NBA Midseason Awards

The All-Star break has come to an end and it's time to hand out the NBA Midseason awards. These are the award winners of the various NBA awards through this point of the season, not necessarily who we think will win the awards when they are given out later in the year.

MVP: Derrick Rose, NBA fans have heard enough about how Rose and the Bulls have only had Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah together in their lineup 9 games this season and still are the 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, but consider this: Could other super stars do what Rose is doing with the little talent he has had around him? Only a few players could carry a team the way Rose has carried the Bulls thus far which is why he is the lead canidate. Lebron carried worse teams to better records during his years in Cleveland and has 2 MVP's to show for it. Kobe Bryant carried those awful Laker teams in 2005 and 2006 to worse records but had far less talent around him (Kwame Brown was arguably the 3rd best player on those teams, seriously, look up the stats.) and while he never won an MVP for his efforts he easily deserved it.

The point? Early this season, the Bulls looked similar to Lebron's Cleveland teams; solid starters and bench players but no real second option on the offensive end specifically when Carlos Boozer was nursing an injured hand, still Rose had them hovering around the top of the Eastern Conference. Soon after Boozer's return from injury the Bulls lost Joakim Noah, the teams best defensive big man and rebounder, and once again Rose had to put the Bull's on his back and, once again, he succeeded and went 22-8 without Noah. The MVP award is for the most valuable player, not the best, and Rose has been more valuable than anyone this season so far.

Defensive Player of the Year: Kevin Garnett, Garnett is the heart and soul of the Celtics and, while his offensive skills have slipped with age, his defense has never been better. His block numbers are down but everyone knows that defensive player of the year isn't about stats, its about impact. The only guy who makes a bigger physical impact on defense is Dwight Howard, but Garnett anchors the leagues best defensive team with his mental impact. His intensity is unmatched and while he has been known to only pick on younger, smaller players, he does intimidate players of all ages, sizes, and skill sets. All that being said, what swayed me was watching Garnett at this past weekends All-Star festivities.

Garnett was sitting court side during the Dunk Contest and celebrating each dunk with a big smile and outburst of joy alongside Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade. This may sound surprising but there was something about Garnett's expressions, every time he and Wade would high-five or jump around together in reaction to the rim rattling dunks, he would have an evil smile on his face. Garnett is befriending the same guy who he will be battling for the Eastern Conference title with and by playing nice with him gains a competitive advantage, even if Wade loses a tiny amount of competitiveness against the Celtics, to Garnett it's worth it. The Celtics, and Garnett especially seem to have had a chip on their shoulder this year and it may come from the heart breaking loss to the Lakers in game 7 of the finals last year. Each Celtic saw and felt the confetti falling from the rafters of the Staples Center and heard the cheers of the Lakers fans that will haunt them forever. It seems they have decided that they will never, ever, let that happen again, and Garnett's defense and play style have reflected that mentality.

Simply put; the best defensive player on the best defensive team deserves something, which is why Garnett is my DPOTY.

Rookie of the Year: Blake Griffin, Do I even have to write anything? Just go Youtube "Blake Griffin"
(It's to bad John Wall has been hurt all year, otherwise this could have actually been a race.)


Coach of the Year: Greg Popovich, Pops has taken a Spurs team that was projected to be to old and finished, to having the best record in the league, all while Tim Duncan has averaged career lows. Tom Thibodeau of the Bulls is a close second but Popovich has the edge as of now.

6th Man of the Year: Jason Terry, Terry is shooting a career high from the field and from beyond the arc, he's averaging almost 20 points a game for the Mavericks..blah blah blah. I'll just be honest, who actually cares about this award? 6th men are important but what makes Jason Terry so much more important than J.J Barea? I say if we are handing out 6th man of the year lets hand out 12th man of the year, Brian Scalabrine would rack those up like Jordan racked up MVP's. There could even be 12th man statistics taken: Cheers Per Game, how loud, supportive, and coherent the cheers were. D.J Mbenga would have loud cheers but would be hurt in this category when his teammates could only hear grunts and "Baby Ruth" chants like Sloth from The Goonies. Another stat: Towel Waving Velocity, how fast and enthusiastically the 12th man wave's towels in celebration of big dunks and buzzer beaters. Kevin Love set the record for Towel Waving Velocity during the 2010 FIBA Championships as he rode the bench to a gold medal.

Terry gets my 6th Man of the Year award and Brian Scalabrine wins 12th man for the 10th straight year, his CPG and TWV are off the charts.

All-NBA Teams 

All NBA 1st Team:

G: Derrick Rose
G: Kobe Bryant
F: Kevin Durant
F: Lebron James
C: Dwight Howard

All NBA 2nd Team:

G: Russell Westbrook
G: Dwyane Wade
F: Carmelo Anthony
F: Dirk Nowitzki
C: Amare Stoudemire

All NBA 3rd Team:

G: Chris Paul
G: Monta Ellis
F: Blake Griffin
F: Kevin Garnett
C: Pau Gasol
 
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Written By: Matt Coan