A week ago, I unveiled my picks for the NBA's regular season awards, as usual a little early. I do this (mainly) for two reasons: a) to get the jump on other analysts whose opinions you surely care more about, and b) to avoid letting their logic subconsciously influence my decisions. Maybe I plan this too carefully for someone whose vote doesn't actually count, but according to ESPN's awards forecast pollsters - lots of whom are card-carrying NBA voters - I'm looking decent to go 5 for 6, with the arbitrary Most Improved Player being the lone sure miss.
Most of what I've read suggests Goran Dragic will snag MIP, which doesn't sit well with me. Dragic made a pretty big leap as a scorer this year, but by most numbers, and some general definitions wasn't even the most improved player in his own starting lineup.
Phoenix's season was a huge surprise; a refreshing burst of entertainment in a season when so many teams openly refused to compete (to overstate a point, the Suns were supposed to be one of them). Stellar as Dragic's campaign was, he was far from the only contributor on a team whose (essentially) whole rotation had dramatic career years. And it's also not as though he came out of nowhere.
Dragic should be acknowledged, but he's already a near-lock for an All-NBA nod in a season where a guard-injury epidemic hit perennial candidates Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Rajon Rondo, Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose. Handing this award to him is akin to erroneously crowning the best player on the best team MVP, and it's especially tough to single out one player, when Phoenix's improvement was such a team function.
Speaking of seasons that need to be acknowledged (and with that rant off my chest) there was plenty more to celebrate in 2013-14 than the NBA's standard awards can cover, so without further delay, here are Banter's UnOfficial Awards:
Bobby Boucher Award: Al JeffersonThe player whose acquisition to a new team created the greatest positive impact.
Big Al was just an offensive beast this year; there's no way to deny his impact on Charlotte's pretty-unlikely run to the Playoffs, putting up near-career-best numbers for a team who exceeded the general preseason consensus by ~ 15 wins.
There's plenty of blame to go around; the team as a whole gelled nicely under a near-COY first year from Steve Clifford. But after Jefferson shook off his early bum leg, the Hornets relied on his post presence consistently, especially during Kemba Walker's absence. Their inspired refusal to tank is largely his fault.
Regards to: The Phoenix Suns, Dwight Howard, Monta Ellis
Canibus Award: Enes Kanter
The young player who was set to blow up this season, had plenty of opportunity, and didn't really deliver.
Not too much went right in Utah this season, and while the aim wasn't exactly for the Jazz to be "good" per se, part of the motivation for for letting Paul Millsap and the aforementioned Al Jefferson walk away for nothing last summer was to clear room for ^this guy to blossom in the low post.
Didn't quite happen, as Kanter's game developed at a rate far slower than any Mormon had hoped, while his presence in tandem with Derrick Favors was mostly dysfunctional. The Jazz are getting a good Lotto pick and have cap room to spare, but any kind of leap from Enes this year would've been encouraging going forward. (In completely, totally, 100% unrelated news, Kanter may or may not have also been one of my preseason picks for Most Improved Player).
Regards to: Ed Davis, Dion Waiters
Kevin Willis Lifetime Achievement Award: Derek Fisher
The player who demonstrates outstanding devotion to the game, defying most laws of common sense and physics through an utter refusal to retire.
Fisher took this award home last year, but in a season where Russell Westbrook's injuries gave him unfathomable amounts of floor time, Fisher delivered some witty veteran play, often at key moments for the Thunder. He proved he wasn't a total relic, which the meme to your right more or less indicates.
Regards to: Antawn Jamison, Chauncey Billups, Jermaine O'Neal
Energizer Bunny Award: Joakim Noah
The player who just keeps going, and going, and going, and going...
You know how Drake's just been everywhere with basketball these past few weeks? Annoyingly popping up in every little unexpected corner of a game - courtside, in the locker room, in the ESPN studio, afterparty VIPing, or looming from his perch as the Raptors' Human Mascot - just to remind you how "on it" he is?
That was Noah all year. Dude just didn't stop.He combined perpetual movement with flawless execution; his efforts were both more balanced and focused; he did so much for the Bulls, while never taking plays off. It was a joy to watch, and every bit as irritating as Drizzy for whoever was up against it.
Regards to: Jimmy Butler, Monta Ellis, Blake Griffin
Leon Phelps Award: Andre Drummond
The player who caused the most drama with the ladies this season.
In an era where Social Media has more or less devoured actual social behavior, Drummond made headlines last year with his public Twitter pursuit of teeny-bopper Jennette McCurdy. His hashtag-bred courtship (how romantic.) led to several PDA-heavy dates, continuing to feed the viral frenzy around the young lovebirds. McCurdy even penned a very well-articulated op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on all the commotion.The two became a highly-topical fodder for both gossip media, and members of the ubiquitous "anything's possible on the Internet" movement.
In a shocking turn of events, this hasty celebrity couple didn't last very long, with McCurdy's midseason revelation that her and Andre only went on a couple of dates, didn't vibe too well, and that a tiny teen actress kissing a 7-foot basketball player is every bit as awkward height-wise as you'd picture.
But of course, it wouldn't be a standard NBA relationship without something like this happening at all-too-perfect a time.
Regards to: Paul George, Raymond Felton, Dante Cunningham
The Earl Manigault Rebound of the Year: Shaun Livingston
The player who - against great odds or obstacles - made the most significant comeback this season.
The injury-ravaged career of Shaun Livingston had mostly been a tragic tale of great potential succumbing to a fragile body. Since 2004, he'd seen seasons of 4, 8, 10 and 26 games, only once playing more than 70.After yet again appearing in just 17 for the Wiz last year, Livingston landed on the Nets - his seventh team in six seasons - and highly improbably dropped near career-best numbers for a Playoff team, appearing in a personal best 76 games, and having been the first sign of life when Brooklyn bombed out of the gate.
The fact that he's still in the NBA is a testament to his will and toughness; what he showed us this season deserves a nod.
Regards to:
Ham of the Year: Andrew Bynum
The player who insulted expectations, his paycheck, and the game of basketball the most through continued dubiousness and a general resemblance to a roasted slab of meat.
I don't like to pick on injured players with this award, but in some cases it's just unavoidable. Especially when said injury was incurred while the player was tossing some ten-pin before he was cleared for activity. Enter this season's Andrew Bynum's Saga:After spending a year on the bench, becoming an internet sideshow, Bynum's time in Cleveland was marked by disconnected play and enough incredulous stories to fuel a Best of Maury Povich DVD. There were sources claiming he'd slept with a coach's wife, others saying he'd spent an entire team scrimmage launching three-pointers off every touch, and one report went so far as him meeting with then-GM Chris Grant, claiming he didn't want to play basketball anymore.
Slotting an early-termination clause into his deal - allowing them to ditch him mid-season in the somewhat-likely event this were to happen - was the best thing that happened to the Cavs this year, turning the ability to fire Bynum into a trade asset. Indiana doesn't exactly have much to say about his time there.
Regards to: OJ Mayo, Andrea Bargnani, Anthony Bennett
The David Stern Award: Anthony Davis
The player who made the biggest power move this year.
I'm introducing this new award, not only as a needed salute to a legendary builder whom we all owe as fans of the game, but as the UnOfficial Awards' answer to Best Picture, Album of the Year, and Choice Hissy Fit.The best way to explain my logic for this award is a combination of MVP and MIP; a player has to have escalated significantly, but more or less to or within the NBA's Penthouse (ruling out basically the entire MIP field). Like Stern, he's shown tremendous growth that has registered in the most impactful way.
What Davis showed this season was the makings of an all-around big man eerily reminiscent of Hakeem Olajuwon, who Bill Simmons in The Book of Basketball declared a "kajillionpilliongazillionfrazillionfriggallionmaillion to one" that we'd ever see again. The guy can do pretty much everything right now, and is still 21 (twenty-f***ing-one) and has so much to learn that it's almost unfair what he's capable of. When he pulls it all together consistently, he'll be totally unstoppable.
More or less everyone knew Davis was primed for a leap this year after adjusting to life in the NBA and its learning curve, fully healing his leg, and adding some bulk to his wiry frame. Nobody really saw this kind of casual all-around dominance from The Brow; the kind of season that promises he'll be an MVP someday.
It's really only a matter of how long the LeBron & Durant's Jay-Z/Nas duel carries on. They've got now, but Davis took next very decisively, and doesn't look like he's waiting too patiently.
Regards to: Kevin Durant, Joakim Noah, Blake Griffin
Congrats to this year's winners (your trophies and Tim Horton's Gift Cards are in the mail). See you all on Saturday for what...? Playoffs.
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