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Sportscasm’s 2011 NBA Awards

Joshua Holmes — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:01:13 +0000

It’s time for the 2011 Sportscasm NBA Awards. With any awards list, you will either agree or disagree. This is simply our choices of who we thought the best of the best were in the 2010/11 season.

Most Valuable Player (MVP) – Derrick Rose – Rose led the Memphis Tigers to the National Championship game just back in 2008. Now, three years later he is the MVP of the NBA. His athleticism and decision making have led the Bulls to 62 wins and the best record in the NBA. And all of this has come just one year after replacing their head coach. Rose is blazing fast and uses his dribble-drive penetration to create wide open shots for teammates or a scoring opportunity for himself…usually of the high-flying, throw it down hard variety. With Rose’s laid back, humble approach to the game you can expect for him to dominate in the NBA Playoffs, as no stage has yet to be too big for Mr. SAT.

Runner Up: Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic)

Rookie of the Year (ROY) – Blake Griffin – His rookie year was delayed due to a knee injury last season, but Blake more than made up for it once he found the court back in October. Griffin was the most talked about in-game dunker since Shawn Kemp reigned in Seattle in his rookie campaign. Blake used his high engine to energize Clipper Nation with 22.5 PPG and 12.1 RPG. He doesn’t have much of an outside shot yet and his free throws need a lot of work (64.2%) but both of those should improve as Griffin matures and gets in more reps in the gym.

Runner Up: John Wall (Washington Wizards)

Defensive Player of the Year – Dwight Howard - Poor Dwight! If Howard could only shoot free throws, avoid technicals, and deliver more often in the clutch he likely would have been the MVP this year. Howard is a game changer on defense though. No other NBA player comes close to making the impact he does in the paint, blocking and altering shot after shot. Howard’s defensive presence will be essential to the Magic if they have any chance of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Runner Up: Tony Allen (Memphis Grizzlies)

Best 6th Man – Lamar Odom – He is selfless and sacrifices his game and a starting spot nightly for the benefit of the Lakers. He would be the star player on some teams in the league. For the talented Lakers, he comes off the bench to lead the second unit to minimize any dropoff when Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and the starters are getting a breather. Lamar will be even more key if Andrew Bynum gets hurt again.

Runner Up: J.R. Smith (Denver Nuggets)

Coach of the Year – Tom Thiboudeau – He is a defensive guru and the key behind the Boston Celtics success the past few seasons with the ‘Big Three.’ He took over the Bulls after Vinny Del Negro was fired and instilled a toughness on the defensive end whereby everyone would play hard ‘D’ or they wouldn’t play. All of the Bulls seemed to buy in immediately as they had one of the best seasons in franchise history. The Bulls won 62 games this year, for the best record in the NBA, after winning just 41 games last season. Naturally, Thiboudeau inherited a talented roster that added Carlos Boozer in the offseason to sensational point guard Derrick Rose, who is our 2011 MVP.

Runner Up: Lionel Hollins (Memphis Grizzlies)

GM of the Year – Chris Wallace – Some would argue that Wallace overpaid to extend Rudy Gay (5-year, $82 million) and Mike Conley (5-year, $45 million), but when you can steal Tony Allen, the grit-grind, heart and soul of the Grizzlies for 3-years, $9 million then you are going to look smart. Allen gave the Grizzlies a lift through Gay’s injury, O.J. Mayo’s suspension, and numerous lineup changes from coach Lionel Hollins to lead the Grizz to an extremely strong second half of the season and the Playoffs. Something that doesn’t happen to often down in the Bluff City.

Runner Up: Gar Forman (Chicago Bulls)

NBA First Team

Derrick Rose
Dwyane Wade
LeBron James
Dirk Nowitzki
Dwight Howard

NBA Second Team

Chris Paul
Kobe Bryant
Kevin Durant
Zach Randolph
LaMarcus Aldridge

NBA Third Team

Russell Westbrook
Carmelo Anthony
Pau Gasol
Kevin Love
Amar’e Stoudemire

Derrick Coleman Latest Ex-NBA Player Gone Broke

Joshua Holmes — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 13:32:10 +0000

Former NBA player Derrick Coleman, who made more than $100 million dollars during his career, is the latest former athlete to file for bankruptcy.

Coleman’s bankruptcy lawyer, in a noble attempt to paint Coleman as a financial martyr, is claiming that Coleman lost all his money attempting to save a ‘downtrodden Detroit neighborhood.’

Among Coleman’s ventures is a struggling Detroit development called Coleman’s Corner, an attempt to revive one of the city’s most downtrodden neighborhoods. Coleman defaulted on loans related to the mall last year.

“Mr. Coleman was focused on investing in various communities throughout the city of Detroit by developing real estate, creating jobs and revitalizing business opportunities,” Berke said. “Due to the state of the economy, including the decline in the real estate market, Mr. Coleman’s investments could not be sustained.”

Colemen’s other business interests include ownership stakes in the Hilton Garden Suites hotel in downtown Detroit, a Tim Hortons Inc. doughnut shop franchise and Hungry Howie’s Pizza store, according to court papers.

Coleman has filed a Chapter 7 and claims he owes creditors $4.7 million. If successful he could get out of the debt or pay pennies on the dollar to resolve it.

Are any of us really surprised by Coleman or Antoine Walker’s bankruptcy? If we had a fantasy draft during their player careers to select a team of the most likely players to go bankrupt upon retirement they both would have been first round picks. Dennis Rodman probably would have been the #1 overall pick though. Larry Johnson would have also gone high.

Coleman was the 1991 Rookie of the Year but was considered a head case, hard to coach, and extremely lazy during his career.

Sportscasm’s 2009-10 NBA Predictions

Joshua Holmes — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:22:30 +0000

Sportscasm writers and contributers take a stab at predicting the award winners and champions for the 2009-2010 NBA season.

Award	Joshua Holmes	Kevin Vailes	Josh Watson	Matt Williams
Most Valuable Player	Carmelo Anthony	LeBron James	Kevin Durant	LeBron James
Rookie of the Year	Tyreke Evans	Jonny Flynn	DeJuan Blair	James Harden
Defensive POY	Dwight Howard	Dwight Howard	Dwight Howard	Ron Artest
Comeback POY	Gilbert Arenas	Vince Carter	Manu Ginobili	Gilbert Arenas
Fallback POY	Hedo Turkuglu	Kevin Garnett	Antawn Jamison	Andre Miller
Coach of the Year	Lionel Hollins	Greg Popovich	Flip Saunders	Flip Saunders
Eastern Conference Champ	Cleveland Cavs	Boston Celtics	Orlando Magic	Cleveland Cavs
Western Conference Champ	Los Angeles Lakers	San Antonio Spurs	San Antonio Spurs	San Antonio Spurs
NBA Finals Champ	Los Angeles Lakers	San Antonio Spurs	San Antonio Spurs	San Antonio Spurs

Now feel free to dissect and rip apart these picks, while submitting your own in the comments below!