I always wait until the final game of the NBA season is in the books before handing in my postseason awards ballot, and the reason is twofold: If the deadline is not until Thursday afternoon, what’s the hurry? (This is how journalists work when it comes to deadlines. Most of us, anyway.) The second is because you always want to wait and see if something happens on the final night of the season to change either your ballot or your
There is a reason why I always wait until the 82nd game of the season is in the books before deciding on my postseason awards choices. Three words: What’s the hurry? This is a lesson I learned way back in 1999 when I was covering a late regular-season game at the Alamodome during the lockout-shortened 50-game season. There were still three of four games left, and I was sitting alongside a veteran reporter from USA Today and asked him which way he
(Readers: This post originally ran April 18, shortly after I cast my NBA award ballot. It is relevant today because I was the only voter to put LeBron James on the Second Team, behind Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin.-CS) Wow, you sure can catch a lot of grief when you tell folks you voted LeBron James to 2nd Team All-NBA. I put that word out on Twitter at midweek, and I have been fending off venom ever since. Hey folks: Here’s the
When the NBA Finals tip off Thursday night, each team will have one member of the All-NBA Teams announced Wednesday. The Miami Heat will have forward LeBron James, who was joined on the All-NBA First Team by forward Kevin Durant of Oklahoma City, center Joakim Noah and guards James Harden of Houston and Chris Paul of the LA Clippers. Durant, the NBA MVP, was the lone unanimous choice with 125 votes. James came up one vote shy. The San Antonio Spurs will
Transparency is a two-way street. For years, NBA media members – echoing the sentiments of its passionate fan base – wanted more transparency from Commissioner David Stern and his executive staff. Whether it was a lottery drawing, a suspension in the playoffs or a referee scandal, folks felt like they were entitled to an explanation. And they were. Stern grudgingly came around. He arranged for the media to meet with referees prior to the season about rules changes. He allowed the media
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…]
With the regular season just about over, it’s time to hand out the annual awards. MVP and Rookie of the Year are forgone conclusions: it’s LeBron James and Damian Lillard’s to lose. Case closed. It gets much murkier after that, though, as no one else has truly separated themselves to be called unanimous candidates to win any particular award. [Related: Chris Bernucca – The Envelops, Please] [Read more…]