Tag Archives: Dirk Nowitzki

Basketball

NBA “Midseason” Award Winners

               It’s the main event of NBA’s unofficial midseason: the All-Star Game. All-Star Weekend itself often has tons of storylines. For example, who were the biggest snubs? At first it looked like it would be Damian Lillard and DeMarcus Cousins, but both for in due to injuries from other players. After Dirk Nowitzki (who is still having a good season, but has slipped a bit) got in, my thought now is that DeAndre Jordan is actually the biggest snub left. He’s been having a Tyson Chandler like season, only he’s a much better rebounder than Chandler ever was. His presence in the middle really might make a difference in April…unless these first 54 games from him was just a fluke. Other storylines involved a stacked three point contest (won by Stephen Curry) and Zach LaVine leaving Dr. J’s jaw on the ground after one of his dunks. It’s been a fun All-Star Weekend for sure.

               Now that we’re at the “midseason”, it’s time to see who our front runners are for the regular season awards.

Most Improved Player

Butler has led the Bulls without an elite Derrick Rose
Butler has led the Bulls without an elite Derrick Rose

Jimmy Butler, SF Bulls

               Normally I’d be all “of course it’s Jimmy Butler, who else could it be?!”, but Klay Thompson could easily win this award as well. I have to give the edge to Butler though, because this season he’s shown to be someone we didn’t know he could be. We knew Thompson was a very good shooter at least. I mean the Warriors wouldn’t part ways with him for Kevin Love (a genius move, I was sure wrong about that one) and he and Curry already had the “Splash Bros.” nickname going. But we already knew Thompson was good. Yes he’s even a better shooter than we thought, and yes he’s improved on defense quite a bit. And yes, he did score 37 points in one quarter.

               But what did we really think of Butler before this season? He was an okay to good (depending on the night) wing that wasn’t a difference maker of any kind. The Bulls spent all summer trying to land Carmelo Anthony. Butler shot under 40% last season with 13 PPG and 5 RPG. Not really inspiring stuff. He had a PER of 13.5 (below average), a WS48 of .131 (solid rotation guy) and an offensive rating of 108 on 17% usage (good roleplayer). This year? 46% shooting, 20.4 PPG, 6 RPG, PER of 21.3, 123 ORtg on 21.5% usage. Those are some crazy jumps. He’s doing all this without an effective Derrick Rose no less. And Bulls fans don’t really seem to be talking about Carmelo anymore.

Sixth Man of the Year

Lou has helped the Raptors stay near the top of the East
Lou has helped the Raptors stay near the top of the East

Lou Williams, SG, Raptors

This comes down to three players for me so far. Williams, Jamal Crawford and Isaiah Thomas. I should probably rule out Crawford as this has been his worst LA Clipper year so far. He’s not quite the offensive sparkplug he was even last year, and if he’s not going to be a very good offensive guy then his horrid defense becomes a bigger problem. I’m in on Williams as he’s been part of a team that hasn’t had any chemistry problems since adding him and Toronto’s been near the top of the East for the entire year. Thomas and Williams are pretty close to the same player statwise (Thomas has a small edge), but trade rumors have been abundant in Phoenix ever since the idea of playing three guards came about. Sure, Goran Dragic’s contract is up soon, but you don’t see the Suns actively trying to keep him either.

Rookie of the Year

Wiggins looks like the real deal
Wiggins looks like the real deal

Andrew Wiggins, SG, Timberwolves

He started slow…played Cleveland in December and caught fire ever since. Since that game against Cleveland on 12/23, he’s averaged 18.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 2.5 APG and only 1.9 TPG on nearly 47% shooting. And he didn’t have Ricky Rubio for most of it. That’s….pretty good. Once Jabari Parker went down all Wiggins had to do was play well to win the award…and he has.

Defensive Player of the Year

Green has led the best defense in the NBA
Green has led the best defense in the NBA

Draymond Green, SF, Warriors

It’s not every day that a swingman has the lowest defensive rating in the league, but when one does it would be pretty hard for him not to win the Defensive Player of the Year award. The Warriors boast the best defensive team in basketball despite playing in the loaded West with an offensive first point guard in a point guard heavy league. Green manages to guard three different spots on the court effectively. Paul Millsap would be my 2nd choice here, followed by Anthony Davis.

Coach of the Year

No one had the Hawks at 43-11
No one had the Hawks at 43-11

Mike Budenholzer, Hawks

Yeah, I don’t even think the city of Atlanta had the Hawks winning 43 games by the All-Star break. In fact, 43 games total was a realistic total. Another Gregg Popovich assistant of course. Budenholzer has some competition though. Steve Kerr of course deserves credit for taking the Warriors to the next level, and Jason Kidd went from the ousted laughing stock rookie head coach of the Nets to somehow having the Bucks…without Jabari Parker…in the midst of the playoffs.

               Still though, the Hawks are 43-11. What?

Most Valuable Player

Harden is doing as well as Curry without a lot less to work with
Harden is doing as well as Curry without a lot less to work with

James Harden, SG, Rockets

There are four cases to make for the MVP this season so far: Harden, Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Let’s start with Curry, as to be him and Harden are 1a and 1b here. Curry has obviously been stupid good this seas. He’s shooting lights out (48-40-90%), he’s distributing the ball (7.9 APG), he’s leading the league in steals (2.2). He has a great MVP level WS/48 this season (.283, tied for the 18th highest in the 3 point shooting era with Shaq’s 2000 season). He’s on the best team in the toughest conference. So why didn’t I pick him? Harden’s close to him in most of these #s, better in some advanced metrics and is clearly working with a hell of a lot less. Curry has Thompson, Green, even Kerr as a coach. Harden has a banged up Dwight Howard who isn’t Dwight Howard anymore, Josh Smith who even when he is Josh Smith it’s not guaranteed it’s a good thing.

LeBron’s case seems dubious as this is arguably his worst season since his rookie year. But then you see the following:

Cavs With LeBron: 31-14

Cavs Without LeBron: 2-8

               That’s a big difference. I won’t count him out as if he has a monster last 27 games where the Cavs win 22 or 23 of them, voters will notice and forget about November and December.

               Anthony Davis’s case is insane. Despite what we mentioned about Curry’s WS/48…Davis actually has a higher one of .291 right now. That would be good for 12th in the 3 Point era. Only players above him? Lebron (’13, ’09, ’10, ’12), Jordan (’91, ’96, ’88, ’89), David Robinson (’94), Durant (’14), and Chris Paul (’09). That’s the list. It’s interesting to look at Robinson when thinking about Davis here. He too put up a lot of “holy shit” stats. But he only brought home one MVP as his teams were never really the best. In this case, the 27-26 Pelicans have to be better for Davis to win the MVP. Even if he has a record breaking PER. Yeah, it’s amazing that a team with Tyreke Evans, Jrue Holiday and Eric Gordon (three black hole All-Stars for sure) as their 2, 3 and 4 scorers is even remotely in the Western Conference playoff hunt. But that’s not enough.

               So James Harden. He too has a ridiculous WS/48 (.275). He actually has the highest offensive win shares of anyone in the league. He’s carrying this Rockets team. Dwight Howard isn’t a great player anymore. He’s on a team where only two guys have higher than a 16 PER (him and Howard). Yet this team is 36-17. He’s leading the league in scoring. He’s averaging a 27-6-7 with 2 steals a game. He is your MVP.

Basketball

Reviewing the Rajon Rondo Trade

rondo

Rajon Rondo is one of the most polarizing figures in the NBA. Public expectation of Rondo has zig zagged throughout this entire career. In 2006 when he was drafted by Boston (or sold by Phoenix, however you want to look at these things), he was the point guard who couldn’t shoot. In 2007 he was expected to be competent enough to not screw-up the new big three and hopeful NBA Champion Boston Celtics. From 2009 through 2012 he was supposed to be the best player AND future of the Celtics. In 2014 he was supposed to lead the Celtics after a terrible ACL injury…but no one knew despite his statistics how good he really was or if he could be good without a Hall of Fame cast. Now, he’s supposed to be the missing piece to get Dallas over the hump and deliver Dirk Nowitzki a second ring.

               The trade is constructed as follows: Boston sends Rajon Rondo for Brandan Wright, Jameer Nelson, Jae Crowder, a 2015 1st rounder from Dallas if it falls between #4 and #14 (it won’t) or a top 7 protected 2016 1st (very likely). I’m not sure, but I believe a second pick is in there somewhere as well.

               Let’s first look at both of these teams. First, Boston. The Celtics have built towards the future obviously and have built quite well. They absolutely shackled the Nets with the Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett trade (the Nets have to swap their 2017 1st with Boston, as well as give up their 2016 and 2018 1st rounders…I think. They also got their 2014 1st rounder too. They selected James Young.) If you’ve seen the Nets and what their future looks like, you probably are expecting another Boston dynasty in about five years. Boston also has a late 1st round pick in 2015 from the Clippers in the Doc Rivers deal and a 2016 1st from Cleveland in the Keith Bogans deal. Garnett’s a shell of a shell of his former self…and Pierce currently plays for the Wizards. While Boston didn’t get enough for Rondo here, it’s not as bad as many have made it out to be.

               The Mavericks are in contention mode right now and are absolutely doing the right thing in trying to upgrade their roster short term. You don’t waste players like Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki’s entered that Reggie Miller part of his career where his raw stats may not look like anything special, but he’s still a ridiculous player who can hit any shot and wins games…playoff games included…at any time. You can definitely win a championship in 2014 with this Dirk Nowitzki. Monta Ellis, traditionally a volume shooter than hurts his team more than he helps, does well enough alongside Nowitzki on the offensive end. He gets opportunities he didn’t get in Golden State and Milwakuee playing with Nowitzki. He and Nowitzki’s defensive shortcomings are all covered up by a rejuvenated Tyson Chandler, who also doubles as one of the most efficient offensive players in the league (currently shooting 68% from the floor, which is basically all put backs and dunks. Some would use that as an argument to say Chandler isn’t a good offensive player…which doesn’t make any sense at all.) Chandler Parsons of course is a solid offensive player himself. Considering their starting point guards have been a washed up Nelson and a washed up Devin Harris and they STILL have an incredible offense that leads the league in both PPG and Offensive Rating, well, Rondo has to be considered a huge upgrade, right? And defensively, Nelson and Harris are average at best. Again, Rondo can only improve that, correct?

               Well, yes and no. Rajon Rondo is polarizing as his resume reintroduces the question of whether good stats means a good player. Rondo’s stats are pretty great for a point guard. He’s led the league in assists per game three of the last four seasons (counting this season so far). His last six season APG averages? 9.8, 11.2, 11.7, 11.1, 9.8 and 10.8 this season. I mean, those aren’t just good…those are incredible. He’s usually close to averaging two steals a game. He doesn’t shoot a lot and always looks to set up teammates. He sounds like a perfect player for this Mavericks team. But the downside is after 8 seasons Rajon Rondo still can’t hit an outside shot. He can barely hit a 15 footer. While Nelson and Harris aren’t exactly Stephen Curry out there, and Nelson is even shooting 37%, they are still players that should be guarded from the outside. That’s part of some past reputation. But Rondo? Why guard him at all if you can just double Nowitzki? Clog up the middle and make Rondo shoot. That’s what the Lakers did in the 2010 Finals afterall. This glaring weakness is huge and has prevented Rondo from becoming a truly elite point guard along the lines of Chris Paul. He’s a new age Jason Kidd…although Kidd was always able to get the best out of subpar teammates. Rondo hasn’t been able to do that. All of this coupled with his ACL history creates something that kind of make sense of why he was traded for 50 cents on the dollar.

               Do I think Boston could have and should have gotten more? Yes. But it was still okay. Dallas won this trade though not just because they traded very little of value to upgrade from Nelson and Harris to Rondo…but because of who Rondo can be when he’s motivated. His 2009 playoff box scores when carrying the Kevin Garnett-less Celtics were incredible. (29-9-7, 19-12-16, 20-11-6-5, 25-11-11 and 28-11 against Chicago in the first round, 14-10-8, 15-11-18, 21-12-14 vs. Orlando in round 2). He was the best player in the Boston-Cleveland series in 2010, and put up a gem of a game (29-18-13) in a crucial game 4. You really think Damian Lillard, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Tony Parker and Stephen Curry want to deal with Rajon Rondo in the playoffs?

Great move for Dallas, good but could have been better move for Boston.