NBA 2K12 - regular season awards overview

 no matter it was a tight schedule where both teams and players didnt pay too much effort, this season was another "i love this game" time. now we are on the edge of the shortened and spurious marathon, at the time we will forget about all the problems of the preseason and the regular season; since then its the time for Gods of the Arena with full throttle.

i will check in for a regular season overview for the teams and players in a short while; however, since the spotlights are on regular season awards nowadays, today you will get my awards here below...

MVP - Most Valuable Player:

LeBron James..

i should mention that for sure this is not the most attractive title that LeBron James would call.. yeah, he is the king, yes he would dominate all the positions and awards by statistics BUT yet he is not a champion and the critics will not come to an end unless he gets at least one..

first of all, there is no third nominee other than James and Durant..

then, lets come up to the answer why James..

i will start with the statistics versus opponents; 27,1 points 7,9 rebounds 6,9 assists together with 1,9 steals, that result in being number one in terms of efficiency*; 29,9 points.. Kevin Love and Durant trail him with 28,3 and 27,3 efficiency points respectively (K.Love 26p/13,2r/2a/0,9st & K.Durant 27,9p/8r/3,5a/1,3st). One must remember that all happened in 37,5 mins, staying on the court 1,5 minutes less than his mentinoned opponents (39 mins for KL and 38,7 mins for KD).

the second thing is the improvement in his game and mentality. Lebron plays a dominating role in the his teams. This results in forced shots and plays / unforced errors time to time, especially at clutch time or basically as the team fell behind. This year he has the same role but with more mature understanding. First of all, he cut down 3s; he fired 279 with 33 % last year whereas nearly the half this year; 140, even with a improved hit; 35% (Durant 38%). This year, instead of shooting a 3 while the team in set, he rolls down and find the most appropriate alternative to the basket. I can tell the same story for the 2p as well. He finds the basket with 53% (2011: 51% and Durant 50%). He is forcing the rim more; important for two reasons; the defense formation is disturbed together with increased score and assist (especially for 3s) opportunity; (from 4,3/5,9 to 4,9/6,6 score/attempts), this means also one of the criticisms for him is cleared off. His game always involves the play maker responsibility; year by year he increases his assist capability. Considering the "pace and space" offense formation and DWade himself, the decrease in assists from 7 to 6,2 is understandable (Durant:3,5). He should maybe improve his freethrow (76 %) since he is one of the players who grab many freethrow shots.(Durant: 85%).

Conclusion: New LeBron is playing not by heart and nature but also with his game sight as well.     

last but not least; the team he is playing. just after BIG 3 formation, the question was how to manage the ball and the personal egos. Last year, we have seen that this was not an important issue, it was mostly all right; especially this year discussion is over as they added harmony and tactic to their game. In fact, the real and on going problem is the center and the bench. anthony is not the worst but he has nearly nothing as an alternative on the bench. there are many snipers for 3s, but not so dependable. battier and turiaf are good patches, but only for the defense side. nonetheless, there is haslem getting better day by day. Under these circumstances, it is not so fair to compare LeBrons load to that of Durants, having Sfolosha Ibaka Perkins and Harden in addition to Westbrook. This means Miami is not the best team or maybe it will not get the title - we will see in time - but this should not prevent James to get the MVP title.

Efficiency Calculation: ((Points + Rebounds + Assists + Steals + Blocks) - ((Field Goals Att. - Field Goals Made) + (Free Throws Att. - Free Throws Made) + Turnovers)).

Coach

my nominees are,

Gregg Popovich...  with a gang of veterans and rookies, he is claiming the top of the conference and even the league. He knows how to adapt the kader to the facts and conditions. He changed the chemistry and the play of the team from a defensive team to an offense monster.  

Eric Spoelstra... i feel he is accepted by the big3 this year.. pace and space offense formation worked well throughout the year..

Tom Thibodeau.. without Rose he keeps his team winning. but i should admit that Bulls played only 29 games with teams of  >0,500 win and scored 18w-11l.. this is 26-11 for spurs, 25-13 for heat and 21-14 for thunder. 

Gregg Pops for the SA Spurs legend. 

Defensive Player:

my nominees are,

Kevin Garnett.. since he still stands strong as the last samurai. respect his name and age..

Tyson Chandler.. as he was the key point for Dallas dream last year, and he played the same role in New York this year.. This was a little bit harder since NY was one of the worst defensive team last year (21th). He seems to be successful.. NY let opponents reach 100 points only for 21 games (6w/15l) while this was 58 last year (22-36 w/l)

Luol Deng.. brave and talented enough to defend LeBron.. key point for the mid region defense organisation.. 

Serge Ibaka.. one of the most important part of the thunder; although Durant improved his defense abilities and Perkins is a qualified center, the soul of Thunder defense is Ibaka. 3,7 blocks per game is another impressive statistic.

LeBron James.. since he is James, LeBron James.. 

i would like to call for Serge Ibaka..

6th Man:

James Harden.. he played at average 22-27-31 minutes in the last three years..  meanwhile he doubled his efficiency score to 17. this also means in fact he is a starter level player for many of the teams. there is no much player coming from the bench who adds so much as him (instead of O.J Mayo of Grizzlies)

  

but i should mention..

Ersan İlyasova .. after all problems in the kader he became a starter as a consequence.. however, if he would be realized earlier as a 6th man, he surely would claim this title.

Most Improved Player:

Jeremy Lin.. transition from an ordinary unwanted bench guy to a legend. the cindirella man was playing for the "west coast" last year with a bunch of looser stats; 9,8 mins in 29 matches coming from the bench with a 2,6 p/1,2 r/1,4 a. with a conclusion of 4,34 efficiency point. and the prince time. 35 games till injury, 25 of which as a starter; 26,8 mins result in 14,6 p / 3,1 r / 6,1 a and 14,94.. The fairy tail should be crowned with a title for sure and being a player of NY franchise makes this conclusion easier.

Ryan Anderson.. it should be hard to grab 7 rebounds and score 15 points along with superman, ha?. 

Jeremy Lin since he turned a disappointment story into a acceptable transition failure for NYork.

Most Improved Player:

Kyrie Irving.. no other alternative at all.. he met all expectations of being draft #1..

i love this game..