If MarShon Brooks scores 34 points in an NBA Summer League game, does he make a sound? That depends on who’s listening. The casual basketball fan would say no, it’s freaking Summer League. But coaches, GMs and observant fans understand that Brooks, like a teenager who ran out of ProActiv, is on the verge of a breakout. The 6-5 guard has been a gifted scorer his entire life. He once put up 57 points in a 16-and-under AAU game and stunned the college basketball
Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden ran away with the Sixth Man Award, receiving all but four of the 119 first-place votes. In voting released Thursday by the NBA, Harden received 584 of a possible 595 points. He received 115 first-place votes, three second-place votes and inexplicably was left off one ballot. Points were on a 5-3-1 basis and sportswriters and broadcasters in the United States and Canada had ballots. Harden played 62 games and came off the bench in
I always use “valuable” as the operative word when voting for the Most Valuable Player, and that is the reason why I have cast my ballot this season for Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers. It came down to a decision between Paul and LeBron James, and as impressed as I have been with LeBron’s focus, determination and across-the-board improvement in every statistical category except assists, I do not see him as a valuable closer when he is paired with
We’re gonna go out on a limb and say the artist formerly known as Ron Artest won’t be repeating as winner of the Citizenship Award. But what of the NBA’s other season-ending awards? Our winners are below, replete with the customary snotty remarks. EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR: Indiana’s Larry Bird turned the Pacers into a borderline elite team, with offseason additions David West and George Hill and in-season addition Leandro Barbosa, adding needed playoff experience. He also preserved his cap room for this
Anyone have a problem with all five of Kentucky’s starters declaring for the draft? I don’t. And if you do, you need to join all of us in the 21st century. The decisions by UK freshmen Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague and sophomores Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb to leave school early and enter the NBA may seem somewhat striking. Among purists, fuddy-duddies and others trying to stand in front of the tidal wave of progress, there was some sense that the
I have been an MVP voter for the past six years, and it remains to be seen whether my departure from the mainstream media will impact my chances of casting a vote for the seventh straight season (When I was the NBA writer at the Associated Press for 10 years prior to my six at ESPN, we were not permitted to vote — the same rule writers at the New York Times have to follow). The guy who sends out the
There aren’t many fringe benefits that come with a 66-game schedule, but one cool quirk is that All-Star Weekend is splitting the season almost exactly in half. When the Lakers and Thunder wrap things up late Thursday night, all but six teams will have played half their games as the league takes a four-day break in Orlando, where the forecast is less than ideal. Speaking of less than ideal forecasts, below are our midseason award winners, delivered with the complete understanding that “they