Geltzeiler, The Envelope, Please — Part II (The Geltzies)

12th Man of the Year- Timofey Mozgov

The Denver Nuggets have an embarrassment of riches at the center position. Their starter, Kosta Koufos is one of the more underrated big men in the NBA who is an advanced stat monster. They’re paying their backup, Javale McGee, over 8 figures a year and although he’s a tad overpaid, he gives them very good minutes as a backup center. Frankly, McGee would start on half the teams in the league and contribute significantly. Then, there’s the curious case of Timofey Mozgov.

Mozgov showed up to training camp in poor condition and quickly hurt a knee which out him behind the eight ball. With the way Koufos and McGee have played, there’s been no time for Mozgov so he’s gotten buried — in a contract year nonetheless. The thing is that Mozgov is a decent player. Rim protectors are at a premium nd Mozgov isn’t bad at it. He’s also a decent rebounder plus he can defend the post. He’s also not a bad finisher around the basket. I don’t blame Denver head coach George Karl for not playing him much. However, Mozgov is the best of the players who aren’t in a rotation, but should be.

The other two guys I looked at for the 12th man of the year were Nando de Colo of the Spurs and Hasheem Thabeet of the Oklahoma City Thunder. De Colo’s game is part Manu Ginobili, part J.J Barea. He’s stuck behind Tony Parker and Gary Neal in San Antonio, but when he plays, he has an impact. Thabeet gave the Thunder some decent minutes earlier in the season but Scott Brooks stopped using him. With the way the Thunder bigs have been pushed around by some of the Western Conference elite, I’ve heard worse ideas than dusting Thabeet off.

Most Improved Player- James Harden

It was never in dispute before this season that James Harden was a very good NBA player. He played an essential role for the Thunder and was a big reason they made it to the NBA Finals last season. When he was traded to Houston, the perception going in was that he’d still be very good, but would need some reinforcements before he could lead the Rockets back to the playoffs. Harden lit a match to those perceptions.

Harden came to the Rockets and took the added responsibility of having his own team to lead and turned into a 1st team NBA kind of player, a great player.

His understanding of spacing and timing has been a marriage made in heaven with the Rockets wide open uptempo system. His versatility has been a big reason that he and Jeremy Lin have been able to fit real well together. Even though, more nights than not, Harden is a volume shooter, he focuses on 3-point shots and shots in the paint, all but eliminating the long twos. Because he’s constantly attacking the paint, he gets to the free throw line a ton. Harden averaged over 10 free throw attempts per game this season, up from only 6 last year. Harden is one of those rare players who’s been able to convert more minutes and more usage into more efficiency. Just because he was very good when he started, doesn’t mean his jump to ‘great’ should be discriminated against.

The other two candidates I considered for this award were Wilson Chandler of Denver and Harden’s teammate, Chandler Parsons. Chandler spent some time out with a hip injury but when he came back, he played better than ever. His shooting and defense have both drastically improved, which makes his game well rounded in a scary way. Chandler may not have a true weakness in his game. Parsons went from being primarily a defensive specialist and a good transition player to be a legit spot-up shooter and a scoring and passing threat off the dribble and played a big role in Houston getting back to the playoffs.

Least Improved Player- Landry Fields

The decline in Fields’ game over his short 3 year career has been quite steep. He went from a guy who was thought to have some upside as a 3-point shooter even though it wasn’t a strength to a guy who could throw a bag of garbage off a pier and miss the water. His rookie year , he shot a respectable 39% from behind the arc on 2.7 attempts per game. That was down to 25% last season on 1.8 attempts per game down to 14% this season on .3 attempts per game, which amounts to 2-14 on the season.

It’s not only hot shooting. His defense was awful this season. He went from being an adequate wing defender to being a guy that can’t handle anyone. His confidence seems totally shot. Last season, his excuse in New York was that he couldn’t play with Carmelo Anthony. For this season, he got a big money contract from Toronto that made him more overpaid than Paris Hilton. The reason Toronto signed him was to try to break up a Steve Nash to the Lakers marriage kind of the way Cha Cha Di Gregorio tried to break up Danny And Sandy in the movie Grease. It had no chance of working out and backfired terribly for the Raptors as they are now stuck paying a stiff over $6 million a year for 2 years after this one.

The other two guys I considered for this award were Andris Biedrins and Derk Fisher. Biedrins is another one who was once a productive player and gradually turned into a mess who plays offense like a tone-deaf child sings. Fisher is supposedly on the Thunder for his leadership and shooting. He can’t hit a shot to save his life and looks incredibly athletically inferior on the court. The game looks much too fast for him to a point that his leadership abilities have been compromised because his much younger teammates have lost all confidence in his ability to contribute.

Defensive Player of the Year- Roy Hibbert

Hibbert has had a misunderstood year. Because he struggled so much offensively earlier in the season, his dominant defense has fallen under the radar a little bit. The bottom line is that Hibbert has been the anchor for the NBA’s top defense and has had an absolutely terrific year.

Hibbert has always been a very good shot blocker but he’s taken it to a new level this season, raising his average blocks by over a half a block per game in playing one less minute per game. However, as it exists for most premium rim protectors, Hibbert’s value is measured in not just the shots he blocks, but the ones he changes and prevents.

Furthermore, Hibbert is a shot blocker who’s very difficult to head fake. Because of his 7’3” frame and his long arms, he’s blocking and altering shots without even jumping. The Pacers have had a rough April defensively up until this point, but Hibbert is rock solid. He’s had his most impactful season yet and is more than worthy of this award.

The two other players I considered for this award were Tim Duncan of the Spurs and Larry Sanders (hey now) of the Bucks. Duncan had a bounce back year in every way and anchored a rock solid San Antonio defense all year. In only 2 extra minutes per game, Duncan has almost doubled his blocked shot production from last year going from 1.5 per game to 2.7 per game. Sanders had a similar jump in blocks from 1.5 to 2.8 but also doubled his minutes. He was able to give Milwaukee a premium rim protector that they were desperate for, which helped them secure a playoff spot. My two favorite perimeter defenders were Andre Igoudala and Paul George but it was a year for the big guys.

Worst Defensive Player- Antawn Jamison

Jamison has never been a good defender by any stretch of the imagination. When he was traded to Cleveland in 2010 as part of the cavalry that was supposed to keep LeBron in Cleveland, he was certainly exposed as a guy who couldn’t guard much. However, his season as a reserve with the defensively challenged Lakers has taken his defensive futility to a whole new level.

Laker coach Mike D’Antoni doesn’t emphasize defense as much as he does offense. From that standpoint, it would appear that Jamison would be a good fit with him. However, Jamison’s defense was so nonexistent, the Lakers had the effect of playing 4 on 5 defensively with Jamison on the floor. He defends like he doesn’t want to get in anyone’s way, and God forbid he actually makes contact with an opposing player. He seems to avoid contact like someone with a severe OCD problem. The Lakers have been putrid defensively this season and Jamison has been the single biggest culprit.

Last year’s winner, Jimmer Fredette was also on the radar for thus year’s award. He hasn’t improved one bit on the defensive end and it’s come to a point that his defense prevents him from earning playing time on a miserable defensive Sacramento team.