The NBA Dribbled Out

In the last two weeks the MVP race has turned into the race for #2e. So lets go through the list of potential second fiddles, shall we? 

Kobe Bryant My new bestie, before sitting out a few games towards the end of this year, Kobe Bryant has been a beast. He’s neck and neck with Durant for the scoring title this year. The difference is Kobe is playing in his 16th season, Durant in his 5th. Kobe’s also averaging an astornomical 38.5 mpg. That’s ridiculous after all the miles he’s logged. With a new coach in Laker land, a new point guard, some typically abnormal behavior from Andrew Bynum (3-pointers, really?), and a sometimes lethargic Pau, Kobe has willed this team to a top 4 spot in the West. This can’t be overlooked, even if he’s not as efficient as the other guys on this list. 

Conclusion #4

Kevin Durant In all probability Durant will win his third straight scoring title this year. He’s also been incredibly efficient while scoring all those points, shooting around 50% from the field, 38% from beyond the arc and 86% from the line. While keeping his scoring up, he even ceded a lot of the offensive load to Russell Westbrook (a canny move normally reserved for a player 10 years Durant’s senior) and 6 Man of the Year, Russell Westbrook. Durant has also upped his rebounding total from last year from 6.8 to 8. If you’ve been watching him, he’s also starting to be a two-way player; it’s the sign of a truly committed superstar, and I have no doubt he’ll be in the MVP discussion for the next decade. This year, however, it’s not gonna happen. The Thunder lost the top seed in the West to the all-around play of San Antonio’s old Big Three, plus their newbies (Plus, Popovich has been incredible). That’s the primary reason Durant won’t, and shouldn’t win it this year. He’ll have plenty more opportunities, you can be sure. 

Conclusion #3

Chris Paul “Lob City” has quickly morphed into “Flop City” and CP3, Blake and Reggie Evans are the most notable offenders that I’ve seen. But Chris Paul has made the Clippers relevant, and not just in that Sam Cassell - Elton Brand way we saw a few years ago when the Clippers actually won a playoff series. The swagger that’s long been lacking in Clipperland (especially because “swagger” would be considered too “urban” for bigoted owner, Donald Sterling), has arrived with the stormy (and suspect) addition of Paul. Just know that in a 7-game series with Paul playing hard for all 4 quarters—instead of just the last one—the Clippers will be very hard to beat. Paul has paced himself all season for this moment. That’s because Chris Paul, a guy the Clippers brought in to turn things around, turned things around while allowing himself an extra gear for the playoffs (like Durant, CP3 plays beyond his years). The Clippers are only concerned with trying to win, and all the superficial stuff is just that. Chris Paul doesn’t give a crap about anything except the score within the 48 minutes he’s at work. That’s all you can ask for in a franchise saver, and that’s why I rank him above Durant—for now.

Conclusion: #2

That leaves only 1 remaining candidate, and you could probably guess who it was, and skip the preceding graphs. In a quantitative analysis of LeBron James, he is head and shoulders above the rest of the league, which is a nice way to say he fills up the box score better than anyone since Michael Jordan’s historic 1988-1989 MVP season where he averaged 32 ppg, 8 rpg and 8 apg. LeBron isn’t close to the statistical heights reached by Jordan that year, but he is shooting an incredible 53% from the field while sharing the ball with teammates, rebounding and generally being the dominant player we all know. He’ll be the first player since Jordan to have a PER (player efficiency rating) above 30. The next closest this year is Durant at 26.56. 

The Miami Heat (with Dwyane Wade) finished second in the East to a Chicago team that lost Rose for a huge chunk of time, which some will use to argue their case for Durant or Paul, but LeBron’s dominance extends beyond the traditional win-loss metric. Offensively, he’s incredible, but he’s just as dangerous patrolling the top of the key for a quick steal, or a block from-behind in transition that turns a game in the Heat’s favor. When the Heat are rolling on defense and LeBron and Wade are running up and down the court like some sort of Olympic relay on steroids, they’re impossible to beat. 

The only question boils down to June. Can they—and when we write “they”, we really mean LeBron—do it in the Finals? That’s where the bar has been set by LeBron and his Miami cohorts when their egos ran rampant in Miami during 2010’s victory parade…before a single game had been played. They were close last year and LeBron was roundly criticized for failing to deliver. So anything less than a title will be considered a failure this year as well.

Not since Jordan’s heyday did a player have this much pressure to win everything, and at least for Jordan, he had a couple titles under his belt as well as the awe and fear (rightfully) associated with his persona. LeBron is still title-less and a lot of players believe he isn’t just fallible, but fragile. I know Boston will be gunning for him, and so will Derrick Rose and the Bulls. Then there’s the actual Western Conference winner to contend with, which might mean a match-up against one of the other players on this list.

We. Shall. See. LeBron will most likely become the 8th player to win 3 MVP awards, but the caveat to that list is the caveat to his career. He’ll be the only player with 3 Maurice Podoloff trophies, but not the one that matters; The Larry O’Brien trophy Dirk and Co. won last year. A title will be the final feather in LeBron’s cap or another black mark critics will use to tear him down. A regular season MVP award shouldn’t mean anything at this point, it’s the titles that measure the Titans (Bird, Magic, MJ, Russell, Wilt, West). Right now LeBron is a titan without the capital T, for title. It’s on him now. 

Goddamn, I’ve got goosebumps again. 

CAN YOU FEEL THE PLAYOFFS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER??? 

PHOTOS/Getty Images

28 notes
1 year ago
I was wrong about Tyson Chandler. He was everything I thought he was, but also much more for the Knicks this season. During a schizophrenic year that saw the arrival of Jeremy Lin, the dismissal of head coach Mike D’Antoni, injuries for Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony as well as philosophical differences about the offense, Tyson was a consistent rock in the middle.  Never-more-so than on the defensive end. He avoided injury—no small order in this season where teams played 66 games in 120 days—but he also helped the Knicks dismal defense go from 21st in the league in defensive efficiency, to 5th. You read that right.  Here’s the Knicks defensive efficiency last season as a team. Good for 21st in the league. And here they are this year, in the 5th spot. And what, really, was different about this year’s team that could account for the discrepancy? It’s probably 95% Tyson Chandler, and 5% Mike Woodson, who was added (at the suggestion of management) to D’Antoni’s staff this offseason as a defensive assistant coach. You can probably make a case for Kevin Garnett—or if you’re feeling frisky Andre Iguodala and/or Tony Allen— as DPOY, but my pick is Chandler because he’s been doing it all year. His stats don’t jump out at you, but if you watched the Knicks at any point this season, you’d see Chandler hunkered down on the block, or beyond the arc as he jumped out on screen and rolls. He was always directing traffic, calling out picks and generally bringing his defensive championship pedigree to a Knicks team in desperate need of a defensive identity. The Knicks had two superstars known to slack on the defensive end of the floor. Tyson had the talent, the youth (he’s only 29) and the moxy to stand up to Melo and Stoudemire and motivate them to give a crap on the defensive end. He’s the primary reason (not Lin or Melo’s recent hot streak) the Knicks made the playoffs this year.  He’s also the Defensive Player of the Year for 2012.  TOP: Chris Chambers/Getty Images

I was wrong about Tyson Chandler. He was everything I thought he was, but also much more for the Knicks this season. During a schizophrenic year that saw the arrival of Jeremy Lin, the dismissal of head coach Mike D’Antoni, injuries for Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony as well as philosophical differences about the offense, Tyson was a consistent rock in the middle.  Never-more-so than on the defensive end.

He avoided injury—no small order in this season where teams played 66 games in 120 days—but he also helped the Knicks dismal defense go from 21st in the league in defensive efficiency, to 5th. You read that right. 

Here’s the Knicks defensive efficiency last season as a team. Good for 21st in the league.

And here they are this year, in the 5th spot.

And what, really, was different about this year’s team that could account for the discrepancy? It’s probably 95% Tyson Chandler, and 5% Mike Woodson, who was added (at the suggestion of management) to D’Antoni’s staff this offseason as a defensive assistant coach.

You can probably make a case for Kevin Garnett—or if you’re feeling frisky Andre Iguodala and/or Tony Allen— as DPOY, but my pick is Chandler because he’s been doing it all year.

His stats don’t jump out at you, but if you watched the Knicks at any point this season, you’d see Chandler hunkered down on the block, or beyond the arc as he jumped out on screen and rolls. He was always directing traffic, calling out picks and generally bringing his defensive championship pedigree to a Knicks team in desperate need of a defensive identity. The Knicks had two superstars known to slack on the defensive end of the floor. Tyson had the talent, the youth (he’s only 29) and the moxy to stand up to Melo and Stoudemire and motivate them to give a crap on the defensive end. He’s the primary reason (not Lin or Melo’s recent hot streak) the Knicks made the playoffs this year. 

He’s also the Defensive Player of the Year for 2012. 

TOP: Chris Chambers/Getty Images

17 notes
1 year ago
Could there be anyone else for the most improved player award? He was on the cover of Time Magazine. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, twice. He galvanized Asian-Americans all over the country and all over the world. He brought the Knicks back from the brink of another abyss on the court, and on wall street. He largely lived up to impossible hype before getting injured. To say he improved is a tragic understatement. He made Tebow-Mania a flash-in-the-pan. He is an Andy Warhol celebrity fever dream, come to life. He’s also not going anywhere. He is Jeremy Lin. 

Could there be anyone else for the most improved player award? He was on the cover of Time Magazine. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, twice. He galvanized Asian-Americans all over the country and all over the world. He brought the Knicks back from the brink of another abyss on the court, and on wall street. He largely lived up to impossible hype before getting injured. To say he improved is a tragic understatement. He made Tebow-Mania a flash-in-the-pan. He is an Andy Warhol celebrity fever dream, come to life. He’s also not going anywhere.

He is Jeremy Lin. 

55 notes
1 year ago
The Catalan or the Australian? The ACC or the Euroleague? The injury and the nagging injury. The rookie and the rookie.  There have been some incredible rookies this year. Kenneth Faried is one of my favorites, and not just because I dig his Muslim upbringing, his jacked torso, or his braided tresses flowing in the mile high air. He played hard and tough, and came on late in the year for a Denver team that’s competing for a playoff birth. There are many others: Klay Thompson’s play as the Warriors ironically try and tank; Iman Shumpert’s exhausting defense; Marshoon Brooks’ polished mid-range game; Isaiah Thomas playing so well for Sac-Town, Tyreke is forced into a role he can barely accept. The list goes on with Kawhi Leonard playing important minutes for a championship contender and Chandler Parsons adding to the Rockets’—now lost—playoff hopes. Or perhaps you favored Tristan Thompson and Brandon Knight. There were plenty of rookies to talk about over the 66 game sprint of a regular season.  In the end, it’s always been about Irving and Rubio. The Australian Dukie lost his mother at the age of 4 and promised his father he’d go back to Duke over the summers and finish his undergraduate degree in 5 years. Ricky’s mom cuts his steak for him in meetings with general managers, but Ricky also survived the rigors of professional play when most people are ditching school to smoke pot in the park.  With Ricky Rubio starting for the Minnesota Timberwolves, they finished 18-13. That means they’ve ben 8-26 without him, but largely with blossoming small forward superstar, Kevin Love. Forget about his sub 36% shooting, and his occasional turnover and, instead, picture the passing, cutting, laughing Timberwolves team that snapped photos of each other when they fell asleep on the team flights and lit up a surprisingly tough ticket at the Target Center. Ricky Rubo is the future of ‘Wolves’ basketball, and it’s an exciting—if tenuous—future. He’s not the Rookie of the Year.  Kyrie Irving has played in just 6 more games than Rubio. He’s battled his own injury issues (a concussion and a jinky shoulder), but his numbers—21.91 PER through 46 games—and his ability to get Cleveland to the brink of playoff contention before the all-star break, all mean he is the Rookie of the Year. The long-suffering Cavaliers fans finally stopped talking about LeBron and envisioned a bright future without Witness posters. We were all witnesses to Irving’s tranformative virtues for a franchise in dire need of them. That’s really why he’s the 2012 Rookie of the Year. Pic Via

The Catalan or the Australian? The ACC or the Euroleague? The injury and the nagging injury. The rookie and the rookie. 

There have been some incredible rookies this year. Kenneth Faried is one of my favorites, and not just because I dig his Muslim upbringing, his jacked torso, or his braided tresses flowing in the mile high air. He played hard and tough, and came on late in the year for a Denver team that’s competing for a playoff birth.

There are many others: Klay Thompson’s play as the Warriors ironically try and tank; Iman Shumpert’s exhausting defense; Marshoon Brooks’ polished mid-range game; Isaiah Thomas playing so well for Sac-Town, Tyreke is forced into a role he can barely accept. The list goes on with Kawhi Leonard playing important minutes for a championship contender and Chandler Parsons adding to the Rockets’—now lost—playoff hopes. Or perhaps you favored Tristan Thompson and Brandon Knight. There were plenty of rookies to talk about over the 66 game sprint of a regular season. 

In the end, it’s always been about Irving and Rubio. The Australian Dukie lost his mother at the age of 4 and promised his father he’d go back to Duke over the summers and finish his undergraduate degree in 5 years. Ricky’s mom cuts his steak for him in meetings with general managers, but Ricky also survived the rigors of professional play when most people are ditching school to smoke pot in the park. 

With Ricky Rubio starting for the Minnesota Timberwolves, they finished 18-13. That means they’ve ben 8-26 without him, but largely with blossoming small forward superstar, Kevin Love. Forget about his sub 36% shooting, and his occasional turnover and, instead, picture the passing, cutting, laughing Timberwolves team that snapped photos of each other when they fell asleep on the team flights and lit up a surprisingly tough ticket at the Target Center. Ricky Rubo is the future of ‘Wolves’ basketball, and it’s an exciting—if tenuous—future. He’s not the Rookie of the Year. 

Kyrie Irving has played in just 6 more games than Rubio. He’s battled his own injury issues (a concussion and a jinky shoulder), but his numbers—21.91 PER through 46 games—and his ability to get Cleveland to the brink of playoff contention before the all-star break, all mean he is the Rookie of the Year. The long-suffering Cavaliers fans finally stopped talking about LeBron and envisioned a bright future without Witness posters. We were all witnesses to Irving’s tranformative virtues for a franchise in dire need of them. That’s really why he’s the 2012 Rookie of the Year.

Pic Via

6 notes
1 year ago
There are plenty of people outside of Oklahoma City that could accurately be called “Die Harden Fans.” James Edward Harden, Jr. is easy for a broad range of people to love: the wayward bass player carting around his amps and an iPad with league-pass as he tours North America; the music promoter coke addict with a great hook-up for Knicks’ seats; the model on Russell Simmons’ arm whose ebony skin looks like toffee under the ABC camera lights; the 10 year-old boy in Oklahoma City that’s memorized all 64 of Harden’s box-scores this season; the destroyed Sonics fan keeping track of the Thunder on the hard edge of a masochistic’s handcuffs. Harden’s game and his look epitomize the retro hip of the contemporary NBA, but he’s that rare player who’s both style and substance in equal measure. It’s that equanimity of slams, smiles and sneakers that’s made him so influential on and off the court. He’s also somehow perfect for a season that got flipped on its head this past July 1st. His Stonewall Jackson beard seems to say “I don’t give a fuck,” while his glasses and sweater vests offer an ironic detachment from the business casual Stern requirements. There isn’t a 6 man in the league that provides a team’s 3rd scoring option, balletic dribbling in the lane before twists to the rim, and an unmistakable funk; like pcp dreams of the dancing diaper man from George Clinton shows. He’s hip without trying, a true original, except too original and true to fit in that phrase. He also might be the key to the Thunder’s title hopes.  A hot scorer off the bench can be the difference between an easy victory or a comeback double-OT slug fest. With a minute and a half before the end of the second period in today’s Thunder-Lakers battle on ESPN, Metta World lost his Peace. He pounded his chest in a celebration that quickly turned ugly. After a big dunk, he thrust his left elbow in celebration that caught Harden squarely on cranium, and sent him cold to the court. David Stern had already thrown his overlord’s remote through the window before Harden even hit the court, and you can be sure World Peace will be fined extensively and suspended (possibly for a couple games in the first round too). I wouldn’t be surprised if Stern overreacted (but just a tad) and banned him for the remainder of the season—including the playoffs (Artest has apologized, and claimed it was inadvertent). Regardless of the league’s disciplinary reaction to the hit, Harden’s absence (he came back out to the tunnel after halftime, but then went back to the locker room when it became clear he was suffering from a concussion; a mild headache was enough to keep him out of the rest of the game and possibly the rest of the regular season) was a break for the Lakers. Durant and Westbrook shot a horrific 14/56 combined for the game (11/34 for Durant and 3/22 for Westbrook) and we got to see just how important Harden is when their top two are limited. The loss of Harden and some timely Kobe 3’s down the stretch led to the Lakers’ improbable comeback victory, and increasingly equalized the hierarchy out West. Sort of like how Harden can make you laugh with delight during a fake on a defender in the open court, he can spark the same reaction just by rocking a pastel-colored sweater on the short walk from the parking lot to the dressing room.   I hope he’s feelng better, and there are no long-term ramifications from Metta’s hit. He’s my 6th man of the year, and the one guy I’d like to smoke a blunt with before eating tacos. 

There are plenty of people outside of Oklahoma City that could accurately be called “Die Harden Fans.” James Edward Harden, Jr. is easy for a broad range of people to love: the wayward bass player carting around his amps and an iPad with league-pass as he tours North America; the music promoter coke addict with a great hook-up for Knicks’ seats; the model on Russell Simmons’ arm whose ebony skin looks like toffee under the ABC camera lights; the 10 year-old boy in Oklahoma City that’s memorized all 64 of Harden’s box-scores this season; the destroyed Sonics fan keeping track of the Thunder on the hard edge of a masochistic’s handcuffs. Harden’s game and his look epitomize the retro hip of the contemporary NBA, but he’s that rare player who’s both style and substance in equal measure. It’s that equanimity of slams, smiles and sneakers that’s made him so influential on and off the court.

He’s also somehow perfect for a season that got flipped on its head this past July 1st. His Stonewall Jackson beard seems to say “I don’t give a fuck,” while his glasses and sweater vests offer an ironic detachment from the business casual Stern requirements. There isn’t a 6 man in the league that provides a team’s 3rd scoring option, balletic dribbling in the lane before twists to the rim, and an unmistakable funk; like pcp dreams of the dancing diaper man from George Clinton shows. He’s hip without trying, a true original, except too original and true to fit in that phrase. He also might be the key to the Thunder’s title hopes. 

A hot scorer off the bench can be the difference between an easy victory or a comeback double-OT slug fest. With a minute and a half before the end of the second period in today’s Thunder-Lakers battle on ESPN, Metta World lost his Peace. He pounded his chest in a celebration that quickly turned ugly. After a big dunk, he thrust his left elbow in celebration that caught Harden squarely on cranium, and sent him cold to the court.

David Stern had already thrown his overlord’s remote through the window before Harden even hit the court, and you can be sure World Peace will be fined extensively and suspended (possibly for a couple games in the first round too). I wouldn’t be surprised if Stern overreacted (but just a tad) and banned him for the remainder of the season—including the playoffs (Artest has apologized, and claimed it was inadvertent).

Regardless of the league’s disciplinary reaction to the hit, Harden’s absence (he came back out to the tunnel after halftime, but then went back to the locker room when it became clear he was suffering from a concussion; a mild headache was enough to keep him out of the rest of the game and possibly the rest of the regular season) was a break for the Lakers.

Durant and Westbrook shot a horrific 14/56 combined for the game (11/34 for Durant and 3/22 for Westbrook) and we got to see just how important Harden is when their top two are limited. The loss of Harden and some timely Kobe 3’s down the stretch led to the Lakers’ improbable comeback victory, and increasingly equalized the hierarchy out West. Sort of like how Harden can make you laugh with delight during a fake on a defender in the open court, he can spark the same reaction just by rocking a pastel-colored sweater on the short walk from the parking lot to the dressing room.  

I hope he’s feelng better, and there are no long-term ramifications from Metta’s hit. He’s my 6th man of the year, and the one guy I’d like to smoke a blunt with before eating tacos. 

48 notes
1 year ago