By Dan Feldman of Piston Powered
With its first complete regular-season of blogging about the NBA in the books, the TrueHoop Network decided to announce its own awards. Everyone in the Network was eligible to vote for the awards, which mimic the NBA’s voting system.
The number of votes each player received appear in parentheses after his name, with total points on the far right. Most awards follow a 5-3-1 format. MVP is 10-7-5-3-1. The Sportsmanship Award requires voting for nominees from each division. The Citizenship Award is one player per voter. All-Rookie and All-Defensive teams are 2-1.
So, without further ado, the 2009-10 TrueHoop Network Awards:
Most Valuable Player
1. LeBron James (29-2-0-0-0-304)
2. Kevin Durant (1-14-9-5-1-169)
3. Dwight Howard (1-6-10-7-3-126)
4. Dwyane Wade (0-7-5-7-2-97)
5. Steve Nash (0-0-3-4-4-31)
6. Kobe Bryant (0-1-1-2-11-29)
7. Dirk Nowitzki (0-0-2-2-7-23)
8. Josh Smith (0-1-0-1-0-10)
9. Manu Ginobili (0-0-1-0-0-5)
10. Carmelo Anthony (0-0-0-1-0-3)
10. Zach Randolph (0-0-0-1-0-3)
10. Amar’e Stouedmire (0-0-0-1-0-3)
10. Tim Duncan (0-0-0-0-3-3)
Zach Harper (Cowbell Kingdom/Hardwood Paroxysm): LeBron’s offense is unmatched. His defense is becoming elite. He leads his team better than just about everybody. LeBron is just the perfect, complete player at this point.
Royce Young (Daily Thunder): I'd love to vote Kevin Durant over LeBron here, but I'm not THAT big of a homer. Durant was phenomenal, but it's nowhere near what LeBron did.
Matt McHale (By the Horns): Dwight Howard is as dominant defensively as LeBron is offensively. Moreover, Howard can dominate without dominating the ball, and you'll notice that his Usage Rate is almost 10 percentage points lower than LeBron's. Howard is the league’s best defensive player and the foundation of his team's offense.
Rookie of the Year
1. Tyreke Evans (27-3-0-144)
2. Stephen Curry (3-18-6-75)
3. Brandon Jennings (0-6-16-34)
4. Darrenn Collison (0-2-3-9)
5. Ty Lawson (0-1-1-4)
6. Marcus Thornton (0-0-2-2)
6. DeJuan Blair (0-0-2-2)
Zach Harper (Cowbell Kingdom/ Hardwood Paroxysm): Evans has consistently been the best rookie from day one. And he's done it with the best perimeter defender from the opposing team hounding him every night. What other rookie can say that? And if you still aren't convinced, 20-5-5.
Darius Soriano (Forum Blue and Gold): I changed my pick at the last minute to Steph Curry. I've seen too much of Curry, and he's simply a tremendous ball player. I think Curry is the slightly better playmaker in setting up his teammates and has similar rebounding numbers to Evans.
Defensive Player of the Year
1. Dwight Howard (24-4-1-133)
2. Josh Smith (3-8-8-47)
3. Andrew Bogut (2-8-7-41)
4. Anderson Varejao (0-4-2-14)
5. Gerald Wallace (0-2-4-10)
6. Dwyane Wade (0-2-1-7)
7. Ron Artest (0-1-2-5)
8. LeBron James (0-0-3-3)
9. Nicolas Batum (0-0-1-1)
M. Haubs (The Painted Area): This one is as much of a shoo-in as the MVP. Howard is the anchor of the No. 2-ranked defense in the league (which fares especially well in defense at the rim), and the league leader in blocks and rebounding, too.
Zach Harper (Cowbell Kingdom/ Hardwood Paroxysm): Josh Smith is the best in the league at protecting everywhere from the three-point line to the rim. I like versatility in my top defenders more than I like sexy blocked shot numbers.
Sixth Man of the Year
1. Jamal Crawford (16-5-5-100)
2. Anderson Varejao (4-16-5-73)
3. Manu Ginobili (7-3-2-46)
4. Jason Terry (0-2-9-15)
5. Udonis Haslem (0-1-0-3)
6. Ersan Ilyasova (0-0-1-1)
6. Luke Ridnour (0-0-1-1)
6. J.R. Smith (0-0-1-1)
Darius Soriano (Forum Blue and Gold): Crawford is one of the highest scoring fourth-quarter players in the entire league, and that's not an accident. He gives Atlanta a legitimate option besides Joe Johnson as a creator of individual and team offense.
Eddy Rivera (Magic Basketball): Jamal Crawford is probably going to win this award and honestly, it won’t be an egregious choice. But this is a classic case where people place too much of a premium on scoring and not enough on the other aspects of basketball, like defense. There’s no doubt that Anderson Varejao is one of the best defenders in the league.
M. Haubs (The Painted Area): I'm just going by the rules of the award here. Manu Ginobili started 21 of 75 games, and it doesn't really matter to me whether he started the games at the beginning of the year rather than the end. He was a sixth man by the definition. Manu was by far and away the most productive of the candidates, with a 22.5 PER.
Most Improved Player
1. Kevin Durant (18-3-1-100)
2. Andrew Bogut (2-6-1-29)
3. Corey Brewer (2-3-2-21)
4. Joakim Noah (0-5-2-17)
5. Josh Smith (0-4-2-14)
6. Russell Westbrook (1-0-5-10)
7. Aaron Brooks (0-1-5-8)
8. Anderson Varejao (1-0-1-6)
9. Channing Frye (1-0-0-5)
10. Al Horford (0-1-1-4)
11. Andray Blatche (0-1-0-3)
12. Zach Randolph (0-1-0-3)
13. Joel Anthony (0-0-1-1)
13. Earl Barron (0-0-1-1)
13. Chris Bosh (0-0-1-1)
13. George Hill (0-0-1-1)
13. Luke Ridnour (0-0-1-1)
Eddy Rivera (Magic Basketball): To be frank, Aaron Brooks doesn’t deserve to be considered. Durant is the clear winner but it seems like he’s going to get unfairly penalized because some voters think he’s too good to take home the hardware. The point is, improvement is improvement and this year, Durant has improved the most out of any player in the NBA. End of story.
Royce Young (Daily Thunder): A lot of people like Kevin Durant for this award, but I think Russell Westbrook deserves it ahead of his teammate. Last year, Westbrook was answering every other question on whether or not he was a true point guard. After this season, he's getting asked if he's a top five point guard.
Coach of the Year
1. Scott Brooks (7-12-7-78)
2. Scott Skiles (8-7-9-70)
3. Nate McMillan (6-6-7-55)
4. Jerry Sloan (5-2-3-34)
5. Larry Brown (2-2-1-17)
6. Alvin Genty (1-0-2-7)
7. Rick Adelman (1-0-1-6)
8. Stan Van Gundy (0-1-0-3)
Royce Young (Daily Thunder): A 27-win increase just can’t be ignored. Brooks got the youngest team in the league to buy into a culture and a philosophy, while playing five rookies. When two of your players are in contention for Most Improved Player, they've been coached pretty well.
M. Haubs (The Painted Area): The Coach of the Year award seems to be about which coach exceeded expectations to the highest degree. Looking back at the season win over/under lines set at the beginning of the season, Milwaukee's 25.5 was the lowest in the Eastern Conference. Scott Skiles led the Bucks to 46 wins with an emphasis on defense - Milwaukee has moved from 30th to 3rd in defensive efficiency ranking in the two years since Skiles arrived in town.
Ezra Caraeff (Portland Roundball Society): Not only did Portland dust off the bones of glorified assistant coach Juwan Howard, trade for a 36-year-old (Marcus Camby) to fill their gaping hole under the basket, and rely heavily on unfamiliar names like Dante Cunningham and Jeff Pendergraph, the team trotted out 14 different starters throughout the season. Held together by the sheer tenacity of Nate McMillan, the Blazers won 50 games and clinched the 6th seed in a hyper-competitive Western Conference.
Bret Lagree (Hoopinion): Larry Brown has now taken the Nets, the Clippers, and the Bobcats to the playoffs. If not a more impressive set of accomplishments than his paired professional and collegiate championships, it's a worthy complement.
Executive of the Year
1. John Hammond (11-7-2-78)
2. Sam Presti (6-6-5-53)
3. Daryl Morey (5-5-5-45)
4. Kevin Pritchard (2-2-1-17)
5. Donnie Nelson (0-2-5-11)
6. Otis Smith (1-1-0-8)
7. Danny Ferry (0-1-4-7)
8. Donnie Walsh (0-1-2-5)
9. Rick Sund (0-0-1-1)
Jeremy (Bucksketball): Much like with players, it's often the little things that make a good GM – like how John Hammond got the Bulls to throw in a couple second-round picks and the right to swap first-round selections when he acquired John Salmons. Any GM can acquire a player in a salary dump, but only a good GM requires his trade partner pay a premium to unload the salary. (Oh, and it also helps said GMs case when that player goes on to average 20 points a night the rest of the year.)
M. Haubs (The Painted Area): The flexibility which Presti created by stripping his team down is coming to fruition, as he has continually unearthed value at little cost to his team, in acquiring the likes of Thabo Sefolosha, Nenad Krstic and Eric Maynor. Presti has consistently hit on his lottery picks, and Serge Ibaka appears to be a major score as a late first-rounder. The Thunder are poised to be one of the forces of the 2010s.
Rahat Huq (Red94): That someone other than Daryl Morey will most likely win this award is really quite the shame. The only logical measurement of executive excellence is level of causation upon team success, regardless of the standings. In that vein, Morey is unique amongst peers, the overachievement of his Rockets a direct extension of his own managerial brilliance.
Sportsmanship Award
1. Grant Hill (10-1-0-1-1-0-127)
2. Al Horford (1-5-4-1-2-0-95)
3. Ray Allen (0-4-4-1-2-2-77)
4. Antawn Jamison (1-2-0-9-0-1-75)
5. Chauncey Billups (1-1-2-1-6-2-59)
6. Luis Scola (0-0-3-0-2-8-35)
Michael Schwartz (Valley of the Suns): Grant Hill has been the ultimate professional throughout his career, never more so than this season as one of the leaders of a predominantly young Suns team. He has set the example through his actions and taught the next generation of Suns the right way to play the game.
Dan Feldman (PistonPowered): Since he left Detroit for Orlando, I’ve wanted to root against Grant Hill. First, his injuries made it hard. And now, his class keeps me from booing him.
Citizenship Award
1. Samuel Dalembert (14)
2. Marcus Camby (1)
2. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (1)
Darius Soriano (Forum Blue and Gold): Sammy Dalembert is an easy choice. His support of and relief provided for his home country of Haiti after the tragic earthquake there was uplifting.
All-NBA
First team
G- Dwyane Wade (17-6-1-104)
G- Kobe Bryant (16-8-0-104)
F- LeBron James (24-0-0-120)
F- Kevin Durant (21-3-0-114)
C- Dwight Howard (24-0-0-120)
Second team
G- Steve Nash (9-15-0-90)
G- Deron Williams (4-15-4-69)
F- Dirk Nowitzki (1-16-5-58)
F- Carmelo Anthony (0-10-7-37)
C- Tim Duncan (0-14-9-51)
Third team
G- Manu Ginobili (1-3-15-29)
G- Rajon Rondo (1-1-18-26)
F- Josh Smith (2-6-8-36)
F- Chris Bosh (0-7-10-31)
C- Andrew Bogut (0-13-10-49)
Zach Harper (Cowbell Kingdom/ Hardwood Paroxysm): Kevin Durant has done more than anybody should have expected. Dwight Howard has gone from defensive stud to a two-way stud. But LeBron James has just been better than everybody all season long.
M. Haubs (The Painted Area): For the first half of the season, Tim Duncan and Steve Nash were outstanding, though both players faded a bit, while Manu Ginobili and Amar'e Stoudemire raised their games in the second half of the season. Deron Williams challenged for the First Team, was the best point guard in the league with CP3 banged up, and was generally a joy to watch, but don't underestimate Carlos Boozer's bounce-back year as a factor in Utah's renaissance.
All-Rookie
First team
Tyreke Evans (21-0-42)
Stephen Curry (20-1-41)
Brandon Jennings (19-2-40)
Darrenn Collison (17-4-38)
DeJuan Blair (15-6-36)
Second team
Marcus Thornton (6-14-26)
Jonas Jerebko (3-14-20)
Ty Lawson (2-16-20)
James Harden (1-12-14)
Omri Casspi (1-7-9)
Also receiving votes: Sergei Ibaka (0-9-9), Wesley Mathews (0-7-7), Taj Gibson (0-5-5), Rodrigue Beaubois (0-4-4), Jrue Holiday (0-4-4)
Zach Harper (Cowbell Kingdom/ Hardwood Paroxysm): If Stephen Curry had played all season long like he did from January until the end of the season, you'd have an argument for Rookie of the Year. If Brandon Jennings had not had three months in which he couldn't make jumpers, runners or layups then you'd have an argument for Rookie of the Year. But Tyreke Evans has been there from day one.
M. Haubs (The Painted Area): Curry and Jennings are very close. It's so hard for me to gauge by the numbers, given that Curry racked up better stats while playing in the circus at Golden State, while Jennings was involved in meaningful games from start to finish. I give Jennings the slightest of edges based on superior defense.
Darius Soriano (Forum Blue and Gold): Give me the guards. If Griffin had been healthy, maybe he could have been the big man that stole some of the limelight from these guards, but without him, this is a Don Nelson team in the making.
All-Defensive
First team
Dwight Howard (23-0-46)
Gerald Wallace (19-3-41)
Josh Smith (37)
Rajon Rondo (33)
Dwyane Wade (33)
Second team
Andrew Bogut (28)
Thabo Sefolosha (28)
Anderson Varejao (27)
LeBron James (4-7-15)
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (1-12-14)
Also receiving votes: Ron Artest (4-3-11), Nicolas Batum (1-8-10), Kobe Bryant (1-5-7), Chauncey Billups (0-4-4), Marcus Camby (0-4-4), Andrei Kirilenko (1-1-3), Nick Collison (0-2-2), Arron Afflalo (0-1-1), Ben Wallace (0-1-1)
Zach Harper (Cowbell Kingdom/ Hardwood Paroxysm): Josh Smith is the only guy amongst the top candidates for this award that has to guard guys all over the court. Dwight Howard protects the rim better than anybody in the league.
Jeremy (Bucksketball): Blocks, charges, rebounds, you name it and Bogut does it. It's no coincidence the air came out of the Bucks’ season once the big Aussie went down.
M. Haubs (The Painted Area): Wallace seemingly does it all as a perimeter defender for Charlotte, the top-ranked defense in the league. Bogut was probably better on D, but I give the slight edge to Wallace because he was out there much more: 41 mpg in 75 games, as opposed to 32 mpg in 69 games for the Aussie.
Darius Soriano (Forum Blue and Gold): I wanted Thabo and Batum on my second team because night in and night out they're asked to cover the elite guys and they hold their own. Also, those are two players that have given Kobe real problems this season, and I think that's worth something.