The NBA Finals are over and it’s time to announce awards for the 2017-18 NBA season.
With the 2018 NBA Finals coming to a close, Ken Jaskulski breaks hands out awards for the 2017-18 campaign.
MVP: LEBRON JAMES
LeBron James and it’s a no-brainier. Take James off the Cavs roster and replace him with any other player and Cleveland may not even make the playoffs and certainly would not get to the Finals.
James Harden had a chance to prove he’s an MVP candidate when Chris Paul went down against Golden State and came up short. Kevin Durant had a nice season, but has much more help than either James or Harden.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: BEN SIMMONS
Ben Simmons hands down. Playing his first season at a new position, Simmons almost averaged a triple-double, without a jump shot. Donovan Mitchell had a nice season, but Simmons gets the nod.
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Since the NBA has a bias against the Sixers, consider driving to Delaware to place a bet on co-winners for this award.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: DRAYMOND GREEN
Draymond Green gets my vote. What Green does so well is take an opposing frontcourt player out of his game and play excellent help defense, as Clint Capella can attest.
Rudy Gobert and Joel Embiid are good defenders, however neither is as versatile as Green.
COACH OF THE YEAR: BRAD STEVENS
It was a tie with Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics and Alvin Gentry of the New Orleans Pelicans. Stevens’ job this year was well documented, losing his two best players and still making it to the conference finals. Stevens had success with a team that bought in to playing hard-nosed perimeter defense.
Gentry is overlooked in New Orleans, but he lost DeMarcus Cousins just when the Pelicans began to play well. Gentry was able to re-adjust with Rajon Rondo (of all people) and win a playoff series.
Other coaches worth at least a mention: Nate McMillan (Indiana), Brett Brown (Philadelphia) and Dwayne Casey (Toronto).
6TH MAN OF THE YEAR: LOU WILLIAMS
I love giving awards to former Sixers. Lou Williams is the winner. The Clippers’ guard led his team in scoring and assists per game. Houston’s Eric Gordon, the 2017 winner, is runner-up.
EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR: BRYAN COLANGELO
Sixers fans will laugh, but my selection for executive of the year is Bryan Colangelo. Colangelo made two astute mid-season pickups in Ersan Ilyasova and Marco Belinelli, which helped strengthen a poor bench and helped their run in the playoffs.
More importantly, Colangelo precipitated a series of events which caused him to resign. It’s rare that anyone receives kudos for getting fired, but this is a rare exception.
The Colangelo family was forced on the Sixers by Adam Silver and the NBA brass. With this embarrassment, now maybe Adam Silver and the NBA league office will leave the Sixers’ ownership to run their own franchise.
Must Read: Grading Colangelo's tenure as Sixers GM
Colangelo will always be remembered as the GM that got worked by Danny Ainge in “The Boston Massacre pick-swap deal”. As a fan, that was one of the worst 76ers deals of all-time and will never be forgotten.
If one believes everything Colangelo stated in his exit statement, somehow his wife received and distributed sensitive 76ers team information without his knowledge or consent? Come on now.
Colangelo must really be secure with his marriage to throw his wife under the bus the way he did in his statement. When Colangelo did find out about the Twitter accounts, he handled his follow-up with 76ers ownership poorly. Philadelphia ownership had no option but to part ways.
Don’t worry about Bryan. He’ll end up working for Silver and dad in the NBA office. Meanwhile, Philly can hire a general manger that won’t over-value European players so much or attempt to make deals with Danny Ainge.
Next: 3 things Embiid must work on this offseason
SECTION 124 AWARDS
These awards were voted on by the Sixers Season Ticket Holders group that sit in section 124.
- BEST GAME PERFORMANCE — Sixers versus Cleveland win at end of season.
- WORST CHOKE — Sixers second half performance against the Warriors early in the season.
- WORST MISTAKE — Dumping confetti on the court after the Sixers tied Boston to send the game into overtime in the playoffs. A very nice momentum breaker.
- BEST 76ERS ANALYST — That’s a no-brainier.