Post by RManske2 on Feb 6, 2011 12:53:47 GMT -5
With half of the season being in the books, there has been a fair share of surprises and disappointments around the league up to this point. While there is still another half of the year to go in which anything can happen, here is a quick look at those who are the front runners for some of the individual awards.
Most Valuable Player: Joe Johnson - Portland Trailblazers[/b]
With all due respect to every other player in the league, I don't even think this race is close at this time. Johnson has led the Blazers to a 29-19 record in the West, which currently puts them in the third seed if the playoffs were to start today. In addition to leading his team, Johnson has been completely dominant and is putting up numbers that could be history making. At the half way point, Johnson is averaging 39.7 minutes per game, tied for second in the league in the league with Vince Carter, and gives his coach no reason to pull him from the lineup. The superstar guard is averaging a league high 31.3 points (3.3 points more than the second leading scorer in the league, Allen Iverson), dishing out 10.0 assists per game which is good for fourth in the league, and getting it done on the defensive side of the ball with 2.7 steals per game, which is good enough for second in the league tied with Boston's Allen Iverson. As if this was not enough, Johnson is even picking up 6.6 rebounds per game. If Johnson finishes the season with these numbers it might be the first time in sim league history that a players averaging 30+ points and 10+ assists per game ever (although I could be wrong). And to just show how dominant Johnson has been, he has won player of the month each month so far this season and has won player of the week five times, including a stretch of four in a row from week 9 through week 12.
In addition to being the frontrunner for the MVP trophy, Portland's Joe Johnson could wind up with a season only legends can dream of.[/i]
And to add to the misery of everyone else in the league, the former University of Arkansas star is only 25 years of age and is under contract with Portland for the next five years. Needless to say Joe Johnson will not be leaving the Rose City anytime soon since if he was to be traded the fans might run the team's front office out of town and into the Columbia River. One thing worth watching the second half of the season though is how, if at all, the recent acquisition of Quentin Richardson (who is fourth in the league in scoring at 25.5 points per game) impacts Johnson's scoring numbers.
Defensive Player of the Year: Tim Duncan - Los Angeles Lakers[/b]
While this race might be closer than the Most Valuable Player race, I don't think that is really the case. As history as shown (or FBB), when it comes to this award post players seem to get the nod much more often than those out on the perimeter. With that in mind, my pick for this award goes to Tim Duncan of the Los Angeles Lakers. While Duncan's scoring is currently at an all-time low of 16.9 points, this can be attributed to the offensive firepower around him and taking the pressure off of him to be dominant at both ends of the court on a nightly basis.
In checking with the league, there is no truth to the rumor that the Defensive Player of the Year award is going to be named after Lakers star Tim Duncan.[/i]
Even though Duncan's numbers are down on offense, this is not affected him on the defensive end of the court at all. As he seems to do every year, the one time Wake Forest star goes out and puts up big time numbers as he is currently leading the league in perhaps the two most important statistical categories as it relates to this award: rebounding and blocked shots. Currently, Duncan is averaging 13.6 rebounds per game (1.1 more than the second place player, Emeka Okafor of the San Antonio Spurs) and registering a career high 4.2 blocks per game (1.2 more than Denver's Jerome James who is in second place). Then again, this should not come as a surprise to anyone as Duncan is gearing up to win the award for an unprecedented sixth time in his career with the other ones coming in 2000, 2001, and 2003 to the present time. At just 30 years of age I expect the future Hall of Famer to pick up this award a couple more times before he calls it a career.
Rookie of the Year: Lenny Cooke - Minnesota Timberwolves[/b]
In looking at this race it is very close to call as you have a talented class of players drafted this year in Milwaukee's Andrea Bargnani, Sacramento's Brandon Roy, and Cleveland's Rajon Rondo among them (and others I'm sure I missed). This is an important distinction since while there are those who were drafted this year, those who come up from the D-League are considered to be rookies as well and this is where Minnesota guard Lenny Cooke comes in. After spending two seasons in the D-League, Cooke has come onto the scene and played a significant role for his team that is rolling with a 33-7 record at the break.
In making this decision, I will admit that Minnesota's success was a factor in giving Cooke the edge here. However, the argument could be made that with Bargnani the Bucks are on the verge of getting into the playoffs and the Kings are rebuilding their roster around Roy for the future. In breaking down the numbers for the three individuals, as shown below, it is easy to make a case for each player involved in the Rookie of the Year race.
Cooke: 18.5 6.3 1.9 2.8 0.2 1.4 .514 .856 .402
Bargs: 19.0 8.6 1.9 0.7 1.2 1.9 .483 .770 .449
Roy: 18.4 6.9 4.4 1.4 0.6 2.1 .418 .840 .267
While Bargnani leads the three in scoring, as the margin shows this could easily change between the three at any given time so it's hard to give much stock to this stat at the time. In addition to leading in scoring, Bargnani also has the edge by leading in the rebounding and blocked shots categories. Detractors would likely point out that the Bucks rookie should lead in these areas since he is a seven-foot forward and is expected to put numbers up in those areas. However, to Bargnani's credit, he has shown a very complete game with his ability to shoot a nice percentage from the field and leads the three in shooting it from deep at a clip of 44.9 percent. In addition to the success Cooke's team is having, another key factor in my decision was the fact he is averaging 2.8 steals per game to lead the league so he is a force on both ends of the court. While I have Cooke winning the award at this point, I think this is one that could change each sim and I would not be surprised for someone other than Cooke to make a late season charge to try to capture this honor.
Most Valuable Player: Joe Johnson - Portland Trailblazers[/b]
With all due respect to every other player in the league, I don't even think this race is close at this time. Johnson has led the Blazers to a 29-19 record in the West, which currently puts them in the third seed if the playoffs were to start today. In addition to leading his team, Johnson has been completely dominant and is putting up numbers that could be history making. At the half way point, Johnson is averaging 39.7 minutes per game, tied for second in the league in the league with Vince Carter, and gives his coach no reason to pull him from the lineup. The superstar guard is averaging a league high 31.3 points (3.3 points more than the second leading scorer in the league, Allen Iverson), dishing out 10.0 assists per game which is good for fourth in the league, and getting it done on the defensive side of the ball with 2.7 steals per game, which is good enough for second in the league tied with Boston's Allen Iverson. As if this was not enough, Johnson is even picking up 6.6 rebounds per game. If Johnson finishes the season with these numbers it might be the first time in sim league history that a players averaging 30+ points and 10+ assists per game ever (although I could be wrong). And to just show how dominant Johnson has been, he has won player of the month each month so far this season and has won player of the week five times, including a stretch of four in a row from week 9 through week 12.
In addition to being the frontrunner for the MVP trophy, Portland's Joe Johnson could wind up with a season only legends can dream of.[/i]
And to add to the misery of everyone else in the league, the former University of Arkansas star is only 25 years of age and is under contract with Portland for the next five years. Needless to say Joe Johnson will not be leaving the Rose City anytime soon since if he was to be traded the fans might run the team's front office out of town and into the Columbia River. One thing worth watching the second half of the season though is how, if at all, the recent acquisition of Quentin Richardson (who is fourth in the league in scoring at 25.5 points per game) impacts Johnson's scoring numbers.
Defensive Player of the Year: Tim Duncan - Los Angeles Lakers[/b]
While this race might be closer than the Most Valuable Player race, I don't think that is really the case. As history as shown (or FBB), when it comes to this award post players seem to get the nod much more often than those out on the perimeter. With that in mind, my pick for this award goes to Tim Duncan of the Los Angeles Lakers. While Duncan's scoring is currently at an all-time low of 16.9 points, this can be attributed to the offensive firepower around him and taking the pressure off of him to be dominant at both ends of the court on a nightly basis.
In checking with the league, there is no truth to the rumor that the Defensive Player of the Year award is going to be named after Lakers star Tim Duncan.[/i]
Even though Duncan's numbers are down on offense, this is not affected him on the defensive end of the court at all. As he seems to do every year, the one time Wake Forest star goes out and puts up big time numbers as he is currently leading the league in perhaps the two most important statistical categories as it relates to this award: rebounding and blocked shots. Currently, Duncan is averaging 13.6 rebounds per game (1.1 more than the second place player, Emeka Okafor of the San Antonio Spurs) and registering a career high 4.2 blocks per game (1.2 more than Denver's Jerome James who is in second place). Then again, this should not come as a surprise to anyone as Duncan is gearing up to win the award for an unprecedented sixth time in his career with the other ones coming in 2000, 2001, and 2003 to the present time. At just 30 years of age I expect the future Hall of Famer to pick up this award a couple more times before he calls it a career.
Rookie of the Year: Lenny Cooke - Minnesota Timberwolves[/b]
In looking at this race it is very close to call as you have a talented class of players drafted this year in Milwaukee's Andrea Bargnani, Sacramento's Brandon Roy, and Cleveland's Rajon Rondo among them (and others I'm sure I missed). This is an important distinction since while there are those who were drafted this year, those who come up from the D-League are considered to be rookies as well and this is where Minnesota guard Lenny Cooke comes in. After spending two seasons in the D-League, Cooke has come onto the scene and played a significant role for his team that is rolling with a 33-7 record at the break.
In making this decision, I will admit that Minnesota's success was a factor in giving Cooke the edge here. However, the argument could be made that with Bargnani the Bucks are on the verge of getting into the playoffs and the Kings are rebuilding their roster around Roy for the future. In breaking down the numbers for the three individuals, as shown below, it is easy to make a case for each player involved in the Rookie of the Year race.
Cooke: 18.5 6.3 1.9 2.8 0.2 1.4 .514 .856 .402
Bargs: 19.0 8.6 1.9 0.7 1.2 1.9 .483 .770 .449
Roy: 18.4 6.9 4.4 1.4 0.6 2.1 .418 .840 .267
While Bargnani leads the three in scoring, as the margin shows this could easily change between the three at any given time so it's hard to give much stock to this stat at the time. In addition to leading in scoring, Bargnani also has the edge by leading in the rebounding and blocked shots categories. Detractors would likely point out that the Bucks rookie should lead in these areas since he is a seven-foot forward and is expected to put numbers up in those areas. However, to Bargnani's credit, he has shown a very complete game with his ability to shoot a nice percentage from the field and leads the three in shooting it from deep at a clip of 44.9 percent. In addition to the success Cooke's team is having, another key factor in my decision was the fact he is averaging 2.8 steals per game to lead the league so he is a force on both ends of the court. While I have Cooke winning the award at this point, I think this is one that could change each sim and I would not be surprised for someone other than Cooke to make a late season charge to try to capture this honor.
