Daily Hoops Awards for Feb. 1st 2012

The Jerry West Award:

Tyreke Evans --- 22 pts, 10 rebs, 9 asst, 3 FTM, 3 stl, 1 blk, 1 treys, 9-22 FG%...Tyreke came into the league 2 years ago blazing, a 20/5/5 rookie who shot 45.8% and easily won the Rookie of the Year Award. Then last year injuries came, he missed 25 games, wasn't 100% in many of the games he did play, and his scoring dropped to 17.8 and FG% to 40.9. This year has been more turmoil, as the Kings have fired Westphal, and Tyreke is only at 16.9 & 41.8% (but hanging onto the 5/5 with 5.1 rebs, 5.0 assts). The team is starting him at PG alongside Jimmer Fredette at the SG, and it is NOT working out. Fredette, who can't guard anyone in the league, is shooting 36.4% with only 2 asst in 23 minutes a night. Fredette went 10th overall in the 2011 Draft, reminding me of Trajan Langdon going 11th overall in 1999 - two smurfy, unathletic SG's taken for their 'incredible shooting ability', even though due to their size and pedestrian athleticism, they would have trouble getting good looks in the NBA...as well as trouble guarding anyone. Funny to see NBA GMs make the same mistakes over & over. BTW, Rudy came up big last night after his bozo award performance the night before - 20 pts, 13 reb, 5 asst, 2 stl, 2 blk, 2 treys.

The Stromile Swift Award

Tyrus Thomas --- 6 pts, 2 rebs, 0 asst, 2 FTM, 1 stl, 1 blk, 0 treys, & 2-9 FG% in 28 struggling minutes. Tyrus came into the league as the 4th pick of the 2006 Draft, a very raw but extremely athletic freshman PF out of LSU. For the most part, that's still what he is. He had some bright moments in his 3rd year, 2008-09, when he started 61 games and averaged 10.8 pts, 6.5 rebs, and 1.9 blks - all career highs except for blks, as he's at 2.1 so far this year. But he was injured most of the next season, then let go to Charlotte, and is now starting for the struggling, often inept Bobcats, who have the worst record in the league at 3-19. They are so bad, he remains a starter despite averages of 7.5 pts, 5.0 rebs, and shooting just 37.5% from the floor.

Daily Hoops Awards for Jan. 31st 2012

The Jerry West Award:

Derrick Rose --- 35 pts, 0 rebs, 8 asst, 14 FTM, 2 stl, 3 blk, 1 treys, 10-20 FG%...The youngest MVP in league history (could have been a college senior last year when he won it), Rose's numbers are have been just a bit smaller this year, though he's still 6th in scoring (23.3) and 8th in dimes (7.8). He's also led the Bulls to the best record in the East at 18-5, 2nd best record in the league (OKC first at 16-4). He's probably the most explosive, athletic PG in the history of the league - there are 3 others that come to mind alongside him: Iverson (who played a lot of SG), Marbury (who didn't have Rose's maturity, b-ball smarts), and fellow 2008 Draft class member Russell Westbrook, who doesn't have Rose's skills & body control, and tends to drift too often into a SG mentality (but is a blast to watch as well, also incredibly explosive).

The Stromile Swift Award

Hedo Turkoglu --- 3 pts, 3 rebs, 1 asst, 0 FTM, 0 stl, 0 blk, 1 trey, & 1-9 FG% in 26 repulsive minutes...and... Rudy Gay --- 1 pts, 6 rebs, 2 asst, 1 FTM, 2 stl, 0 blk, 0 trey, & 0-7 FG% in 34 minutes of pure pain. Turkoglu is in the 3rd year of a 5 year, $53m contract even though he turns 33 this March. When the Raptors signed him to that deal (technically a sign-n-trade), I remember thinking that it would be an awful, immovable contract. Well...it's awful, but definitely not immovable, as he was quickly traded to Phoenix (for backup combo guard Leandro Barbosa), and then, after flaming out there (9.5 pts, 4.0 rebs, 2.3 asst), traded again back to Orlando in a multiplayer deal that included Marcin Gortat leaving Orlando and going west. Gortat is now averaging 15/10 with almost 2 blks/gm while shooting 56%. Maybe if the Magic hadn't reacquired the aging, overpaid Turkoglu, they could have done a Dwight Howard deal by now, knowing they had a very capable starting center on their bench the whole time...oh well. As for Gay, outside of last night's God-awful performance, he's been pretty solid this year, though without Zach Randolph, a little more scoring (he's at 17.8) would help. Memphis was splendid in the playoffs last year without Gay, now it's Gay's turn to show they can be splendid again, but this time without Zach - currently they are just 10-10 and would be a lottery team if the playoffs started tomorrow.

Daily Hoops Awards for Jan. 30th 2012

The Jerry West Award:

Kobe Bryant --- 35 pts, 14 rebs, 2 asst, 2 FTM, 0 stl, 2 blk, 5 treys, 14-29 FG%...The Lakers have plenty of problems, like no starting caliber SF or PG, a mentally fragile, declining, euro-soft PF, and an inconsistent enigma at center (last 4 games, 7.5 reb/gm, high of 9...prior 4 games, 13.8 reb/gm, low of 12)...but, they still have Kobe, who is vying to lead the league in scoring in this his 16th season. He's at 30.2, while Lebron (who was also big last night with 35/11/5 dimes) is 2nd at 29.5). I doubt any guy has ever led the league in scoring before in his 16th season...Jordan led the league in his 13th season, when at 34, he was a year older than Kobe. Interestingly in this Laker game, the team had 0 steals, though they did finally score 100 pts, their first 100 point game since Jan 3rd, a span of 13 games.

The Stromile Swift Award

Antawn Jamison --- 10 pts, 3 rebs, 1 asst, 3 FTM, 0 stl, 0 blk, 1 trey, & 3-13 FG%...The fast-fading Jamison, not long ago regarded as a key player on the Wizards alongside Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas, is now in Cleveland averaging 15.0 pts and 5.3 rebs while shooting a horrid 40.3% at the age of 35, playing in his 14th season. The 4th pick of the 1998 Draft out of North Carolina, Jamison has had a rather impressive career, albeit somewhat under the radar. He averaged over 20 pts/gm five times, and was a 20/10 guy in 2007-08 (21.4, 10.2). He boasts career averages of 19.6 pts and 7.9 rebs, though he never really developed his passing game - just 1.7 asst/gm, never more than 2.3 in a season. Hopefully for Cleveland, Tristan Thompson, the 4th pick of the 2011 Draft, continues to develop as Jamison's replacement at PF. This is the last year of Jamison's deal, which will pay him over $15m this season...the ever-valuable 'expiring contract'. A couple lame PG performances of note included Tony Parker (2-11, 9 pts, 4 dimes in 27 min) and Mario Chalmers (1-6, 5 pts, 2 asst in 30 min).

Daily Hoops Awards for Jan. 13th 2012

The Jerry West Award:

Dwight Howard --- 45 pts, 23 rebs, 6 asst, 21-39 FTM, 4 stl, 2 blk, 0 treys, 12-21 FG%...Yes, a new NBA record 39 free throw attempts by The Beast, who has not only failed to improve his free throw shooting over the years, but has actually gotten worse (career low 45.9 this season, career high 67.1 his rookie year). But with career averages of 18.2 pts, 12.9 rebs, and 2.2 blks, he is forgiven for his free throw shooting transgressions. This was Dwight's first 40/20 game in the league as he led the Magic to an exciting, high-scoring road victory over the Warriors last night. Of course, a depleted Golden St. squad was intentionally fouling the Magic big man, as they were missing Kwame Brown (out 3 months), Dorrell Wright, and Stephen Curry. Howard's 40/20 was the first since Shaq in 2003 (48 pts, 20 rebs). The old record for free throw attempts was Wilt the Stilt who attempted 34 in a game back in 1962.

The Stromile Swift Award

Amare Stoudamire --- 6 pts, 3 rebs, 1 asst, 4 FTM, 0 stl, 0 blk, 0 3's, 1-7 FG%...Rough night for Amare, and a rather rough start to the year, as the career 53.5% shooter is making just 43.4% from the floor 10 games into the season. Additionally, he has only 4 blks for the season, though he has maintained his typical rebounding numbers, 9/gm against a career average of 8.9. With 3 years and over $64m coming his way after this season, and Amare turning 30 later this year, the Knicks are hoping he can regain his form and justify their huge commitment to him in the summer of 2010. Amare wasn't the only Knick who struggled last night, as rookie SG/PG Iman Shumpert missed 15 of his 20 shots from the floor, though he did nab 4 steals, giving him 15 in his last 5 games.

Daily Hoops Awards for June 13th 2011

The Wilt Chamberlain Award:

The Mavericks' Jason Terry --- 27 pts, 3 reb, 2 asst, 2 FTM, 2 stl, 0 blk, 3 treys, and 11-16 FG%...Terry was again huge, twice scoring 5 straight Maverick points when the Heat started to build little leads. He also had a couple nice steals, the first off a bad Lebron pass (shocking! 1 of LBJ's 6 turnovers...) that he converted into a nice, difficult acrobatic layup at the other end. Easily the Mavs 2nd best player the last two games.

The Charles Smith Award

The Heat's Lebron James --- 21 pts, 4 reb, 6 asst, 1 FTM, 1 stl, 1 blk, 2 treys, and 9-15 FG% in 40 minutes...along with the 6 turnovers, 5 of them by the 6 minute mark of the 3rd quarter. 7 of his 21 pts came after the Mavs were up by 9 with just 7 minutes left in the game. He only had 4 free throw attempts the entire game, which, amazingly, matched his series high!! Then of course, he only made 1, because, let's face it, he's tragic in the clutch. He had 20 free throw attempts the entire series. And just when you think to yourself, in utter dismay, 'should I feel sorry for him?' as a friend of mine emailed me last night, he comes up with a press conference quote like this... "All the people that were rooting for me to fail…at the end of the day, tomorrow they have to wake up and have the same life that (they had) before they woke up today,” James said. “They got the same personal problems they had today. And I’m going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things I want to do.”

Ok Lebron, you have further cemented your status as the most reviled, narcissistic, arrogant athlete on the planet, and quite possibly given the English language a new verb. Here it is in a sentence for you tennis fans out there - Djokovic really lebroned his French semi vs. Federer. To lebron, is to choke.

That ends another season of NBA Awards...I hope to be doing them again come late October this year, but from what I hear, both sides are quite far apart on negotiating an agreement - owners want a hard cap, a la NFL. We'll see what develops. Meanwhile, just in case there isn't a season, come August 1st, I will begin a 150 player countdown of the greatest players to play the game. Every day will be a new player, starting with #150 and ending with #1.

If you have any suggestions, ideas, favorite players you want given consideration, feel free to email me your guys. Stats, clutchness, ability, longevity, and impact will all be considered with each player's ranking. How bright did they shine, how long did they shine - those will be the biggest factors.

Enjoy your summers.

Daily Hoops Awards for June 10th 2011

The Wilt Chamberlain Award:

3-Way Tie Between... The Heat's Dwyane Wade --- 23 pts, 2 reb, 8 asst, 10 FTM, 2 stl, 1 blk, 1 trey, and 6-12 FG%...and...The Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki --- 29 pts, 6 reb, 3 asst, 10 FTM, 1 stl, 0 blk, 1 trey, and 9-18FG%...The Mavericks' Jason Terry --- 21 pts, 4 reb, 6 asst, 2 FTM, 0 stl, 0 blk, 3 treys, and 8-12 FG%. Wade was quite clutch with great 4th quarter passing, often to Haslem who was also big in crunch time. Clearly lacking his usual burst and lift after his injury, Wade was nonetheless able to score and distribute at key moments, and certainly did his part to give the Heat a chance at victory. Dirk was Dirk, another rock solid game, huge rainbow 3 pointer late, and has now missed 1 free throw in the entire series (43 of 44). Terry is seemingly ageless, or maybe even getting better with age. Big shots, nice passes, very few turnovers (5 in the 5 games so far, over 160 minutes played), and the guy turns 34 this September. I still remember watching him as super skinny freshman at Arizona, probably just 6' 0" 160lbs at the time (he's 6' 2", 180 now), giving the team big minutes (30/gm) and solid production (10.6 pts, 4.4 asst, 2.5 stl) as a key contributor on the Wildcats only NCAA Championship Team in 1997. He's just a gamer, the opposite of Lebron. Read below for more on him...

The Charles Smith Award

The Heat's Lebron James --- 17 pts, 10 reb, 10 asst, 1 FTM, 0 stl, 1 blk, 0 treys, and 8-19 FG% in 45 minutes...I barely know where to start with his performance last night, such a shrinking violet when the spotlight is on. Not only was he outscored by a gimpy Wade 23 to 17, but Wade almost matched Lebron's total after his injury, as he scored 15 of his 23 after the collision with Cardinal. And Wade missed a huge chunk of the 2nd and 3rd quarters!