My 2017 NBA Award Winners

The playoffs begin today and I’ve given myself a few days after the regular season to think this over. Some guys didn’t live up to expectations and some exceeded beyond belief. Many narratives were driven into the dirt and some were just simply overlooked. I’ll dig into that on a later post. Right now let me get into these regular season superlatives….

Defensive Player Of The Year: Draymond Green
Don’t get me wrong here Rudy Gobert and Kawhi had great seasons on the defensive end as well, but Draymond has been amazing this season. He’s had multiple game deciding defensive plays, but the triple double with 10 steals set him ahead in this race. 154 steals and 106 blocks in 76 games is insane. The last player to touch 150+ steals & 100+ blocks in a season was D Wade in 2009!

Most Improved Player Of The Year: Giannis Antetokounmpo
I was torn on this one. I usually go with with a lower tier player that finally shows serious growth in their game. Would have been nice to say this belongs to Javale Mcgee after Steve Kerr has made him a player of value to the best team in the league, but Giannis went from being good to debatable top 5. 1st player in history to finish top 20 in 5 different stats. Runner up to me ended up being Nikola Jokic.

6th Man Of The Year: Andre Iguodala
My first pick was Eric Gordon who has had a great season, but outside of shooting what does he really add to the Rockets? We've seen others win this award solely off being instant offense off the bench but Iggy is a 2 way threat. This became a case of numbers not telling the whole story. Iggy is an instant spark to Golden State on offense and defense. The way he stepped up when Kevin Durant was injured sealed the deal for me.

Rookie Of The Year: Dario Saric
Joel Embiid only played 31 games so I had to pick the 2nd best. Dario has been playing like a vet all season while the other rookies showed that they were a work in progress. Saric was also the 1st rookie in NBA history with 1000 points, 500 rebounds, 150 assist, and 100 three's. Philly didn’t have a dramatic drop in wins when Embiid went down like I expected. They just leaned on Dario and it worked. If we can get a healthy season out of Ben Simmons, Embiid, and Dario this could be a playoff team next season. #TrustTheProcess

Coach Of The Year: Quin Snyder
Kerr and Popovich have been doing great this season, but I feel like this has to go to the coach that made the biggest jump. Utah hasn’t seen 50+ wins since 2010. Snyder (former Duke assistant) has made the Jazz a serious threat on the low. Utah Jazz finished 3rd in defense and 5th in wins.

MVP: Kawhi Leonard
Opening night as me and my friends watched the Spurs blow the doors off the Warriors I said my picks for MVP are Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard. Up till the all star break KD was a lock for me to win because he was having the best defensive year of his career while still being a savage on offense then he got injured. Westbrook and Harden were putting up insane numbers but weren’t winning at a high clip like the Spurs so I really wasn’t moved. They hunted down stats while Kawhi hunted down wins. With the over-sensationalized triple double media narrative I can understand how CASUAL fans bought into the hype. Kawhi stepped up his offensive production while still being top 3 in an area Westbrook and Harden lacked…..DEFENSE. Also Kawhi ended the season with only 154 turnovers. That puts him at 310 turnovers behind the NEW ALL TIME SINGLE SEASON TURNOVER LEADER James Harden. Kawhi handles the ball and scores at a more efficient rate than Westbrook and Harden. 48% FG, 88% FT, and 38% from the 3 point line exceeds both Westbrook and Harden in each area on the floor. He scores precisely, takes charge on defense, and upheld the Spurs gold standard of winning with a roster full of inexperienced young guys and bigs past their prime. Patty Mills might be the only guy on the Spurs playing at his peak so let’s not act like they’re a loaded team. Parker and Ginobili are nowhere close to what they once were. I think right now Kawhi Leonard is literally the perfect basketball player. So while everyone is in awe over triple doubles I’m pointing out the guy that has scrapped up all your favorite players this season with his defense and won 61 games as the heir to the throne in San Antonio.

Webb Of Deceit....

Another year another Hall of Fame snub for Chris Webber. At this point I’m wondering exactly what is the criteria for the induction committee to select who gets into the Hall. I’m sure accolades and stats are a major part of it. Chris Webber who has been eligible since 2013 has yet to make the prestigious list of Hall of Famers. What’s the hold up? His resume compared to others that’s made it in already are pretty parallel if not better and anything that can go against him can go against other members of the Hall of Fame as well.

Numbers: For his 15 year career Chris Webber averaged 20.7 points per game. Out of the 371 current inductees that would put him 34th on the list. At 9.8 rebounds per game he’d be tied at 37th with Patrick Ewing. C-Webb has 1,200 career blocked shots. That would put him at 14th on the list. In his career he’s been within the top 10 in points per game 4 seasons and rebounds per game 5 seasons. Career high ppg average is 27 and rpg is 13….nah it can’t be the numbers

Accolades: 1994 Rookie of the Year, All- American MVP, 1991 Michigan Mr. Basketball, 1999 rebound title, 5 time All-Star, and 5 All-NBA teams…nope that can’t be it. He has more accolades than plenty of the guys that’s made it in.

Leadership: He’s led his teams to 50 or more wins 4 times with 61 being the most. Dominique Wilkins did it 4 times as well but maxed out at 57 wins. Bernard King never did it once. Wilkins and King are in the Hall. Webber isn’t a champion. Neither is Reggie Miller, Karl Malone, Allen Iverson, and so on. That debate goes out the window.

Controversy: Let's look for a possible knock that could be holding him out. While in college Webber accepted money from Ed Martin (a booster) which is a direct violation. Between him and 4 other players they were “loaned” over $600,000 with $280,000 going to Webber. This scandal was investigated by the NCAA, FBI, and IRS. Webber was indicted on five charges, including obstruction of justice and lying to a federal grand jury, for having misrepresented his relationship with Martin. Each charge was punishable by five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. End result was Webber NOT going to jail but his entire college career vacated from the record books. Nothing the Fab 5 did counts. Sounds like the dagger right? Wait a minute….it can’t be. There’s certain Hall Of Famers that violated in college as well.

Jim Boeheim hit with academic misconduct and had 106 wins vacated. Hall of Famer

John Calipari had 2 Final Four runs vacated. 1st was for Marcus Camby accepting “gifts” from agents while still playing at UMass and the 2nd was Derrick Rose with the fraudulent SAT score. Neither season is in the record books. All this happened on his watch...Hall Of Famer tho. I don’t know what Webber has to do to get his place in the Hall of Fame, but he’s worked hard enough to be in it and anything negative you can say about his resume you say about others. Some even worse like Pitino with the hookers for his players. That's another story for another day. Anyway...here's a highlight reel. Peace!