CelticsStrong
Around the League => Around the NBA => Topic started by: nickagneta on April 13, 2018, 02:26:57 PM
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Most Valuable Player
1. James Harden
2. LeBron James
3. Anthony Davis
4. Giannis Antetokounmpo
5. The box score from Phoenix-Dallas on Tuesday
(Just kidding -- Damian Lillard)
Defensive Player of the Year
1. Rudy Gobert
2. Joel Embiid
3. Anthony Davis
Rookie of the Year
1. Ben Simmons
2. Donovan Mitchell
3. Jayson Tatum
Coach of the Year
1. Quin Snyder
2. Dwane Casey
3. Brad Stevens
Most Improved Player
1. Victor Oladipo
2. Steven Adams
3. Andre Drummond
Sixth Man of the Year
1. Lou Williams
2. Eric Gordon
3. Will Barton
Lots of his comments why in the article:
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23107445/zach-lowe-2017-18-picks-nba-mvp-defensive-player-year-rookie-year-more-awards
All-NBA
First team
G: James Harden
G: Damian Lillard
F: LeBron James
F: Giannis Antetokounmpo
C: Anthony Davis
Second team
G: Russell Westbrook
G: Victor Oladipo
F: Kevin Durant
F: LaMarcus Aldridge
C: Joel Embiid
Third team
G: Stephen Curry
G: Chris Paul
F: Ben Simmons
F: Jimmy Butler
C: Nikola Jokic
All-Defensive
First Team
G: Chris Paul
G: Victor Oladipo
F: Giannis Antetokounmpo
F: Anthony Davis
C: Rudy Gobert
Second Team
G: Josh Richardson
G: Jrue Holiday
F: Robert Covington
F: Draymond Green
C: Joel Embiid
All-Rookie
First Team
Ben Simmons
Donovan Mitchell
Jayson Tatum
Kyle Kuzma
Bogdan Bogdanovic
Second Team
John Collins
Lonzo Ball
Bam Adebayo
Lauri Markkanen
Dennis Smith Jr.
Lots more comments why in this article:
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23131464/zach-lowe-2017-18-picks-all-nba-all-defensive-all-rookie
Interesting Celtic stuff:
He had it down to Curry, Paul and Kyrie for 3rd team All NBA and chose Curry and Paul because they are simply better than Kyrie
Positioning according to the NBA kept Al Horford off the 2nd team All Defense. Lowe felt Covington should have been designated a guard but since he is designated as a forward, no Horford
Boston's perimeter defenders are so good they kinda cancelled each other out. He thinks Brown is about one year early to be mentioned for All Defense. Seems like he likes Brown's defense over Rozier or Smart's.
He loves Stevens but thinks Snyder turning around Utah mid season and Casey having a good year is more impressive than Stevens basically coaching his butt off missing some of his best players due to injury.
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I totally get Snyder (he'd have my vote if I had one), but I really don't see the love for Casey. The Raptors had almost no lost time due to injury and have a very deep team. Both of those make it far easier to win in the regular season and thus make it very difficult to say Casey did a fabulous coaching job, especially in a year where there were so many great coaching jobs (in no particular order): Stevens, Snyder, Pop, McMillan, Brown, Stotts, Gentry, Rivers, D'Antoni.
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Eric Gordon started 40% of his games and Will Barton started half his games.
To me a sixth man should be a guy who is a genuine bench guy, not a part time starter, but like most of the awards it's not very well defined. To me the 6MOY award is about recognizing the most impactful bench player in the league.
I don't know why there's not more talk about Al Horford for DPOY. The most important defensive player on the best defensive team in the league (all season long) should get more attention for that award.
I get that Gobert has a more prominent role on the Jazz, so that's why I'd pick him for DPOY despite low games played.
Embiid is a spectacular and impactful defender, but he had Simmons and Covington for help (i.e. great defenders) and the Sixers weren't as good defensively as the Celts. There's at at least an argument for Horford over Embiid.
Russell Westbrook falls short of an All-NBA spot for me. He's super inefficient and I don't give a hoot about his triple doubles or his rebounding generally.
I'd rather have Harden, Curry, Paul, Dame, Kyrie, Jimmy Butler, or Kyle Lowry.
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Anti-Boston, as per usual.
No one on the All-NBA teams from the 2nd best team in the East.
No one on the All-NBA defensive team from the best defense in the NBA.
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Anti-Boston, as per usual.
No one on the All-NBA teams from the 2nd best team in the East.
No one on the All-NBA defensive team from the best defense in the NBA.
Hey but at least we got a 1st team All-Rookie
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I totally get Snyder (he'd have my vote if I had one), but I really don't see the love for Casey. The Raptors had almost no lost time due to injury and have a very deep team. Both of those make it far easier to win in the regular season and thus make it very difficult to say Casey did a fabulous coaching job, especially in a year where there were so many great coaching jobs (in no particular order): Stevens, Snyder, Pop, McMillan, Brown, Stotts, Gentry, Rivers, D'Antoni.
I think Casey gets credit for making that a very deep team. Outside of their top 4, you're looking at:
Delon Wright: 54 games NBA experience
Pascal Siakam: 55 games NBA experience
Fred VanVleet: 37 games NBA experience
OG Anunoby: 0 games NBA experience
Jakob Poeltl: 54 games NBA experience
Norman Powell: 125 games NBA experience
Along with vet CJ Miles. That's 3 late first round picks, a 2nd rounder, and an undrafted guy. Only Poeltl was drafted high.
You really looked at that bench in the beginning of the year and considered it deep? I think you got to give Casey credit for turning that group of guys into a deep bench.
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Anti-Boston, as per usual.
No one on the All-NBA teams from the 2nd best team in the East.
No one on the All-NBA defensive team from the best defense in the NBA.
Lowe is definitely not anti-Boston. If anything I'd consider him pro-Boston (as opposed to neutral). Constantly has good things to say about the C's and their players.
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I totally get Snyder (he'd have my vote if I had one), but I really don't see the love for Casey. The Raptors had almost no lost time due to injury and have a very deep team. Both of those make it far easier to win in the regular season and thus make it very difficult to say Casey did a fabulous coaching job, especially in a year where there were so many great coaching jobs (in no particular order): Stevens, Snyder, Pop, McMillan, Brown, Stotts, Gentry, Rivers, D'Antoni.
I think Casey gets credit for making that a very deep team. Outside of their top 4, you're looking at:
Delon Wright: 54 games NBA experience
Pascal Siakam: 55 games NBA experience
Fred VanVleet: 37 games NBA experience
OG Anunoby: 0 games NBA experience
Jakob Poeltl: 54 games NBA experience
Norman Powell: 125 games NBA experience
Along with vet CJ Miles. That's 3 late first round picks, a 2nd rounder, and an undrafted guy. Only Poeltl was drafted high.
You really looked at that bench in the beginning of the year and considered it deep? I think you got to give Casey credit for turning that group of guys into a deep bench.
I get your point, but the Raptors had two cornerstones and two starters already in place. It's easier to fit the role players around them if they are already established.
The Celtics had to restructure the whole team with two new cornerstones and two new starters (only returning Al). When you add in the injuries and the fact that the Celtics only finished a few games behind the Raptors despite all the injuries, the edge has to go to CBS.
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Anti-Boston, as per usual.
No one on the All-NBA teams from the 2nd best team in the East.
No one on the All-NBA defensive team from the best defense in the NBA.
Lowe is definitely not anti-Boston. If anything I'd consider him pro-Boston (as opposed to neutral). Constantly has good things to say about the C's and their players.
Yeah, Lowe is not anti-boston. I agree that Irving missed too many games especially currently, and falls just below CP and Curry this year. Horford is really important for our defense, but it really is a team defense. Stevens is great, but it's not like our roster got to 60 wins or something truly phenomenal. So it's hard: Great overall coach having a good but not elite season; our best players missing too much time; team success due to team mentality; best healthy player is more of an ultra-glue-guy than standout for awards. It will be different next year.
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I also have Brad Stevens as coach of the year, amazing to win so many games with all these injuries. For most improved player I have Brown and Capela after Oladipo. And why isn't Marcus Morris mentioned for 6th man candidate (not that he should win)?
Overall he did a good job i.m.o. But for the all-NBA teams I have Curry on the first team and Irving + Towns get the edge over Westbrook + Simmons.
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Should I bump the thread from earlier in the year when I said Dame would pass Curry for 1st team? 8)
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Anti-Boston, as per usual.
No one on the All-NBA teams from the 2nd best team in the East.
No one on the All-NBA defensive team from the best defense in the NBA.
Lowe is definitely not anti-Boston. If anything I'd consider him pro-Boston (as opposed to neutral). Constantly has good things to say about the C's and their players.
Lowe is becoming too RPM-driven. He’s too smart to buy into that crap “stat”.