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Starting Five: Awards edition by The Sports Network
Toronto, Canada (Sports Network) – It’s nearly that time of year in which NBA fans have waited nearly six months – the playoffs.
Through it all, the regular season has features impressive performances from individuals – some expected, others unforeseen – that will be remembered for years to come.
With Coach of the Year already discussed in this space previously, here are one observer’s unofficial winners:
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
There may not be an award more heavily debated at each season’s end than the prestigious Most Valuable Player honor.
This season is no different, as fans and critics alike argue over the accomplishments of a handful of players they feel were most deserving of being recognized as the league’s top performer.
When we look back at the 2010-11 season, however, one player’s ability to wow the crowds with his spectacular display of quickness, agility and sheer determination – all while leading his team back to a level it hasn’t seen since a certain fellow named “MJ” suited up for the Red and Black – will resonate for the ages.
In just his third season, Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls has ascended to heights practically no one could have envisioned at the onset of the season. The 22-year-old is in position to become the youngest MVP in league history as he’s led the Bulls to the best record in the Eastern Conference. There will be those who will point to the formidable talent playing alongside the Chicago native, but they need not forget Rose kept the Bulls afloat while Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah were out for prolonged periods of time due to injury.
Along with being a nightly fixture on highlight reels across the nation, Rose has introduced new elements to his game, turning an already tough cover into a nightmarish matchup for any defender.
Much can be credited to Rose playing on the 2010 USA FIBA World Championships team, surrounded by a group of young upstarts who all strived to be mentioned with the elite in the game. It was playing on a world stage when Rose began to emerge as a frontrunner, showing glimpses of the leadership we’ve seen throughout the season.
Yet the single biggest improvement has to be on a once-suspect outside jump shot.
Over his first two seasons, Rose connected on only 32 shots from behind the arc, shooting a forgettable 24 percent from the 3-point line. This season, the former Memphis Tiger has hit 126 shots from long range while shooting a respectable 34 percent along the way.
In a season that was supposed to revolve around “The Heatles” ascending to greatness, the Los Angeles Lakers’ quest to three-peat and Boston’s chance to gain redemption, it is the unlikely success of the Bulls that has hijacked this season and will lead this to be the year of the Rose.
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
Season to season, players suddenly emerge reinvented and rejuvenated by an off-season that will carry them to new levels of respect.
Whether it be tireless work ethic finally coming to fruition, a change of scenery to spark an improvement, or just the luck of having things finally come together, there are candidates from different situations at various points of their career.
To be able to carry a team, when the supposed leader has fallen and injuries turn a promising season into a living nightmare, is no small task. To lead your club into the postseason, becoming the go-to-guy in the process, is another accomplishment altogether.
This is the reality of what LaMarcus Aldridge has done for the Portland Trail Blazers this season, after Brandon Roy spent much of the season nursing a knee injury, while countless other Blazers were sidelined for extended lengths of time.
It should come as no surprise then that Aldridge has set career highs in points, rebounds, assists, blocks, steals, minutes played and free-throw percentage. Much of the success can be attributed to the increased playing time, but he has shown he can be relied upon late in games – a job once reserved for Roy – hitting a few game winners along the way.
There will be some who will point to Kevin Love’s assault of the consecutive double-double mark and his ridiculous rebounding numbers as the clear cut choice, but the fact remains the gaudy stats haven’t resulted in an abundance of W’s, as Minnesota will once again finish with the worst record in the Western Conference.
After being overlooked for the All-Star team, snubbed by Love’s selection, voters would be foolish to select a numbers guy on a bad team over a top contributor on a postseason contender.
Behind the fifth-year man out of the University of Texas, Portland is once again in the thick of the playoff push vying to be spoilers in the first round. With Aldridge’s emergence as a potent low post scorer, the once timid and perimeter-oriented big man is a force in the paint that any team hopes to avoid.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Coming into the season, if there ever was a lock for a player winning an award, Dwight Howard taking home his third consecutive Defensive Player of the Year award would be the closest thing to it.
In a season that saw the 25-year-old reach new heights on the offensive end, the defense that has defined his career remained as solid as ever.
Recording more than a steal per game for the first time in his career, Howard added to his gaudy rebounding average of 14.1 per game and over two blocks a game – good for top three in both categories.
Despite not leading the league in total rebounds for the first time since his rookie season, the seven-year veteran still ranks as one of the most effective big men on the glass. For the first time in three years, Howard also is not atop the blocks list as well, ending his two-year reign as the only player ever to lead the league in both rebounding and block shots. Amazing how in a season that can be considered an off year defensively for the Magic center, he’s still head and shoulders above the competition.
A large part of the consensus notion that he’s the best paint patroller in the league, is the fact he plays amongst below average defenders.
Currently, the Magic rank in the top 10 in rebounding, despite the fact that outside of Howard no other player averages at least six boards a game. The perimeter defense is virtually nonexistent for Orlando, but it remains in the top five in opponent’s points per game and field goal percentage, as the Atlanta native has stretched to cover his teammate’s faults.
Though it may appear to be a down season, there’s no doubt who the best defender is today.
SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR
It’s a role few could ever excel at. The first man off the bench, captain of the second unit and often times contending teams’ X-factor – the sixth man.
Many times the players selected for the award could very well start on any other team in the league, as well as their own, but are reveled for the intangibles they bring off the bench.
Fittingly, this season’s most deserving candidate is one of the most versatile players in the league, comparable to a Swiss Army Knife, a jack of all trades and a master of none – Lamar Odom.
Another season sparked by this past summer’s inclusion to Team USA, Odom has been able to combine his long standing versatility with an efficiency unseen in his 12-year career.
Shooting better than 53 percent from the field and nearly 40 percent from the 3-point line, the reigning two-time defending champions have a weapon in their reserves able to change games with his defense as much as his offense, helping aid an already formidable starting five looking to win its third straight title.
Though the 31-year-old has logged 34 starts due to injuries suffered by the Lakers’ front line, it can’t be held against him as he returned to the bench as soon as the regular starters returned to the line up.
Being able to juggle the media mayhem that seems to always surround Los Angeles, along with the constant drama that occurs only in Hollywood – his current reality show “Khloe and Lamar” notwithstanding – puts him in front of the pack that truly only includes 2009 winner Jason Terry.
If his offseason experience with Team USA taught him anything, it’s been the ability to accept a diminished role to better the team and it’s been that same approach that’s led to what should be Odom’s first Sixth Man of the Year selection.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
There may not have been a more obvious choice selecting a winner in all the awards than the category of Rookie of the Year.
Turning a perennial loser, the Los Angeles Clippers, into must-see-TV overnight was the high flying theatrics of Blake Griffin, who after spending his first year in the NBA watching from the bench due to injury has made his presence felt immediately.
The former Oklahoma Sooner has taken the league by storm, seemingly trumping his last greatest athletic feat with an even more dazzling display just a night later.
Taking home the honor of the league’s top high flyer in the slam dunk contest highlighted an All-Star weekend the 22-year-old seemed to own, participating on all three nights of the exhibition, becoming the first rookie since Tim Duncan to be voted into the Sunday showcase by the coaches.
But it wasn’t all sizzle and no steak, as Griffin’s rookie season is comparable to a select few.
While putting up 22.5 ppg and 12.1 rpg, Griffin is only one of four players currently averaging at least 20 points and 10 rebounds a game. In his first season, the Oklahoma City native already holds the Clippers’ franchise record for most consecutive double-doubles with 27 straight (he has one triple- double).
With such a dominating rookie campaign, the only real suspense will be if Griffin can become only the third player since the NBA/ABA merger to win the Rookie of the Year award with a unanimous decision, joining Ralph Sampson (1983) and David Robinson (1989).
If his inaugural season is an indication of what to expect, it should come as no surprise that Griffin’s rookie season may go down as one of the greatest first campaigns of all time.
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