With only about two weeks left in the 2009-2010 season, the race for the best of the best is getting tight. Throughout the season, some players have shined their light and then dimmed out while others have started as a slow simmer then began to boil mid-season. Meanwhile, the likes of LeBron James have stayed consistently on fire all season long. With that being said, here are my best of the best picks:
Defensive Player of the Year:
I'm going to have to go with Dwight Howard to repeat for this category. Howard is currently leading in rebounds with 13.3 and in blocks with 2.7. When you think of a defensive player, there aren't too many players that stand out like Howard. He has the size and the ability. Some people like to clown on Dwight (Charles Barkley) saying he doesn't use his size to his advantage, but he is obviously doing something right since he is leading in rebounds and blocks. Personally, I think that he could do more as a defensive player, but he gets fouled all the time when he plays more aggressive. He knows his team needs him in the game more than on the bench so I respect him for playing the way that he does. He is Superman.
Sixth Man of the Year:
Lamar Odom. I went back and forth on this one for a while because Jamal Crawford is having a great year, but in the end Lamar proved his worth a little more in my eyes. And no it's not because I'm a huge Lakers fan. Odom is one of three players on the Lakers who I can say has played consistently this year and he was a key element to the Lakers wins while Kobe Bryant was out. I don't know if it's because of his off-season marriage to a Kardishian, but Odom has played defense and offense equally. He is averaging 9.6 rebounds this season which is higher than his career average. Let's go Lamar.
Most Improved Player:
Danilo Gallinari. Gallinari was averaging 6.1 PPG in the 08-09 season. What is he at this season? 14.3. That's almost an increase of almost 10 points. Can you say ridiculous? He's also increased his APG from 0.5 to 1.5. By far not the best in assists, but were talking about most improved here. I mean he plays for the Knicks. You can only ask for so much improvement.
Rookie of the Year:
Blake Griffin. Just kidding. I still don't know if I'm totally sure who I want to pick for this. The two obvious candidates are Tyreke Evans of the Sacramento Kings and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. Two amazing players stuck on the shit hole teams of Northern California. But that's okay because they would not have their chance to shine as rookies otherwise. Brandon Jennings started off the season playing like he would be a contender, but the obvious choices now are Evans and Curry. Since I can't decide who is better, I'm going to go with who I like more and that's Stephen Curry. Curry has to be the choice. He is on the same team as Monta Ellis so he shares the ball more than Evans does on the Kings. 16.5 PPG, 4.3 RPG and 5.6 APG. Not bad for a rookie. The argument for Evans is that he is averaging 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists and only three rookies before have done this: Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan and Lebron James. BUT, he has missed 11 games this season due to injuries. I'm talking myself into choosing Evans now. Well I think he might actually get it, but I want it to go to Curry so I will stick with that choice.
Most Valuable Player:
Will it be LeBron James for the second year in a row? Or Kevin Durant who was Rookie of the Year just two years ago? My pick goes to Kevin Durant. LeBron James is an animal and he is the best if we go based off of the numbers. However, Durant has been a more integral ingredient to the Oklahoma City Thunder. James is the obvious choice and he will get MVP again but the way Durant has played all season says much more to me than LeBron. I expect LeBron to average almost 30 points a game. I didn't expect to see Kevin Durant playing at a LeBron James level in his third year in the NBA. Again, I'm not picking Durant because I've been jockin him all season. I am being realistic. Which is why I haven't mentioned Kobe Bryant like the analysts on ESPN. We could talk about Bryant, Melo, and Wade but let's be realistic. The real match up is Durantula vs. King James. My money is on KD.
It will be interesting to see how my picks fair to the actual winners this year. Hopefully it will be better than my Oscar picks and March Madness bracket. See you in the playoffs!
1 comment:
Durant is unbelievable but LeBron's numbers this year escape description. To me, the MVP is all about how awful the team would be without that player, and while the Thunder would of course be worse, the Cavaliers would be a cellar dweller without King James.
I mean look at the current leaders in assists per game. He's currently 6th (!!!) You have to drop all the way down to 33rd to find another forward in assists.
A 50/33/77 FG/3PG/FT is outstanding (I'd like to see him work on his free throws, that needs to be 85%+), but his numbers are out of this world. (by the way, he's 10th in the league in steals as well).
Durant would be the MVP hands down if LeBron weren't playing. To be an MVP runner up at 21, as well as a strong shot at a scoring title (with LeBron likely taking time off this week) is an amazing feat, and its likely Durant will be doing just that.
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