nets four times a year. It’s much easier to do stupid handshakes and wacky pregame introductions when nothing goes wrong. The Celtics during the season seemed to clash, there were divisions based on Rondo’s standing on the team and everybody was looking at Rasheed like the 500 pound elephant in the room (though to be fair to ‘Sheed he was only 400 pounds). The Cavs and Magic joked around, made it seemed like they liked each other, and it looked like they had great chemistry: they didn’t. It doesn’t matter if it looks like you like each other or not, but whether or not you trust each other. LeBron may like Big Z, Shaq, Jamison, Mo and all the rest of the guys, but he certainly doesn’t trust them to make a big play in the big moment. When Pierce looks at Rondo, Shuttlesworth, KG and ‘Sheed, he may not have liked them, but he trusted them to handle their business. From now on, goofy handshakes don’t mean chemistry. The willingness to let your teammate make a play at the end of a playoff game and know that he is going to make it is.

Second, the regular season is worthless. Sure it’s cool to watch guys like Steph Curry light it up for a bad team, a worse coach and even worse management, wondering how wonderful it would be if he could truly fulfill his destiny and be playing for Mike D’antoni but other than that, its worthless. Regular season performance has zero bearing on playoff performance. The Lakers do it seemingly every year (the best example was 2002 when they lulled through the regular season, everyone wondered if this was the year C-Webb and the Kings would break through before they ripped their hearts out in game 7, in Arco Arena, game 6 game-fixing notwithstanding), where everyone gets into a tizzy about a slow stretch in February and March, before they roll through the playoffs. Now we have more evidence. With the Spurs, who annually decide to start playing basketball after the All-Star break, and now the Celtics there should be another rule added to the rules of picking the playoffs: If the team is well-coached and has been there before, no matter their age, regular season record or anything else except injury, that team can and probably will make a serious run at the trophy.

Jamie Foxx Award

Awarded in honor of Jamie Foxx’s career, which looked to be destined toward mediocre movies (Booty Call), bad television (The Jamie Foxx Show) and average stand-up, before he caught a huge break with Any Given Sunday, went back into mediocrity, then caught the biggest break ever with Ray. Now he’s got a Grammy and an Oscar. Foxx went from poor man’s D.L. Hughley to upper middle-class Will Smith in the span of 5-7 years.

Winner: Pau Gasol

Does anyone remember when Pau Gasol was a super-soft big man for the Grizzlies who couldn’t win a playoff game, was talented but couldn’t quite get it? I do, but you’d be hard-pressed to find someone else who does.

In the span of four years, Gasol went from perennial loser who had that foreign enigma stuck to him (soft, not clutch, can’t build a champion around him, started with the epic busts of draft picks like Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Darko, wrapped and topped with a bow by Dirk’s constant playoff failures, highlighted by Dirk’s epic choke from game 3 onward in the 2006 NBA Finals) to the best big man in the world?

Say what?

Yes, it’s true. Gasol is the most skilled offensive big man in the league and underrated defensively. He rebounds, runs the floor, passes, shoots the midrange J, has the best collection of post moves, rotates on D. There’s nothing on the floor that he can’t do.

But it wasn’t always like that. He used to play in Memphis. And he used to choke and be soft. He got traded to the Lakers. He was the perfect fit offensively (he works beautifully in the triangle) and role wise (as the number two guy). He was a terrible fit everywhere else. KG, PJ Brown, Leon Powe all took turns making Gasol their personal Jenna Jamison. People questioned whether or not the Lakers would be able to win with Gasol.

Then he went home, put on some weight, started yelling and making turkey faces, made himself the most efficient offensive player in the league and started playing tough defense. He played very good defense against Dwight Howard in the 2009 Finals without losing anything on offense. But he hadn’t quite conquered those Celtics demons.

He has now. He came up with big plays in each of the Lakers victory. He grabbed the clutch offensive rebound late in game seven that virtually sealed it (it was over Rondo but still). Point blank, he made plays.

And that’s how you get to where we are with Gasol. You have to look at 2008, after back-to-back great years, as him still trying to rid himself of the Memphis losing stink and getting over his super-soft persona.

You have to give it up to him. He remade himself. He put in the work. But don’t blame it on the alcohol.

O.J. Simpson Award

Awarded in honor of his not guilty verdict in his double murder trial. After watching his 30 for 30 documentary (all which have been great), I am convinced he did it. No one drives around Los Angeles with a gun to their head threatening suicide if they haven’t killed their wife and wife’s friend. Johnnie Cochran has to be the greatest lawyer to ever live. Unfortunately, O.J. isn’t that bright and will be in jail for the foreseeable future because of an unrelated crime. Idiot.

Winner: Kobe Bryant

Game 7 was Kobe’s O.J. trial. He was singlehandedly trying to blow the game. He took shots in the first half that 2004 Finals uber-selfish Kobe would have passed up. He was doing everything he could to lose that game. Losing would be blamed on him. And then he was let off the hook by Cochran impersonators Ron Artest, Paul Gasol and Derek Fisher.

I cannot think of recent example where a great player played so poorly in the biggest game of his career and ended up winning. The same way I can’t think of a black guy who got off for a headline-making crime that he clearly did.

Kobe’s career legacy was saved by his teammates, the guy who never fully trusted his teammates at any point of his career (how’s that for irony). And now that his legacy has been saved, it has major implications for his standing in history.

First: he is now undoubtedly the greatest player since MJ retired the second time. He is now clearly ahead of Tim Duncan (I had Duncan ahead of him before game 7, because after all, he’s the greatest power forward to ever walk the face of the earth) and now way past Shaq (though he was already ahead of him after last season).

Second, he is the second best shooting guard of all-time, passing Jerry West and Oscar Robertson.

Third, in terms of all-time rankings, he’s now 6th all-time, behind in order, Jordan, Abdul-Jabbar, Magic, Bird and Russell, now ahead of Wilt, Duncan and all the rest. His longevity, consistency, work ethic alone make him worthy to be in this discussion.

However, we can now end all discussion between him and MJ. Forever and ever, to the square root of infinity. I don’t care if he gets seven rings. I don’t care if he gets 12. I don’t think we can consider him as good or even close to as good as MJ when you consider his horrid play in games 3-5 against Detroit in the 2004 finals, his petulance in ousting Shaq and Phil afterwards which cost him a chance at 1-2 more rings, the selfishness he showed from 2005-2007, his no-show in game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals, and he near choke job in game 7. I think that should be enough to end the discussion. But that is just me.

Every other spot is up for grabs. Give Kobe 2 more years at the level he’s at now, one or two more championships and he could wind up being the second best player in NBA history, which can lead to only one response:

I hate Kobe Bryant.

NBA Offseason Review Part 4: Celtics Don't Do Enough

This is part four of a six part series reviewing the NBA offseason, taking an individual look at all the title contenders (Lakers, Magic, Cavaliers, Celtics and Spurs) and then the rest of the league as a whole. The first three parts examined the Lakers, Magic and Cavaliers. Today, we examine 2008 NBA champions, the Boston Celtics.

Many people will tell you that if Kevin Garnett had been healthy, the Celtics may have repeated as NBA champions last year (though I doubt how they could have matched up with the Lakers considering the state of their bench). The main concern for the Celtics going into the offseason is making sure that KG is healthy and none of us have any way of knowing whether he is or not until the season starts. With that in mind, what they needed to do was try to retool their bench, especially behind Paul Pierce and Ray Allen (both of them were forced to play almost the entire game in the playoffs and by the end of the Orlando series looked like Donovan McNabb in the Tampa heat). Instead, they have a pretty quiet offseason (except for trying to trade Rajon Rondo) and the one substantial move they do make, Rasheed Wallace, is a well-documented nut case who has been known to quit on his team (he hasn’t showed up for Detroit in the last 3 seasons).

But first I want to address the inactivity to address a backup swingman. The only guy that they have behind Allen and Pierce is Tony Allen. Tony Allen has a basketball IQ comparable to a naked mole rat. Under no circumstances should he be trusted in any kind of important situation. And after that, it gets worse with JR Giddens and Bill Walker. I know, they suck. They have yet to find a replacement for James Posey who played such an integral in their championship run. He gave them such versatility with his ability to shoot and defend, and even allowed them to go small at the end of games in the Finals vs. the Lakers. Without a guy like that, it became impossible to match up with the different looks that Orlando threw at them last year. At the very least, you have to be able to bring something off the bench that won’t have down by 30 when your starters return. Especially given the wear and tear on both Pierce and Allen, they need to have moderately capable backups so they can take a breather at least a couple times a game. Boston could have easily used a guy like Anthony Parker, the free-agent pick up for the Cavs, who can score from the perimeter and isn’t the worse defender in the world. All of this coupled with the glaring hole at backup point guard (because Stephon Marbury had to go). They can’t play Eddie House at point guard, he can barely dribble. My favorite extraterrestrial Sam Cassel can’t play anymore. What are they going to do on that front? They have a lot of holes in their backcourt off the bench and made zero attempts to fill any of them.

Where they made their moves was in the front court, where they got Wallace in free agency and resigned Big Baby (but they let Leon Powe go in one of the classless moves that organizations make. Everyone likes to complain about the players when they hold out or demand some roster security from the organizations, pleading that the player be more committed to the team. How about the team be more committed to the players. Leon Powe played his heart out for the Celtics for his entire career, did everything right for them, but the second he gets hurt he is of no use to them. We all demand some loyalty from the players but how about some loyalty from the teams. I digress). I don’t have a problem with the Big Baby signing because the way he developed in the absence of KG and really made some big plays down the stretch, he’s the kind of guy you want to keep around. But bringing in a guy like Rasheed Wallace is the definition of a crap shoot. One night he could drop 30 and 12 boards, the next night he’ll shoot 14 3-pointers and get ejected in the second quarter. Bringing him off the bench limits some of that unpredictability but still, he’s not a guy you can completely count on when you need him. Especially considering the way guys like Big Baby and Kendrick Perkins played and developed in KG’s absence, it’s not necessarily a risk you needed to take. You already had a solid 3 big-man rotation with the return of KG, which is all you really need in the NBA. Sheed can’t be trusted anymore considering how things disintegrated in Detroit, even if he has an increased respect level for the Big 3 and Doc Rivers. The talent with Sheed is there, but considering his past history of quitting on teams and the Celtics not having a dire need for his services, I don’t see the risk matching the reward.

The Celtics off-season was a case study in ignoring needs and trying to fix something that didn’t need fixing. What they needed was competent bench to give Rondo, Allen and Pierce legit backups and also give Doc Rivers some versatility in lineup tinkering. Instead, they pick up Rasheed Wallace, which fills a need that wasn’t there and limits the different styles that they can play. The Celtics off-season was a case study in misattribution of needs and puts them farther away from a championship than they begun with.

Grade: D+