Reggie Jackson is really, really good. Still, not that many people realize it. He’s the kind of player whose impact on his team is completely understated because his per-game numbers fail to tell the whole story. When people think of the Oklahoma City Thunder, they think of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook putting up big numbers and carrying the team to wins. As it turns out, Jackson’s impact on the Thunder’s success is not too far behind. For the season, Jackson is averaging
It’s time for people to start taking notice of the rejuvenated Manu Ginobili and his impressive start to the season. San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had good reason to rest Ginobili on Thursday night in Golden State. After all, through eight December games, Ginobili has averaged 14 points, 5.4 assists and 4.0 rebounds. Those numbers are impressive for any bench player. When you consider that Ginobili has put them up in just 22.6 minutes per game, it ranks him among the
The Sixth Man Award is a complicated one. Historically, the winner has been a super scorer who provides a needed offensive boost to a winning team. But this season might be different. No top team has a true standout scorer off the bench who fits the mold of winners from seasons past. The one exception could be Ryan Anderson of the New Orleans Pelicans. Sure, New Orleans is only 9-9 and has been wildly inconsistent this season. Still, since Anderson’s return to the
Well, it’s happened. The NBA’s early season darling teams have fallen back to earth. The Phoenix Suns, who started 5-2, are now 5-6 and look poised for the early lottery once again. Meanwhile, the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division could be historically bad. The Philadelphia 76ers, who have won only twice in their last 10 games, trail the Toronto Raptors by only a half game for first place. And the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets are fighting for Gotham’s infamy as they both stand
LeBron James fell one vote shy of being the unanimous MVP. He had no such issues with the All-NBA Team. The superstar forward of the Miami Heat was the only unanimous selection to the First Team, announced Thursday by the NBA. He was chosen by all 119 media members, whose voting habits remain somewhat questionable. [Read more…]
When I cast my Coach of the Year vote for George Karl, I had no idea so many others would do the same. More than half the voters made the same choice. The final individual award given out by the NBA was announced this morning, and Karl was the Coach of the Year in a runaway. with Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat second and Mike Woodson of the Knicks third. [Read more…]
Who cast a first-place vote for Carmelo Anthony for Most Valuable Player, denying LeBron James the honor of being the first unanimous selection in NBA history? It was Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. [Read more…]
We ran a similar poll to this one a month ago, and Mike Woodson was the winner by a resounding margin. Now we are setting the reset button and starting over, given that Coach of the Year it is the only award for which there is any suspense now that we know that Marc Gasol is the Defensive Player of the Year, Paul George is Most Improved and J.R. Smith is the Sixth Man Award winner. (Click on any of those