SI.com's Marty Burns's picks for season awards

[flipcritic]

I disagree with him passing over Pop (Coach of the Year). But he makes an oustanding case for Bowen (Defensive Player of the Year).

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/marty_burns/04/12/nba.awards/index.html

[Obstructed_View]

I disagree with him passing over Pop (Coach of the Year). But he makes an oustanding case for Bowen (Defensive Player of the Year).

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/marty_burns/04/12/nba.awards/index.html
I don't understand how someone can justify having three awards from the same team. Most improved, MVP and coach of the year? How does that work? I also reject the idea of giving MVP to a point guard who can't even spell defense when John Stockton got like one vote for MVP in his career.

[T Park]

MVP - Dirk Nowitzki

COY- Mike D antoni

DPOY SHOULD BE Bruce Bowen
will be Ben Wallace

[Kori Ellis]

I think Byron Scott will get COY hands down.

I think this is Bruce's year for DPOY.

MVP will probably be a close race between Nash and Dirk.

[T Park]

I dunno Kori, I just don't think Bruce has the national support.

It seems like they will just be lazy and go with Ben Wallace again.

[Kori Ellis]

Every national column I've seen on the subject picks Bruce. All the writers I've talked to personally say it will be Bruce. I don't see any support for Ben. But anything can happen.

[T Park]

Thats great to hear.

Hope it comes true, and we get to give him a standing O in game 1 of the second round! :)

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I think Avery will get coach of the year, just a hunch. Don't get why D'Antoni should get it. Maybe if his team played any semblance of D, but otherwise I don't see how you can be rewarded for a great coaching job when all you do is send Nash out there and tell him to free lance *shrugs*

If the media doesn't give it to Bowen this year I hope they all eat shit and die.

[T Park]

Well the Suns are missing their best inside presence, plus a Joe Johnson.


replacing both with Kurt Thomas and Boris Diaw.


Everyone including you had them penciled for the 5th or lower seed.


Them winning their division without Stoudamire is a testament to good coaching.

[Obstructed_View]

Well the Suns are missing their best inside presence, plus a Joe Johnson.


replacing both with Kurt Thomas and Boris Diaw.


Everyone including you had them penciled for the 5th or lower seed.


Them winning their division without Stoudamire is a testament to good coaching.
I agree. I've been down on the changes they made and that system just keeps on churning out points and wins, no matter who they plug in. Q and Johnson sure look dismal without it and Diaw and Raja look great with it. At some point you have to give D'Antoni some credit.

If Nash and Dirk can be the top MVP candidates when neither can play defense then you can't hold lack of D against D'Antoni. Although pretty soon they'll be denying guys like Bruce DPOY because they don't score enough points.

[Darrin]

Here's my ballot:

Most Valuable Player:
http://www.nba.com/media/act_kobe_bryant.jpg
Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers: 35.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.6 apg, 1.77 spg in 41.1 mpg.

Controversy brews because there's no one outside of maybe Dwyane Wade with MVP-type numbers on a contender. All the great players are on bad teams. But we cannot deny that Bryant has the highest PPG average since Michael Jordan. We cannot deny he has the best single-game perfomance since Wilt Chamberlain's 100. Many see this as being a ball-hog, and that's partially true. But when Kobe was putting up great numbers on a great team, he was discredited for playing in Shaq's wake. Now he's putting up the numbers by himself, and the same people discredit him for doing it without Shaq. It's time to give this to the man if Los Angeles makes the playoffs.


Defensive Player of the Year:
http://www.nba.com/media/spurs/bowen_140_050619.jpg
Bruce Bowen, San Antonio Spurs: 7.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.5 apg, and .99 spg in 34.0 mpg.

There are no great statistics for Bruce Bowen, but for the last six seasons, he has been perhaps the lockdown defender in the league. With no clear-cut winner because of the injuries to Marcus Camby and Andrei Kirilenko, it's time to give Bruce Bowen the award. If for nothing else, because of his consistency. At the age of 34 and the split vote, this is probably his best opportunity to see him win. It would be a tragedy if Bowen never won this award just because he doesn't have the statistics. He's the best perimeter defender, period. But I'm sure I'm preaching the choir. If not Bowen, surely Ben Wallace deserves his fourth in five years.


Sixth Man of the Year
http://www.nba.com/media/act_alonzo_mourning.jpg
Alonzo Mourning, Miami Heat: 7.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 2.66 bpg in 20.0 mpg.

Mine is a sentimental ballot this year. It's the default for the lack of clear-cut award winners. His numbers would make him a dark horse to win the Defensive Player of the Year if he remained a starter. After all that he's been through, it's like watching Bill Walton win the award in 1986. If not Mourning, then Mike Miller.


Rookie of the Year
http://www.nba.com/media/act_chris_paul.jpg
Chris Paul, New Orleans Hornets: 16.4 ppg, 7.9 apg, 5.3 rpg, 2.26 spg in 36.4 mpg.

No explanation - this is the only hands-down award winner this year.


Coach of the Year
http://espn-att.starwave.com/media/nba/1999/0916/photo/s_miked.jpg
Mike D'Antoni, Phoenix Suns

Although the team has cooled off, no one has done more with injuries and integrating new parts than this coach. People give too much credit to Steve Nash for what's going on in Phoenix.


Most Improved Player
http://www.nba.com/media/act_gerald_wallace.jpg
Gerald Wallace, Charlotte Bobcats: 15.4 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.4 apg, 2.50 spg, and 2.08 bpg in 34.6 mpg.

I've had some empassioned discussions about David West, but he's fallen back to the pack the way that his team has. Wallace, however, has stepped into the shoes that Emeka Okafor and Sean May left behind due to injury. A small forward his entire career, he's been playing the power positions just like Diaw, and his numbers and role has been larger than Diaw's.

[sanman53]

Billups will get MVP cuz troit got the best record.

[Slomo]

Here's my ballot:
Coach of the Year
http://espn-att.starwave.com/media/nba/1999/0916/photo/s_miked.jpg
Mike D'Antoni, Phoenix Suns

Although the team has cooled off, no one has done more with injuries and integrating new parts than this coach. People give too much credit to Steve Nash for what's going on in Phoenix.

Funny, my opinion is the exact opposite of yours. I haven't seen anything masterful from him this year, and although I understood the reasoning behind last years' award, I thought the Suns regular season success was not his achievement.


This is for regular season performance right? To me it has to be either Flip (and it would be more of a gift from his players) or AJ. AJ transformed the _allas Mavs into a very good team that for the first time actually scares certain people (mostly 4 years old, but hey it's a start).

[2centsworth]

It will be a great day if bruce wins dpoy.

MVP- Lebron hands down, but it doesn't look like he'll win it.

[SAGambler]

Every national column I've seen on the subject picks Bruce. All the writers I've talked to personally say it will be Bruce. I don't see any support for Ben. But anything can happen.

Didn't Kobe congratulate Bruce a few nights back for the DPOY award?

I really think they will give it to Bruce this year. Ben's numbers have dropped off a bit, probably due to the change in their offensive game.

Ben is still a monster, but like the man said, Bruce has to bring it every night against the premier player on every team.

Bruce never gets a night off, while at times Ben does.

[LakerHater0823]

Man That would be awesome to see Bruce get DPOY award and the standing O in the first game of the playoffs!

[Darrin]

Didn't Kobe congratulate Bruce a few nights back for the DPOY award?

I really think they will give it to Bruce this year. Ben's numbers have dropped off a bit, probably due to the change in their offensive game.

Ben is still a monster, but like the man said, Bruce has to bring it every night against the premier player on every team.

Bruce never gets a night off, while at times Ben does.

His numbers are not as gaudy as when he won it the first or second, but then again he's not asked to be as much of a specialist. Top ten in rebounds, blocks, and steals. If anyone else does that on the best team in the NBA, they win by 99% percent of the vote. I know, I know you said "he's still a beast," but I can't help but see a little cheapening of Wallace's accomplishments in order to prop up Bowen, and that's not fair to either player.

I saw a lot of articles saying Bowen was the DPOY last year, and Big Ben still won it. I just can't imagine as great a defender as Bowen has been not being recognized at least once. For me, my vote for him, is a lifetime achievement award.

[Darrin]

Man That would be awesome to see Bruce get DPOY award and the standing O in the first game of the playoffs!

I was at the game for Ben Wallace's first, and he was pumped, absolutely jacked. When he won the award in 2002-03 and 2004-05, when presented with the award, he was stoic and blank-faced. Maybe a little smile.

At that game, staring at the jumbotron, he held the award above his head, showed the front of it to every seat in the house, and let out a great big "WHOOOO!!!"

He then went out and got 19 and 21 in his first playoff game.

As a fan of these athletes, millionaires or not, there is nothing better than to see them accomplish a legitimate goal. And with Ben, his responses for the first time have never really been all that measured.

My suggestion is that if he does win it (games one or two of the playoffs, maybe as late as game five), get a ticket. Having been at Ben's first and Rodman's second, they put on a show and it just amps the crowd up to NBA Finals levels. Of course, you already know that having been through 3 MVP ceremonies.

[Darrin]

I disagree with him passing over Pop (Coach of the Year). But he makes an oustanding case for Bowen (Defensive Player of the Year).

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/marty_burns/04/12/nba.awards/index.html

We could give out 20 Coach of the Year Awards for 2005-06. If you make the case for Pop, you have to make it for a man who's squeezed at least nine more wins out of a defending-Conference Champion, Phillip Saunders.

[101A]

Them winning their division without Stoudamire is a testament to good coaching.

It's a testament to how crappy that division (and the NBA in general) is, also. Phoenix has about as many wins as I thought they would have. Other teams (Denver, Houston, Sacramento) just have alot fewer.

I think Phoenix's standing has more to do with other teams underachieving than their own overachievement.

[50 cent]

My votes:

MVP - Kobe

Rookie - Chris Paul

DPOY - Bruce

Most Improved - Boris Diaw

Coach - Avery

6th Man - Stackhouse

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Them winning their division without Stoudamire is a testament to good coaching.

TFart, no it isn't. It's a testament to their division sucking.

Again, I don't see what's so great about his coaching job this year. He turns Nash loose on the offensive end and they win by putting up a high volume of shots.

Everyone said in the off-season that Phoenix needed to figure out how to play defense after we kicked their asses. It's all D'Antoni talked about all off-season. And how much defensive improvement have you seen from them this year? ZERO.

The Mike D'Antoni 'defensive adjustments' for 2006 involve scoring even more points and hoping that works out for them.

He hasn't done a damn thing to deserve coach of the year other than giving the ball to Nash and staying the hell out of the way.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

My picks:

Coach-Byron Scott. Plenty of people were picking the Hornets as DOA at the start of the season. Instead they managed to stay in the hunt for a playoff spot in the most difficult division in the league. (AJ gets my second place. He's gotten a marked defensive improvement out of guys who haven't played much of it before.) AHF is right. D'Antoni sucks.

MVP-Nash. Without him the Suns are a lottery team. It seems unfair to give it to a guy who has shitty D, but he's spent the majority of his career playing under coaches that thought defense was a dirty word.

DPOY-Bruce. To be perfectly honest I think both he and Big Ben are perfectly deserving. Bruce gets the edge because he hasn't won it before (and he plays for the team I like.)

Rookie-Chris Paul. Duh.

Most Improved-Tony Parker. Boris Diaw seems the most concensus pick, but so much of his improvement has to do with his change in scenery. He went from arguably the worst organization in the league to playing in a system that he fit into much better, and playing twice as many minutes (in part due to front court injuries.) Meanwhile Parker has added the two things that Spurs fans have been clamoring for since he got to SA: a jumper and consistency from week to week. I'll readily admit this is a bit of a homerish pick, but I honestly believe Parker's name needs to be in the discussion for this award more than it has been.

Sixth-man: I dunno? Stack? This is one award that I'm always terrible at picking because I just don't follow the league in general well enough to pick up on this.

[leemajors]

My picks:

Coach-Byron Scott. Plenty of people were picking the Hornets as DOA at the start of the season. Instead they managed to stay in the hunt for a playoff spot in the most difficult division in the league. (AJ gets my second place. He's gotten a marked defensive improvement out of guys who haven't played much of it before.) AHF is right. D'Antoni sucks.

MVP-Nash. Without him the Suns are a lottery team. It seems unfair to give it to a guy who has shitty D, but he's spent the majority of his career playing under coaches that thought defense was a dirty word.

DPOY-Bruce. To be perfectly honest I think both he and Big Ben are perfectly deserving. Bruce gets the edge because he hasn't won it before (and he plays for the team I like.)

Rookie-Chris Paul. Duh.

Most Improved-Tony Parker. Boris Diaw seems the most concensus pick, but so much of his improvement has to do with his change in scenery. He went from arguably the worst organization in the league to playing in a system that he fit into much better, and playing twice as many minutes (in part due to front court injuries.) Meanwhile Parker has added the two things that Spurs fans have been clamoring for since he got to SA: a jumper and consistency from week to week. I'll readily admit this is a bit of a homerish pick, but I honestly believe Parker's name needs to be in the discussion for this award more than it has been.

Sixth-man: I dunno? Stack? This is one award that I'm always terrible at picking because I just don't follow the league in general well enough to pick up on this.

i would go with mike miller for 6th man. dude can light it up.

[Spurminator]

MVP: Dirk

DPOY: Bruce

ROY: Paul

COY: Avery

MIP: Diaw

6th Man: Zo