Hollinger's Midseason Award Winners

[Built Ford Tough]

Its an Insider article, so I'll just post his winners and honourable mentions.

 

Most Improved Player: Luke Ridnour

HM: David Lee, Josh Smith, Carl Landry, Kevin Durant, Kendrick Perkins

 

Sixth Man of the Year: Carl Landry

HM: Jamal Crawford, Manu Ginobili, Luke Ridnour

 

Rookie of the Year: Tyreke Evans

HM: Brandon Jennings, Omri Casspi

 

Defensive Player of the Year: Anderson Varejao

HM: Ron Artest, Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo, Josh Smith, Kendrick Perkins

 

Coach of the Year: Larry Brown

HM: Rick Adelman, Lionel Hollins, Phil Jackson

 

Most Valuable Player: LeBron James

HM: Kobe Bryant, Chris Bosh, Tim Duncan, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade

 

As you can guess, he bases many of his explainations off of PER, win shares, plus/minus and many other of his favourite stats.

Edited January 26, 2010 by Built Ford Tough

[Poe]

Ridnour is a surprising choice, and a good candidate... but nowhere near the most improved. My choice would either be Landry or Gallinari.

 

I agree with the sixth man... at midseason, it's too obvious. Like everyone says, he's played out of his mind.

 

ROY is easily Tyreke. Jennings has steadily gotten worse as defenses have payed more attention to him, while Reke is growing into an unstoppable force in the league.

 

DPoY is an interesting choice... personally, I'm going with 'Crash' Wallace. Dude is having an amazing year. Funny how he couldn't even find a spot in the HM for him.

 

Larry Brown or Rick Adelman for COY. Both are very deserving.

 

MVP is clearly LeBron. Like Ron said, the Cavs are nothing without him (okay, maybe 30 wins or so, but nowhere near the top in the East). Obviously the most valuable to his team.

[BasX]

CoY could be Nate McMillan as well. That team is so injured, and yet actually competitive.

[KurbyFX]

Most improved? Landry ain't even the most improved on his team. It's Brooks, no doubt, hands down the MIP. He went to a scrapper ifghting for PT into a starter and legit player.

 

Sixth? I'd say Crawford. He's doing more for a BETTER team. The Rockets are going to cool off.

 

Josh Smith would be my DPOY but that's cause he can do it all and has decided not to chuck 3s this season.

[Poe]

Josh Smith would be my DPOY but that's cause he can do it all and has decided not to chuck 3s this season.

Yea, cause chucking threes proves that he's such a good defender.

[Check my Stats]

Ehh, don't really disagree with any of his choices, AV definitely shouldn't be DPOTY IMO though, he is a key part but is by no means a defensive anchor IMO, G-Wall or D12 or maybe even Jsmoove would get this over him in my books.

 

Everything else looks about right, Ridnour is basically matching his career numbers so I am kind of confused by that decision, Brook Lopez and David Lee are two guys I would probably take over him, maybe even Bargnani to an extent but that may be biased.

 

LeBron is definitely the MVP of the NBA though, I don't know how you could go with Kobe in light of his recent play combined with the fact LeBron beat him TWICE this year.

[Poe]

Thing about LeBron is that he didn't deserve it last year... Now there's no doubt, but Wade deserved it last year, and Kobe deserved more than one for his career, so it makes me feel like they need theirs to make up for it.

[Erick Blasco]

This is the same Ridnour who has played his entire career except for that one nightmare season his last year in Seattle. Has anyone seen the quantum leap David Lee has taken in his jump shooting? He's an offensive weapon like he's never been before. Landry's just playing a little more, I don't know if his game has "improved" that much. He's always been nasty down low.

 

I like the Varejao DPOY pick and kudos to Hollinger for not mentioning Battier. With how slow most NBA voters are, Battier will probably win DPOY this year for his work the last two seasons when he doesn't deserve to even be considered this year. Varejao's a defensive monster. The other candidate I'd like to see is LeBron. Unlike last year when his defense mostly consisted of transition blocks, he's a much better on-ball and help defender this year.

 

I'd give Crawford the 6th man award for now, but I'd also have Andy V as an honorable mention. Can't disagree with anyone else.

 

Thanks for posting this BFT, I hate how Hollinger's articles are insider only but he does have to support himself.

[Check my Stats]

Thing about LeBron is that he didn't deserve it last year... Now there's no doubt, but Wade deserved it last year, and Kobe deserved more than one for his career, so it makes me feel like they need theirs to make up for it.

 

LeBron was quite easily the MVP last year. How was Wade even close? By your criteria, Wade carrying the team on his own to 50 wins, LeBron would already have 5 MVP's since he has been doing that his ENTIRE CAREER.

 

LeBron was not only the best player on the best team last year (record wise of course), he was also the most dominant and easily the most valuable player in the NBA. LeBron is once again this year, the best player in the NBA, and on currently the number 1 team in the NBA. I don't know how you can go against LeBron right now, especially if the Cavaliers continue to dominate withou their 'allstar' Mo Williams. Way too much credit was given to Mo last year, the Cavs were winning 60 games with or without Mo last year.

 

Anyway you slice it, LeBron was the MVP last year, and is again this year, especially with Kobe struggling right now no one is even close.

Edited January 27, 2010 by travesy3

[KurbyFX]

Yea, cause chucking threes proves that he's such a good defender.

 

What are you talking about...

[Lemon]

What are you talking about...

 

He's poking at how you stated your comment.

 

I like most choices. I like Larry Brown as CotY for how he turned Bobcats into the #1 Defense. Also I like Crash for the very same reason for DPotY. I like Josh Smith as MIP. His change into consistency is the sole reason why Hawks are borderline elite. 6th man is a tossup between landry and crawford so far.

[KurbyFX]

How did I "mis-state" my comment? I said he decided to stop chucking 3s and is focusing on "big man" skills.

[JWaLL]

Hehe, no Varejao for the sixth man award, not even an honorable mention. I was right.

 

And Jedi, the way you stated it made it sound like his defense naturally improved because he stopped shooting 3s, which makes no sense. Changing one aspect of your offense doesn't really reflect on your ability on the defensive end.

[Big Penny]

LeBron is definitely the MVP of the NBA though, I don't know how you could go with Kobe in light of his recent play combined with the fact LeBron beat him TWICE this year.

LeBron didn;t beat Kobe, they haven't played. the Cavs beat the Lakers.

 

and LA beat Cleveland twice last season, but Lebron still won MVP... that argument is invalid

[Warren2ThaG]

LeBron didn;t beat Kobe, they haven't played. the Cavs beat the Lakers.

 

and LA beat Cleveland twice last season, but Lebron still won MVP... that argument is invalid

 

Agreed, MVP nowadays is about team record most likely between the 2 best in the NBA.