Cavs: The Blog’s Awards Ballot
2010-04-13Because, like LeBron, I need a bit of rest before the playoffs start, here’s my quick awards ballot:
Most Valuable Player:
1. LeBron James (duh)
2. Dwight Howard (I can’t help but think of MVP candidates relative to LeBron, and Dwight is the only player who could have any kind of argument to win over LeBron)
3. Kevin Durant
Defensive Player of the Year:
1. Dwight Howard
2. Gerald Wallace
3. Andrew Bogut
Rookie of the Year:
1. Stephen Curry (I’m big on scoring efficiency, but Tyreke will be better down the line)
2. Tyreke Evans
3. Brandon Jennings
6th Man of the Year:
1. Anderson Varejao
2. Jamaal Crawford
3. Manu Ginobili
Coach of the Year:
1. Jerry Sloan
2. Scott Skiles
3. Scott Brooks
Most Improved Player:
Like Pelton, I’m abstaining on voting for this one because the criteria is too muddled. Kevin Durant has improved more than any other player, though.
@tom pestak: Totally echo your sentiments re the MVP award..
yeah sixth man is stupid. ginobili is obviously not the spurs “sixth best man.” on most nights he’s their second most important player!… and neither is crawford. coming off the bench has no meaning if you still end up playing most of the minutes in the game anyways.
…except that he plays the same position as joe johnson. but still you’re right; crawford is definitely a starter-caliber player
the most improved and 6th man are the dumbest awards in my opinion…they dont merit anything positive…as others have said, most improved is along the lines of ‘you sucked before, but you’re way better now’ and 6th man is just annointing the best bench guy on a good/great team. Most of the time the 6th man is a guy who should really start but for whatever reason doesnt. Just look at past 6th man award winners, its been Jason Terry, Ginobli, and now Crawford. No reason Crawford couldnt start for the Hawks.
Durant would have been taken first if Sam Presti had a brain. If you think all of the hullabaloo in Portland over Presti isn’t somewhat to do with Durant, then you’re oblivious.
Durant doesn’t win anything until he learns how to dunk on Ginobili.
A guy like Durant wouldn’t even want “Most Improved Player” award – it’s sort of like saying “you used to suck, but now you’re better”. It generally doesn’t mean “you used to be good, now you’re elite”. I think that’s what JK is getting at. Of course, for the first time in my adult life, there aren’t 10,000 articles/posts/comments/trollspam on the true MEANING of MVP molded to fit a certain person’s favorite player. I am so HAPPY I don’t have to read about “killer instinct” and “will to win” and “best player on best team” and “really makes that system… Read more »
I guess Most Improved only means going from below-average to above-average, rather than above-average to great.
It does seem like Bogut, despite being a former #1 pick, would be a candidate.
Umm, if Durant isn’t considered improved because he was picked number 2, then does that mean if Kwame Brown came out and had a 26-8-6 year he wouldn’t be considered improved as well? What about Darko?
@A. sorry but i’m going to have to completely disagree w/you. your logic doesn’t really hold. expected him to be that good? expecting someone to be good as one thing, but expecting him to play at a hall-of-fame level is not something that anyone ever “expects” when they are selecting a rookie. surely every team hopes for that luck, but expecting it is not realistic.if anyone expected what durant is doing now he would’ve been picked first. i think it’s silly to take away from his ridiculous accomplishments because of what outside expectations were and because you think he OUGHT… Read more »
While him being picked* second
I read somewhere that while KD improved a lot this year, that technically he shouldn’t win because he is SUPPOSED to be this good. He was picked second, so surely someone knew he had it in him to be such a great basketball player. So him being tops in scoring, well, it’s not much of a surprise. While him being second guarantees nothing, he had a much bigger chance of being a star than many other players. Aaron Brooks on the other hand just went off this year.
Agree on all but ROY. Im supporting tyreke on this one. Basketball reference says..
http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/tiny.cgi?id=OgSuD
PER, Tyreke takes it 18.2 to 16,
WS/48, Tyreke takes it .096 to .072
Stats are similar, tho ‘Reke has a better ppg (tho as you said on a worse scoring efficiency,)