We're at mid-season in the NBA, and there are some surprises, disappointments, but nothing extraordinary as we consider what will happen during the final 41 games of the 2007-08 campaign.
As anticipated from their super-deals of the offseason, the Boston Celtics have taken off in the Eastern Conference with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joining forces with Paul Pierce, while showing the value of young point guard Rajon Rondo. They've got the best record in the East, ahead of the Detroit Pistons, while the Phoenix Suns are a nose ahead in the West, with the Dallas Mavericks and upstart New Orleans Hornets just a game behind them.
We figured the New York Knicks would be a mess this season too, but nobody believed it could deteriorate this much for Isiah Thomas – with a staged boycott featuring a giant pink slip to be signed by owner Jim Dolan as the featured attraction.
But nobody could have figured the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls to be the two worst teams in the East, by a considerable amount – with Bulls coach Scott Skiles the first coach fired this season.
Those are just some of the issues that highlight/lowlight 2007-08 thus far as we provide the review:
Most Valuable Player: Kobe Bryant, Lakers
After a nightmarish summer of demands and rebuttals, no trade was made and Bryant led his young team to the best record in the West until young center Andrew Bynum dislocated his knee. Now young swingman Trevor Ariza broke his foot. It's beginning to look like a rerun of last season. Nonetheless, Bryant has been at his spectacular best both individually and in unison with his teammates. Also considered were Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard and LeBron James.
Least Valuable Player: Stephon Marbury, Knicks
Wherever he's been the team is worse than when he got there. He is so gifted and so overpaid and so strange, it's hard to fathom what he is anymore. The general consensus is one-part point guard, one-part shooting guard, one-part sideshow, which leaves only two other spots on the floor. Nobody else is even close.
Best coach: Nate McMillan, Trail Blazers
McMillan has taken the youngest team in the NBA that won 53 games combined over the last two seasons, lost No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden before the season, has them just a half-game out of first in the Northwest Division. Even so, he's hardly a clear cut-choice over Hornets coach Byron Scott or the Celtics' Doc Rivers, with Washington's Eddie Jordan also a worthy candidate.
Worst combo exec-coach: Pat Riley, Heat
For the second time in this decade, it appears Riley the president has just about killed Riley the coach. With the rapid physical decline of Shaquille O'Neal, off-season surgery for Dwyane Wade and the remaining roster filled with some promising youth, but mostly marginal players, they are stunningly bad. If anything else happens to O'Neal or Wade, they're going to rival the Dolphins, or the Marlins … can't remember which team was worse.
Best rookie: Kevin Durant, Seattle Sonics
With no Oden, the wondrously gifted Durant appeared to be a lock for this, but no longer. Oh, he's still easily the best scoring rookie, but that's only because he's on an awful team and has the green light to shoot and shoot and shoot. The coaching staff has done little to develop him and his skinny frame is tired. Atlanta's Al Horford is gaining ground on him rapidly, though, and Yi Jianlian has come along much faster than many believed. As for the older crowd, I'll give some props for Jamario Moon, for fighting his way from nowhere at the age of 27 to become a significant factor for the Raptors. But I'm not jumping on the Juan Carlos Navarro bandwagon, not only because the Grizzlies are awful, but because he's a 10-year veteran from Barcelona –one of the great leagues in the world.
Disappointing rookie: Corey Brewer, Timberwolves
Joining Horford and Joakim Noah as one of three top 10 picks from the two-time champion Florida Gators, nobody questioned Brewer's athleticism. But his shooting, well, it appears he finally got it above 30 percent – even to 35 percent. But on a bad team like this, they needed a lot more than that from the seventh overall pick. Actually Noah isn't that far behind in the disappointment category, even being voted a two-game suspension by his teammates for mouthing off at assistant coach Ron Adams. But I still expect Noah to have a significant second half.
Best executive: Danny Ainge, Celtics
Considered by many to be gathering players to compete in the Big East as opposed the Atlantic Division, Ainge and his insistence on trying to discover high school superstars were widely thought to be, well, nuts. But the lack of success created this off-season monster with the additions of Garnett and Allen. He's still the easy winner, but the gutted roster has little wiggle room if injuries strike as they have Rondo.
Worst executive: Kevin McHale, Timberwolves
Just as easy as picking Ainge was the selection of his old buddy McHale on the flip side. Handing over one of the great players in the era in Garnett for practically nothing, McHale now has put together such a horrible team, they are serious contenders for the all-time record of just nine wins set by the 1972-73 Sixers.
Best defensive player: Marcus Camby, Nuggets
Not only is Camby leading the league in blocks at 4.0 a game, he's also averaging 14.3 rebounds. Twice this season he has recorded double-figures in blocks this season. Over the past 10 games, he's averaging 14.7 rebounds and 5.0 blocks, including last week's gem of 11 blocks, 24 rebounds and 2 steals in a key win over Utah.
Worst defensive player; Antoine Walker, Timberwolves
It's so sad to see guys with talent like this just float from team to team making so many millions of dollars to underachieve. That's what makes times like these so special – when they can recognized with such dubious distinction.
Best sixth man: Manu Ginobili, Spurs
The value of Ginobili as the sixth man of the Spurs can only be quantified as a left-handed version of what Hall-of-Famer John Havlicek did for so many championship teams in Boston in the 1960s-70s. There is non-stop energy on both ends of the floor and clutch play that helps his team win the biggest of games. Leandro Barbosa is worthy of mention, but he's not really close.
Worst starter: Quentin Richardson, Knicks
Brought in to be a shooter for the Knicks, the 'Q' rating has bottomed out. In 38 starts he's shooting .329 from the field, .293 from 3-point range and .595 from the free throw line. There's no reason for him to be playing with so many interchangeable parts on that roster.
Most improved player: Chris Kaman, Clippers
While it would be easy to take someone more visible and focus on Dwight Howard's leap into superstardom or LaMarcus Aldridge's great year despite Greg Oden's absence, Kaman has moved himself into the upper-echelon of NBA centers. Despite injuries that have crushed the Clippers (Elton Brand and Shaun Livingston) and the breaking down of Sam Cassell, Kaman has gotten better and better. He's averaging 17.4 points, 13.8 rebounds and 3.1 blocks – all three career-highs. He's more than doubled his defensive rebounds per game and he's also a terrific passer.
Most deteriorated player: Jermaine O'Neal, Pacers
Although his numbers of 15.3 points, 7.3. rebounds and 2.2 blocks aren't bad, they do show how rapidly his once 20-point, 10-rebounds, 3-block stats have gone downhill from the 2004-05 season as O'Neal has gone from superstar billing to sometimes All-Star. He is damaged goods – shutting it down for at least the next couple of weeks and perhaps the entire season to rest his left knee. He's missed 89 games before this most recent announcement over the past 3½ seasons. Still only 29, O'Neal will average more than $21 million in salary over the next three seasons. They hung on to him way too long.
Surprise team: Hornets
Despite moving back and forth from Oklahoma City to New Orleans, with the league-low in attendance despite numerous giveaways, this team continues to improve behind the coaching of Byron Scott and the terrific young trio of Chris Paul, Tyson Chandler and David West. They don't have much depth, with Peja Stojakovic still so fragile and Morris Peterson inconsistent from the wings, but they are still battling with Dallas and San Antonio for first place in the toughest division of basketball in the world. Can they hang there? Also the Portland Trail Blazers and Washington Wizards deserve significant recognition.
Disappointing team: Bulls
For 10 years it's been tough for the Bulls, starting off the season with so many road games when the circus would come to town, but this year they became the circus. With contract offers spurned by Ben Gordon and Luol Deng, Scott Skiles' firing and all the pressure on John Paxson to make moves, they are slowly coming around with assistant Jim Boylan as the interim coach. But this never figured to be in the cards.
Best owner: Mark Cuban, Mavericks
Say what you want about him, he does whatever it takes for his team to win and gives them everything they need and much, much more just so they have the opportunity to succeed. He's as competitive as the players are, and mouthy, which makes him unpopular with so many. But so what? He doesn't care and they're winning at breakneck speed again.
Worst owner: Clay Bennett, SuperSonics
A tough situation was made worse when he bought the team prior to last season, and now they are in the throes of the worst two years in franchise history. He bought the team to move it Oklahoma City and he's torturing the fans and the city with horrible basketball so they'll let him go. The league should be ashamed of itself. He doesn't care about the team. He doesn't care about the fans. He just wants to take his ball and go home.
First team All-NBA
F-LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers F-Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics C-Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic G-Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers G-Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns
Last team All-NBA
F-Antoine Walker, Minnesota Timberwolves F-Quentin Richardson, New York Knicks C-Kwame Brown, Los Angeles Lakers G-Charlie Bell, Milwaukee Bucks G-Sebastian Telfair, Minnesota Timberwolves
