NBA: Mid-Season Awards

With the first half of the NBA season wrapped up, its time to dole out some mid-season awards:

Are you still in the NBA Award?

Emeka Okafor: Has anyone seen or heard from Emeka Okafor? Outside of him rejecting a massive $65 million contract extension, I can’t recall hearing his name mentioned once during the first half of the NBA season. His 13.5 points and 11 rebound averages are about as silent as Mark McGwire standing in front of Congress.

The fact that scouts once debated who should be taken #1 overall, Emeka Okafor or Dwight Howard… Let's just say they can joke about that now.


Ready to Break Out Award

Monte Ellis: Monte Ellis is one Baron Davis strained hamstring away from becoming a star in the NBA. Ellis’s averages of 19, 4.5, 3.5 have propelled GS to a 32 – 20 record, despite the 0 – 6 start. Ellis is the complete package and as he continues to mature, he’s going to be a very difficult player to stop. He can shoot, penetrate, run the open court, and finish around the basket.

It’s not too long until Ellis is actually busy during All-Star weekend.


Look Who’s Laughing Now Award

Mitch Kupchak: With all of the heat Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak received over the summer, it takes a real set of balls to stick by what you believe in and not force a trade in an attempt to quiet the naysayer’s. Well, not only did Kupchak keep his young talent (Andrew Bynum), but he also managed to steal Pau Gasol from Memphis without giving up a core player in return. With a 35-17 record, all seems well in Laker land and there’s really one person who deserves much of the credit.


I’m in Need of a New Team Award

JR Smith: JR Smith is way too explosive and too good of a scorer to be playing such a limited role in Denver. With 2 prolific scorers (Melo and AI) already in the rotation, there are limited minutes left for one more, thus JR’s 17 minutes per game average.

With a change of scenery and an understanding to not just settle for deep three’s, JR Smith could become a Top 10 scorer in the league.


1st Team All-NBA

Chris Paul
Kobe Bryant
LeBron James
Kevin Garnett
Dwight Howard


First Half MVP:

Kevin Garnett: After the KG trade went down, everyone knew the Celtics were going to be a much better team. But 41 – 9… Not many people saw that coming. To put that record in perspective, the bookies had the Celtics over/under wins for the season at 48. (I’ll gladly win that).

KG turned around the entire culture of the Celtics organization. Prior to his arrival, the Celtics were a team stuck in mediocrity led by a miserable star in Paul Pierce, a coach that didn’t know what he was doing in Doc Rivers and an Executive Director of Basketball Operations whose job was on life support, Danny Ainge.

Instead of coming in and proclaiming this as his team, KG just tried to fit in as one of the guys. He’s brought a team oriented, defensive mind-set that everyone on the roster not only bought into, but seems to enjoy. Individual accolades have been put on the backburner and the Celtics are flourishing with the best record in the NBA.