NBA Awards 2015
My personal favorite awards have been handed out, and those awards are the All NBA teams. We'll look at the other awards in a minute, but let's check these out first.
First team:
LeBron James
Anthony Davis
Stephen Curry
James Harden
Marc Gasol
Second team:
Pau Gasol
LaMarcus Aldridge
DeMarcus Cousins
Chris Paul
Russell Westbrook
Third team:
Blake Griffin
Tim Duncan
DeAndre Jordan
Klay Thompson
Kyrie Irving
Unlike the all-star voting, which I bitch about constantly, the All NBA squads are usually pretty dead-on. The most iffy guy to me though, is DeMarcus Cousins. He definitely has the stats; statistically speaking, he is probably the best center in the NBA. But, I feel it's hard to reward a guy on such a crappy team. I don't have a huge objection to it though.
Here were my predictions that I made on the last day of the regular season (so I wouldn't be swayed by any playoff performances):
First team
Pau Gasol
LeBron James
Anthony Davis
Stephen Curry
James Harden
Second team:
DeAndre Jordan
Tim Duncan
LaMarcus Aldridge
Chris Paul
Russell Westbrook
Third team:
Marc Gasol
Blake Griffin
Paul Millsap
Kyrie Irving
Klay Thompson
Now as you probably noticed I cheated a bit on my first team. Initially I intended Pau to be the center. Let's face it, he probably played as much center as he did power forward this year due to Noah's injuries, matchups, or whatever. The same could be said for Unibrow who also plays a chunk of center minutes. So pick whichever you would like to be center.
Why not Marc on first team? At the beginning of the year, they were saying "MVP candidate," then he and the Grizzlies started to struggle, and I started to believe the hype (or lack thereof) and think that he's slipping. Which is why he was demoted to third team. Which is probably a mistake in hindsight. I feel I can justify him being second team, but putting DeAndre over him now seems a bit wrong.
Millsap was my last addition. I figured I needed a Hawk on there somewhere. He's a great player, but again in hindsight, it may have been a stretch. My initial feelings had Jimmy Butler on there. (Who was my toughest omission.) But that would have made three guards, and since I already half-assed cheated on the first team, I figured I better play it straight on the rest.
All defensive first team:
Kawhi Leonard
Draymond Green
Tony Allen
Chris Paul
DeAndre Jordan
Second team:
Anthony Davis
Jimmy Butler
Andrew Bogut
John Wall
Tim Duncan
My predictions:
First team:
DeAndre Jordan
Draymond Green
Kawhi Leonard
Chris Paul
Danny Green
Second team:
Rudy Gobert
Tim Duncan
Anthony Davis
Tony Allen
Jimmy Butler
Rudy Gobert missed the second team by 10 votes, so I don't feel too silly about that pick. Danny Green on the first team was "probably" a mistake. He missed the SECOND team by 46 votes. I was a bit off on that one.
The MVP race was the first time I genuinely couldn't pick one by the end of the season. I flip-flopped Harden vs. Curry numerous times, with a little Westbrook thrown in there post-all star break. I think I settle on Harden; I think. Honestly I'm still not sure. I do know that I had no problem with Curry winning.
Defensive player of the year seemed to be Draymond's for the taking, but that feisty Kawhi came swooping in and stole it. Well, that and every pass/dribble that was within arm's reach of him.
Wiggins' ROY was pretty much a lock the moment Jabari went down (granted he wasn't quite in Wiggin's league for this season.) Mirotic had a nice run, as did Elfrid at the end of the year, but this was almost a lock.
Speaking of locks, Jimmy Butler as the Most Improved Player was nearly one as well. The only other guy in the conversation (from my standpoint) was Klay Thompson. He didn't make quite the jump Butler did though.
Butler 2014:
13.1 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 2.6 APG, .446 FG%, .769 FT%
Butler 2015:
20.0 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 3.3 APG, .502 FG%, .834 FT%
6th man of the year was pretty dull this season. No offense to Lou Williams, but no one stood out to me. So I guess his pick was fine.
First team:
LeBron James
Anthony Davis
Stephen Curry
James Harden
Marc Gasol
Second team:
Pau Gasol
LaMarcus Aldridge
DeMarcus Cousins
Chris Paul
Russell Westbrook
Third team:
Blake Griffin
Tim Duncan
DeAndre Jordan
Klay Thompson
Kyrie Irving
Unlike the all-star voting, which I bitch about constantly, the All NBA squads are usually pretty dead-on. The most iffy guy to me though, is DeMarcus Cousins. He definitely has the stats; statistically speaking, he is probably the best center in the NBA. But, I feel it's hard to reward a guy on such a crappy team. I don't have a huge objection to it though.
Here were my predictions that I made on the last day of the regular season (so I wouldn't be swayed by any playoff performances):
First team
Pau Gasol
LeBron James
Anthony Davis
Stephen Curry
James Harden
Second team:
DeAndre Jordan
Tim Duncan
LaMarcus Aldridge
Chris Paul
Russell Westbrook
Third team:
Marc Gasol
Blake Griffin
Paul Millsap
Kyrie Irving
Klay Thompson
Now as you probably noticed I cheated a bit on my first team. Initially I intended Pau to be the center. Let's face it, he probably played as much center as he did power forward this year due to Noah's injuries, matchups, or whatever. The same could be said for Unibrow who also plays a chunk of center minutes. So pick whichever you would like to be center.
Why not Marc on first team? At the beginning of the year, they were saying "MVP candidate," then he and the Grizzlies started to struggle, and I started to believe the hype (or lack thereof) and think that he's slipping. Which is why he was demoted to third team. Which is probably a mistake in hindsight. I feel I can justify him being second team, but putting DeAndre over him now seems a bit wrong.
Millsap was my last addition. I figured I needed a Hawk on there somewhere. He's a great player, but again in hindsight, it may have been a stretch. My initial feelings had Jimmy Butler on there. (Who was my toughest omission.) But that would have made three guards, and since I already half-assed cheated on the first team, I figured I better play it straight on the rest.
All defensive first team:
Kawhi Leonard
Draymond Green
Tony Allen
Chris Paul
DeAndre Jordan
Second team:
Anthony Davis
Jimmy Butler
Andrew Bogut
John Wall
Tim Duncan
My predictions:
First team:
DeAndre Jordan
Draymond Green
Kawhi Leonard
Chris Paul
Danny Green
Second team:
Rudy Gobert
Tim Duncan
Anthony Davis
Tony Allen
Jimmy Butler
Rudy Gobert missed the second team by 10 votes, so I don't feel too silly about that pick. Danny Green on the first team was "probably" a mistake. He missed the SECOND team by 46 votes. I was a bit off on that one.
The MVP race was the first time I genuinely couldn't pick one by the end of the season. I flip-flopped Harden vs. Curry numerous times, with a little Westbrook thrown in there post-all star break. I think I settle on Harden; I think. Honestly I'm still not sure. I do know that I had no problem with Curry winning.
Defensive player of the year seemed to be Draymond's for the taking, but that feisty Kawhi came swooping in and stole it. Well, that and every pass/dribble that was within arm's reach of him.
Wiggins' ROY was pretty much a lock the moment Jabari went down (granted he wasn't quite in Wiggin's league for this season.) Mirotic had a nice run, as did Elfrid at the end of the year, but this was almost a lock.
Speaking of locks, Jimmy Butler as the Most Improved Player was nearly one as well. The only other guy in the conversation (from my standpoint) was Klay Thompson. He didn't make quite the jump Butler did though.
Butler 2014:
13.1 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 2.6 APG, .446 FG%, .769 FT%
Butler 2015:
20.0 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 3.3 APG, .502 FG%, .834 FT%
6th man of the year was pretty dull this season. No offense to Lou Williams, but no one stood out to me. So I guess his pick was fine.
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