JC'S NBA MIDSEASON AWARDS

Here's my take on some mid-season awards in the association. Bear with me here. I haven't seen any midseason award articles yet. I imagine most of them will come to some of the same conclusions. I hope they don't. I hope mine are different.

Rookie of the Year: Ty Evans, Sac Kings---Pretty much the easiest award to give out at this point. He saved Geoff Petrie's job. He's reinvigorated the Maloof brothers, who have since sold their beer business, which should free up some cash to get some positive things going for the Kings. Evans is a full back. He's just so hard to handle with a head of steam going to the rim. I was critical of him in my pre-draft writing. I wasn't crazy about his upside. I thought he was a guy who was gonna do well right away because of his body and the style of play in the NBA. I thought he would have great stats on one of the worst teams in the NBA. But to carry a team like the Kings to a .500 record for a long stretch was impressive. He's slowed down of late, probably has some bumps and bruises, shooting a lower percentage, but we all know how that goes. He's been a very good player, and I hope he continues to grow and finds a way to knock down that jumper at a little higher clip.

Runners Up: Brandon Jennings, Omri Casspi, Taj Gibson,
2nd Half Sleepers: Darren Collison, James Harden

Coach of the Year: Lionnel Hollins, Memphis Grizzles--Starting off with the easy ones. They mailed it in last night against the Cavs, but that notwithstanding. To have a team with as many "toxic" guys as they have on their roster at 26-22 is a nice accomplishment. Not only that, but these guys are playing HARD AS HELL. Hollins has gotten these guys to share the ball on a night to night basis with a consistentcy that has led to some very nice wins. Rudy Gay, I understand he's playing for a contract, but he's bringing it every night. And Zach Randolph has shown that he's growing up, and his maturation has led to an All Star campaign rich with 25 and 15 nights, nights that only 3-4 guys in this league can duplicate. We still have a long way to go, and a lot can happen, but at the midpoint I think Coach Hollins is the guy here. When these guys beat the Cavs at Memphis I was actually cheering for them. They won me over for a night, and Rudy Gay and OJ put daggers into the Cavs. But let's see if these guys can keep it together and make the playoffs. The smart money is probably against them.

Runners Up: Scotty Brooks, Paul Westfaul, Mike Woodson
2nd Half Sleepers: Rick Adelman, Mike Brown

Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic--I think this is still D12's award. LeBron is batting down his door though. This is just a question of total impact I think. He's sitting at almost 3 blocks per game. He leads the league in rebounding. His Magic team, despite some inconsistent effort, are still the Eastern conference champs and the team to beat. I think it's easy to get on this guy, and rightly so. He takes a lot of games off. But you can't argue with the numbers he puts up most nights, and his presence in that key has a very large impact on all phases of the game when you play Orlando. He makes you think twice before getting into that key, and the shots you made last night might not fly when guys are steering you right into Dwight Howard.

Runners Up: LeBron James, Joakim Noah, Gerald Wallace

6th Man Award: Carl Landry, Houston Rockets--One of my favorite guys in the league. Very efficient player, who has gotten better every year. He needs to play well for the Rockets to stay in the hunt. So his award hinges on the Rockets going on a couple nice .700 streaks in the second half of the season. But there's a lot to like about this kid. Plays hard. Rebounds the ball. Doesn't need the ball all the time. Goes to the glass to eat. Not bad for a fringe 2nd rounder. On a side note, I need his efficient game to supplment my fantasy team in the next couple weeks. Carl--BE SELFISH!

Most Improved Player: Aaron Brooks, Houston Rockets--Tough to pick here. Had it down to him and my favorite player in the league, Jo Noah. Obviously I think both are deserving. Jo Noah has been a warrior. 2nd in the league in rebounding. Unbelievable motor night to night. Screens. Deflects passes. Great 1 on 1 defender when he's on an island. And his offensive game is progressing well. But I think this award goes to A. Brooks. Brooks has been carrying this Rockets team. He's quickly become the leader of that team. And he's lead them to be overachieving winners, who have a good chance of making the playoffs. I think he's still qualified to win this award because he wasn't a big part of that equation last season until late in the year. Skip to My Lou was still running the show there until he got traded and swung the Magic Cavs series. But even when Skip got dealt it was still Kyle Lowry sharing minutes with AB. Everything changed in that Lakers series though. Brooks terrorized the Lakers, wore an unbelievable red sport coat in the post game interviews, showed he was a really cool guy and hasn't looked back since. This year he's had huge explosions, with a couple 40 and high 30 point games. He's gotta keep those coming in the 2nd half. He's on my short list of fave guys to watch.

Executive of the Year: TBD--Let's see whose got the balls to make a great move at the deadline to position their team to win a championship. This is an award for winners, not salary cap freeing losers.

Most Valuable Player:

5. Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets--Chuck Barkley says it all the time: Best Scorer in the NBA. Leads the league in PPG. This has been an important season for Melo. It has gotten him BACK in the discussion when we talk about the best in the game. When we talked best in the game over the last few seasons, he was on the outside looking in. Now, he's in talks with Bron, Kobe, Wade, PP.

4.Jamal Crawford, Atlanta Hawks--He's been the difference. Period. This Hawks team is great. And they have been great for the last couple years. But they have never been a threat until Jamal Crawford signed with them. Now, I think there is a general feeling that the Hawks could win a series against the Cavs/Magic/Celts. And that's something they couldn't do without him. But he's been electric, whether it's the 3 game winning shots he's hit to his nightly come off the bench point explosions. There's not many guys in the league who can get as hot as Crawford. He's been a leader for them, and will continue to be the straw that stirs the drink in the Atl.

3. Stephen Jackson, Charlotte Bobcats--Captain Jack, what more can you say? You gotta give the Bobcats credit. They gambled to get this guy, took a leap of faith that he would fit in and be invested, and they are reaping the benefits. He's been an unbelievable player and leader for them, and don't look now, but they are a legitimate sleeper in the east. Cavs fans, you realize these guys have beat you twice, home and away right? Keep that in mind. I have written at length about Jackson. He has been the number 1 guy I have wanted the Cavs to get over the last couple seasons. And his impact is bearing out. He's a guy you want in your corner when the going gets tough. He's fearless and he's gonna fight for you. Literally and figuratively.

2. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers--He's having another off the charts season. We see him every night, and we see just constant focus and attention and energy. We see relentless effort and hunger. We see his weaknesses. We see his bad habits. We see his blind spots. We see his focus on WINNING, and doing whatever it takes to win (last night 15 assists). You CANNOT argue with the fact that LeBron keeps getting better and better and better. That's a fact. You can argue that he's not getting better in the areas that are the most urgent and important: i.e. dictating the game from the post rather than pouding the ball 25 feet out until the clock hits 8 and then creating/scoring. But at the end of the day, he's just the best. And I look forward to seeing him try his hardest to get the Cavs over the hump and back to the NBA finals.

1. Kevin Durant, OK Thunder-- 22 straight games of 25+ points. In January: 15 games, 32ppg, 51.9FG%, 52.3P%, 90FT%, 8RPG, 3APG. That's just incredible efficiency. I dunno if we have ever seen that kind of scoring. 32 on 52, 52, and 90? Is that a misprint? The Thunder are 27-21, and in the playoff hunt in the west. KD is carrying this team and to be honest, I dunno where his help is coming from. This seems like a one man mission to me. Russ Westbrook and Jeff Green are good fantasy players, but night to night these guys stink. I am sorry. But these guys play 1.5 good games a week. James Harden does his best skinny Rick Ross impression and sits in the corner waiting for 3s. Kristic and Collison are role players past their prime. My point being that teams are batting down the hatches to stop Kevin Durant. And he's still scoring at this unspeakable clip and efficiency. It's amazing. He's the guy in the league that I would pay to go see right now. O and here's a fun fact. HE JUST TURNED 21!