Tap Dancing & Year End Awards

The annual ‘Tap Dancing’ section is about one team too long for my liking this year. On the other hand I feel pretty good about going eight for eight in the toughest conference in the history of the league (West). All three of my misses were in the East, and I knew back in October that the bottom of the Least would be a total crapshoot. Gregory Hines has nothing on me!

I had in…

1. Chicago Bulls (33-49) – In retrospect Luol Deng and Ben Gordon turning down lucrative long term contract extensions before the season started was s sign of things to come for what turned out to be the most disappointing team in the Association. Kirk Hinrich stunk; Chris Duhon, Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah all went public with complaints; Scott Skiles was fired; and interim coach Jim Boylan was not retained. So they basically quit on two coaches and turned on each other. When these guys decide to mail it in, they really mail it in. Even with all that said, Hinrich, Thabo Sefolosha, Deng, Thomas and Noah is a decent starting five on paper…if their collective heads are on right. Things are not as bad as they seem in Chicago right now, and I see a bright future for these Bulls with a few changes.

7. Miami Heat (15-67) – Believe it or not, I knew this club would be bad before the season. The rationale being that they lost a bunch of talent from their title winning squad and didn’t replace it. Now did I think they’d be worst record in the NBA bad? Of course not, but the main reason I picked them to make the playoffs was that I really couldn’t see anybody in the East that could counter the Shaquille O’Neal/Dwyane Wade duo.

8. New Jersey Nets (34-48) – You can sum up the ’07-08 Nets in three words…“Jason Kidd quit.” It’s really that simple. Of course it didn’t help that Nenad Krstic’s recovery from a torn left ACL was insufferably slow. So much so that he still didn’t look to be moving right after appearing in 45 games. I was even more disappointed in NJ’s performance after trading Kidd. To me they should have still been able to make a push for the playoffs. I’m sure the Nets roster is in for some tweaks this summer, but a starting five of Devin Harris, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, Josh Boone and a healthy Krstic should be enough to compete in the East.

I had out…

12. Washington Wizards (43-39) – I already admitted in the ‘Mid-Season Report’ that I was wrong about Washington. But back when I was making predictions I didn’t expect Gilbert Arenas to miss 69 games with an injured left knee. Instead of going in the tank without Gil, the Wiz played more like a “real” team. They had better ball movement on offense, more camaraderie as a group and most importantly they improved their defense and rebounding. In the two statistics that I hold most dear Washington went from 47.3% to 46.1% in defensive field goal percentage and -1.8 to +.4 in rebound differential. Those two numbers plus no Arenas made the Wiz a completely different club than I expected. President Ernie Grunfeld needs to be careful this off season though because his current group may have maxed out their potential. Sign & trades of both GA and Antawn Jamison might be the prudent course of action, and even letting them go outright probably makes more sense than resigning both of them.

13. Atlanta Hawks (37-45) – Let’s get one thing straight right from the start here, eight games under .500 does NOT mean you’re a playoff team. It’s a great story that they qualified for the playoffs for the first time since the ’98-99 season, but the truth of the matter is that this squad really isn’t that good. I also expect Atlanta to return basically the same cast of characters next year unless Director Billy Knight is replaced. While a new coach might help some if the personnel stays the same, I see the bottom of the East catching and passing the Hawks if their roster remains mostly intact.

15. Philadelphia 76ers (40-42) – The Sixers are a testament to how much success you can achieve in the NBA if you just play hard every possession of every game. Philly has a decent center (Samuel Dalembert), an above average PG (Andre Miller) and a good SF (Andre Iguodala). The rest of the guys on this club are either too young or washed up. Everybody likes to say how the Sixers run and gun, but when I watch them I don’t see it frankly. What they do is outwork you with hustle, athleticism and a never say die attitude. That’s all well and good, but it usually doesn’t last, and ultimately ends up with the coach being fired when the team’s effort begins to wane. More talent is what Philly really needs, and I’d advise GM Ed Stefanski to be very careful resigning Iguodala this summer. The reason being that no matter what spin the organization tries to put on it, rookie Thaddeus Young is not a PF. So this means that AI2 and Thad play the same position, and if they really believe Young is all that (I’m not totally sold yet myself), then a sign & trade of Iguodala for a legitimate PF makes an awful lot of sense.

Defensive Player of the Year

1. Kevin Garnett (Boston)
2. Shane Battier (Houston)
3. Tayshaun Prince (Detroit)

All-Defense Team

PG – Rajon Rondo (Boston)
SG – Shane Battier (Houston)
SF – Tayshaun Prince (Detroit)
PF – Kevin Garnett (Boston)
C – Marcus Camby (Denver)

Sixth Man of the Year

1. Manu Ginobili (San Antonio)
2. Josh Childress (Atlanta)
3. James Posey (Boston)

Executive of the Year

1. Danny Ainge (Boston)
2. Mitch Kupchak (Lakers)
3. Daryl Morey (Houston)

Coach of the Year

1. Byron Scott (New Orleans)
2. Rick Adelman (Houston)
3. Phil Jackson (Lakers)

Rookie of the Year

1. Al Horford (Atlanta)
2. Luis Scola (Houston)
3. Kevin Durant (Seattle)

All-Rookie Team

PG – Rodney Stuckey (Detroit)
SG – Kevin Durant (Seattle)
SF – Jamario Moon (Toronto)
PF – Luis Scola (Houston)
C – Al Horford (Atlanta)

Most Valuable Player

1. Kobe Bryant (Lakers)
2. Chris Paul (New Orleans)
3. LeBron James (Cleveland)
4. Kevin Garnett (Boston)
5. Dwight Howard (Orlando)

All-NBA

PG – Chris Paul (New Orleans)
SG – Kobe Bryant (Lakers)
SF – LeBron James (Cleveland)
PF – Kevin Garnett (Boston)
C – Dwight Howard (Orlando)

Second Team

PG – Deron Williams (Utah)
SG – Manu Ginobili (San Antonio)
SF – Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas)
PF – Carlos Boozer (Utah)
C – Amare Stoudemire (Phoenix)

Third Team

PG – Steve Nash (Phoenix)
SG – Allen Iverson (Denver)
SF – Paul Pierce (Boston)
PF – Chris Bosh (Toronto)
C – Tim Duncan (San Antonio)