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
Everyone on this site, it seems, gets to publish individual rankings for everything from MVP to Sixth Man to Rookie of the Year to Most Improved. Heck, we have more rankings on this site than Gallup. Well, just because Sheridan stuck me and my brother Andy with the Power Rankings — a broader picture looking at the 30 teams, not necessarily the 430 players on them — shouldn’t mean we go voteless, right? I kid. Our canvas is blank, so this
The NBA announced the All-Rookie Team on Tuesday. Sheridan Hoops announced it on April 11. We ran a weekly Rookie Rankings this season, and while the Rookie of the Year was decided sometime before the All-Star break, it remained to be seen who would join Portland’s Damian Lillard among the NBA’s top five rookies. [Read more…]
The 1,230-game NBA regular season ends Wednesday. The following morning, editor-in-chief Chris Sheridan will submit his ballot for the season-ending awards. I don’t have a vote but I am hoping to influence his thought process with my choices, which are below. If not, I am hoping I will make him laugh with my snotty remarks. Let’s get to it. [Read more…]
A dozen teams have played at least half their schedule and another seven will join them today, when the most of the most significant holidays in this country’s history becomes the season’s unofficial midway point. So Dr. Martin Luther King Day is as good a time as any to examine the current front-runners for the annual awards. Included are links to both our staff’s preseason picks and the current rankings. And as always, we’ve included snide remarks if/when necessary. [Read more…]
I’m filling in for our peerless, fearless editor-in-chief for this week’s edition – – which means these will be our Most Improved Rankings in more ways than one. This is perhaps the most difficult award for media members, because every season there are dozens of candidates and almost as many parameters for what constitutes improved. A case in point came last season, when the media clearly voted for the wrong guy. [Read more…]
LeBron James won his second straight NBA Player of the Week award Monday. Kenneth Faried didn’t. Last week’s winners were James, the superstar of the Miami Heat, and Faried, the emerging young forward of the Denver Nuggets. This week it is James – for the record 39th time in his career – and Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder. James is practically making a mockery of the award. The Eastern Conference winner led the Heat to a 3-1 record while averaging
If you win Defensive Player of the Year, you should probably be on the All-Defensive First Team, right? Wrong. New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler, who won Defensive Player of the Year honors this season, was bumped to the Second Team. The Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard was the center on the First Team. Defensive Player of the Year voting was done by a media panel, while the All-Defensive Teams were chosen by the NBA’s 30 coaches, who could not vote for players on