Aaron's Awards For The 2015-16 Season

As you might not have known, last year I made a post giving who I thought the award winners were for last year. This year, I am doing the same thing. So here we go...

Coach Of The Year: Before I jump into this, I do want to give a shout out to Dave Joerger; a guy that I think should be in the running for coach of the year. The guy had to deal with 28 different players this season. A regular team only has to deal with about 15-18 different players. The best thing about this, is that Joerger still managed to help this team get the 7th seed in the west even without most of their starters that they started the year with. But enough of me ranting on about the Grizzlies, I'll make sure I'll have a different post to do that in. Right now, we need to bring back the meaning of the Coach of the Year award because right now it seems like the team with either the best or the second best record gets the award. I think that doesn't really mean much. In fact, I don't think Steve Kerr even deserves this award. While they did great, I don't think it was their coaching staff that went above and beyond, I think it was their players. I also think it shouldn't be the "Coach" of the year, I think it should be the "Coaching staff" of the year where the whole coaching staff gets this award. While the head coach does so much, assistant coaches, coordinators, all of the film guys, and especially the medical staff do so much. Now, who is the Coach of the year? It could really go to Terry Stotts, who has done such a great job coaching Portland, or even Dave Joerger. But my coach of the year has to go to Gregg Popovich. He has lead to a great Spurs record of 67-15. Not only that, but they were able to do that while resting guys. With their best player, Kawhi Leonard out of the lineup, they were 7-3! That is why Pop is my pick.
Winner: Gregg Popovich

Sixth Man Of The Year: Jamal Crawford has the points but he has done nothing other than throw up shots. Enes Kanter, on the other hand, has been grabbing rebounds and has stepped up his defense. Kanter is shooting a career high in FG percentage and 3-point percentage as he has been a big help off the bench. Crawford, meanwhile, has been shooting poorly and has tied his career low in assists per game. Kanter has affected the team to be able to win while Crawford hasn't put up good shooting percentages or assisting numbers. While Crawford hit some big shots for the team, Kanter has been the better bench player.
Winner: Enes Kanter


Rookie Of The Year: While Porzingis and Okafor played pretty good, Karl-Anthony Towns was amazing. Here is what he lead the rookies in; points, rebounds, double-doubles, and minutes. He was second in blocks, shot 54% from the field, and averaged a double-double. Not to mention, he is the only rookie this year to get a player of the week award. He has played the best out of the rookies by far.
Winner: Karl-Anthony Towns

Most Improved Player: You could make a case for Isaiah Thomas or Kemba Walker, but C.J. McCollum has gone from a 6 PPG player to a 20 PPG player. I really can't give the award to anyone else, because no one has done that this season. Nothing even close to such change. Not to mention, he has been a big part in Portland making the playoffs.
Winner: C.J. McCollum

Defensive Player Of The Year: Draymond Green and Kawhi Leonard, how do you pick between the 2. Well, Draymond has been the better defensive player. While Kawhi has been putting tons of effort on offense, Draymond has been focusing his game on defense. Even though both guy negatively affect the team when they are taken off the court, Draymond has a bigger impact. When Draymond is taken off, the Warriors allow about 12 more points per 100 possessions, while the Spurs allow about 5.5 more when Leonard is off the court. Draymond averages 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks while Leonard averages 1.8 steals and 1 block. As you can see, both are great defensive players, but Kawhi is more of a focused offensive player.
Winner: Draymond Green
 
Most Valuable Player: Tied for 1st in steals, 11th in assists, 45.4% from 3 while shooting 11.2 3-pointers per game, made over 400 3's as he broke his own record of most 3s in a season, lead his team to the best record ever of 73-9, lead the league in points with 30.1 per game, and was only 10th in turnovers, Stephen Curry. Any arguments?
Winner: Stephen Curry

Do you agree? Disagree? Comment your thoughts down below!

All-Star Saturday Night Breakdown

By TonyTheTiger - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29372049

All-Star Saturday Night is one of my most favorite nights of the year. It's entertainment at it's best. You have the dunk contest, three point contest, and the skills competition along with things in between for our amusement. I've decided to breakdown every event from All-Star Saturday Night so everybody can see how every player participated and what their outcome means.

First off, it just didn't feel right when we started off with the Skills competition. I was very disappointed that there was no Shooting Stars competition. That was such a fun event. I felt like, once the first half court was made, that is when All-Star Saturday Night officially began. In case you don't know what the Shooting Stars event was, there is a video on it below. Anyways, onto the Skills competition...

The Skills Challenge had a different format this year as the "bigs" went up against the "smalls", the smalls being guards and the bigs being F/Cs. I'll breakdown each participant's performance below.

• Jordan Clarkson had a tough time as he was out in the first round. He wasn't that fast dribbling and did absolutely horrible in the passing section of the competition missing all 3 passes. He let C.J. McCollum get the layup before him and Clarkson was out before he even got to put up a shot as sharpshooter C.J. made his first shot. Clarkson isn't the most talented guard as you could see in the competition even though he is a dynamic scorer.
• Emanuel Mudiay struggled in this competition as he went up against Isaiah Thomas. He ended up losing because he couldn't get the passing as he missed all 3 tries while Thomas got it on the first. Mudiay then came down and lost control of the ball. By the time Mudiay made it to the 3-point shot, Thomas had already made the shot on his second attempt. Mudiay might have had a better shot if he was able to make the pass on his first try, but considering how this guy averages quite a bit of turnovers per game, maybe that is why he struggled with the passing station.
• Draymond Green did pretty well in this contest, though he didn't make it past the first round. He zoomed through the dribbling course and made the pass on his first try. He then did the layup with ease but failed to make a three pointer as he clearly rushed the first one and it was flat. He then missed the second and Karl-Anthony Towns made his before Green could get up another shot. However, Green had given us a look at his guard like skills for a big man and they were impressive to say the least.
• Anthony Davis really took it easy in the contest going pretty slow throughout the whole thing. He couldn't seem to get the three point shot to fall either as DeMarcus Cousin got the shot before he could. Davis looked really tired and slow in the game and if you looked at his face, he looked like he had been a victim of fatigue.
• DeMarcus Cousins had a big disadvantage in this competition. He was probably the slowest one out their. He was no match for Karl-Anthony Towns' speed and Cousins isn't the best ball handler. While we didn't see that much skill from him in the passing as he really couldn't get on pass though, we did get to see Cousins' range as he did hit a clutch three against Davis.
• C.J. McCollum did great in the first round as he went through the competition with ease and hit his first 3. The second round was a different story. He lost the ball through the dribbling course to start it and couldn't catch up with Isaiah Thomas. It is clear that he may be a sharpshooter, but McCollum could work on his dribbling and passing a little more.
• Isaiah Thomas was amazing in this competition. He was so speedy through the dribbling course and he never missed a pass at the passing station. In the final he sped past Towns to get his layup first. In the other rounds, he hit the 3-pointer easily. Of course, when he went against Towns in the finale, he couldn't make the 3-pointer. Isaiah Thomas really showed the world just how talented he was though.
• Karl-Anthony Towns was a beast as he lead the bigs to the win. He showed off his speed dribbling and gave the most effort out of all of the contestants. Towns made it to the end and shot the 3 well enough to win. He is a really talented big man and like Green he shows guard like skills with his passing ability. It was a joy to see Towns in this competition.

The 3-point contest was cool to see as the Splash Brothers took on the rest of the contestants. Let's take a look at how they all did

• J.J. Redick started off great. He hit his first 5. Then he cooled off. Last year if you remember, Redick kept stepping on the line so they didn't count. Well this year, he made sure he was behind the line. Redick started to get tired and that is probably a result of how much jump he has on his shot. Redick tried to win in the tie breaker to get into the final round, but he was taken down by Devin Booker. He really isn't made for the contest because of the jump he has to his shot.
• James Harden just isn't made for this contest. He never seems to be able to just set up and hit shots. Honestly, he can't seem to make them consistently in this contest and he is more of an in game shooter. Nevertheless, I was surprised that Harden did as well as he did.
• Kris Middleton did horrible in this contest. He just couldn't make that many shots. If looked at his shot, it seemed really off center. I was disappointed that Bosh wasn't in the contest, instead we got Middleton who didn't perform well in the contest at all.
• Kyle Lowry shot the ball flat and strong in the contest. That is why he had such a hard time getting shots to fall. He kept hitting back rim. Towards the end, he got tired and started shooting short. It just wasn't that great of a contest for Lowry.
• Devin Booker came out with the jitters. He started off poorly but ended great. This kid is going to be the next Steph Curry in the league. He is a great shooter and he will win this contest sometime in his career. He was nothing short of amazing. I was really impressed with how he played.
• Stephen Curry played real well, hitting the clutch 3 to get him to qualify for the final. He did even better in the final, he just couldn't compete with Klay's 27. The thing I liked about Curry is he didn't really jump on his shot. It was a great set-shot.
• Klay Thompson lit it up just like Curry did last year. He had 27 in the final round. Klay is such a great shooter and if you think about it, it's kind of scary to think that both him and Curry are on the same team. Both of them are too good of shooter.

Now if you know all-star weekend, you know that the dunk contest is usually where it's at. And it was true for this year. The contest was thrilling. Let's take a look at how the players did.

• Will Barton was really disappointing. He just couldn't make the dunks that LaVine and Gordon could make. He just can seem to get enough air on his dunks.
• Andre Drummond was pretty disappointing too. I thought he was going to do great in the contest. When he brought Steve Nash onto the court, I was expecting something really special, but it wasn't that great of a dunk.
• Aaron Gordon was great. He had the style. He did great, especially for a two foot jumper. His under-the-legs dunk was the dunk of the night by far. What he did was beyond amazing. He really set the bar high. In fact, he might have set it a little too high as he ran out of dunks towards the end and couldn't find something really creative like his other dunks. But that is besides the point. Gordon put on a show, a great show for the whole NBA nation. Even though he didn't win, he did some amazing dunks that left my jaw dropping from a dunk contest that hasn't been that good for years.
• Zach LaVine was just as great as Gordon was. The two dueled it out with some amazing dunks. Just when you saw one of Gordon's spectacular dunks, LaVine would could out with something spectacular as well. He gave us an alley-oop, between the legs, and a windmill FT line dunks, dunks that have never been done in an NBA dunk contest before from that far out. While Gordon had the better dunk, Zach LaVine's performance was just as amazing as he came out to win the contest. When Zach was handed the award, he said that Gordon was the dunk contest too. Not to mention, after the dunk contest, LaVine said that the dunk contest win was a win for his old head coach that recently passed away, Flip Saunders. Flip was the won who drafted LaVine and LaVine said that "He's the one that always believed in me and drafted me!". LaVine and Gordon's performance was completely amazing and I'm still in awe about that contest.

As you can see, All-Star Saturday night is one of the best event of the year. It is sad though, that it is once a year, and we have to wait another year to see the next one. But that, it was makes it so amazing. It doesn't happen that often. And it doesn't happen that often when we get to see an All-Star Saturday night as great as this. As Kenny Smith always says, "it's over ladies and gentlemen, it's over". Now we wait, til next year.

Fantasy Friday (Nov. 6)

So, let me start by saying that this has been a great week for fantasy. I do want to note that lots of people have been playing really good. So let's take a look at the players from this week.

Over-Performers Of The Week

1. Festus Ezeli: Let me tell ya something, Festus is a great player, and I expect him to keep it up, at least until Andrew Bogut comes back. He is also owned by only 13% of fantasy owners so he is also a candidate for pick-ups.
2. Tristan Thompson: He didn't look the best early on but he has definitely turned it around. In the last 7 days he has averaged over 10 points and 10 rebounds along with 1.7 blocks. Great job Tristan!
3. Karl-Anthony Towns: This boy has averaged 15 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks! he is one of the best defensive players and he has been doing it in 27 minutes per game.

Under-Performers Of The Week

1. Anthony Davis: This guy really has shot the best from the field. In fact, it has been horrible. He shot 4-20 one night and 3-12 another. He could really do better because he isn't looking like the best player in fantasy right now.
2. Robert Covington: Come on Covington! He is only averaging 4 points and shooting 11% from the field. People are going to have to drop him soon.
3. Andrew Wiggins: Most people thought that he was going to have a wonderful season, and that could still happen, but it has been disappointing so far. He has only shot 29% from the field and doesn't look the best so far.

Pick-Ups Of The Week 

1. Festus Ezeli: He has played well early on and will continue until Bogut comes back. He is only owned by 13% from Yahoo and 8.4% on ESPN. He is a great player to pick up if you need blocks, rebounds, and some extra points.
2. Rodney Hood: He has looked really good this week as he has averaged 12.8 PPG, 3.2 APG, and 1 steal. He is owned by only 56% on Yahoo and 29.5% on ESPN.
3. T.J. McConnell: A name that you need to know. While he is only averaging 4.8 PPG, he is also 4.8 RPG, 8 APG, and 1.5 steals while shooting over 50% from the field. Only 33% of leagues own him on yahoo and only 13.9% on ESPN.

Well, that is all for now, hope you guys have another great week. See you next time!  

Lakers VS Timberwolves: The Kobe & Rubio Show

This was a great game to watch as we saw tons of potential from both teams. It was nice to see the Minnesota Timberwolves get a win after their head coach, Flip Saunders, recently passed away. Let's take a look at the game and how the Minnesota Timberwolves came to win this game by 1 point.

Rubio Can Shoot
No, I'm not lying. The first points of the game were a 3 pointer by Rubio. He looked great. He had a very great jumper and shot with lots of confidence. He shot 10-17 in the game, most of those being mid-range jumpers, as well as shooting 2-4 from the 3-point line. He also finished strong at the rim, something that Rubio has also struggled with in his career. His shot looks really good and it really helped Rubio find open players when the Lakers had to really guard him. He has 14 assists to go along with his 28 points. Rubio said after the game "Yeah, well, it was a tough year for me last year, sitting almost the whole year, so I was working on that shot. I've been working (the) whole summer on that shot, and um a, it is something that if I want to keep being in this league, I got to knock them out, knock them down, and today, they, they did." Well, if they do continue to fall for Rubio, he will be a big key to success for this team.

Kobe Still Has The Skills
Well, if there was any doubt that Kobe wasn't going to be the best player on the Lakers, those doubts can be put to rest. Kobe Bryant is still the Lakers main man. He probably should have shot that last shot. He had 24 points on the night, and he is still shooting as much points as he always has. Last night, Kobe shot just 3-13 from deep and only shot 8-24 from the field. However, it sure didn't seem like it because Kobe was dropping amazing shots last night. He crossed up Tayshaun Prince a couple of times, and really had a great performance in terms of increasing peoples expectations.

Julius Randle and Karl-Anthony Towns
These big men have got some talent, and they were showing it off last night. Julius Randle really controlled the boards and did pretty good on the inside. However, he only shot 5-13 from the field. Towns lead all players in rebounding with 12 and had a nice inside game. He also showed us a step-back jumper in the game. Randle ended the game with 15 points and Towns ended it with 14. Both of these players have lots of potential and have lots of intelligence.

The 6th men
Louis Williams and Kevin Martin looked really well coming off the bench. Williams only shot 2-7 from three and Kevin Martin shot 0-5 from deep, but both of these players got to the line at a very high rate. Williams shot 7-7 from the line and K-Mart shot 11-12. Both of these teams are going to need this production from both of these guys through-out the season.

Other Points

• Roy Hibbert really didn't look all too great except for the fact that he had 10 rebounds and went 10-10 from the free throw line. He also had 2 blocks.
• Other than Towns and KG, the Timberwolves didn't rebound well. They lost the rebounding battle 39-51
• Nick Young had 14 points, including a near half-court buzzer-beater shot. Swaggy P was in the house last night and the crowd obviously loved him.
• Tayshaun Prince guarded Kobe most of the game, but I was really impressed with how well Andrew Wiggins was able to guard him. He really did a good job defending Kobe's shot. It should be noted that Tayshaun Prince seemed like he struggled with that.
• D'Angelo Russell didn't look too great in the Lakers opener. He shot just 2-7 from the field and 0-3 from deep to go along with only 4 points and 2 assists. He also had 3 turnovers in that game.

It was really nice to see these young talented teams play the other night and I'm excited to see them play this season.

Karl-Anthony Towns Is a Skilled Big Man

"Karl-Anthony Towns 2015" by Dennis Adair from Gainesville-StPetersburg, FL - Karl-Anthony Towns. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons.

The Big KAT had lots of people that questioned him going into this upcoming season. I really hope that all of those questions have been put to rest. Last night, the Minnesota Timberwolves had a preseason win over the Milwaukee Bucks. They have Karl-Anthony Towns to thank for that W. He played great on both the offensive and defensive end of the floor and had shown off his great post game. He was anything but a disappointment last night.

Karl started off the night with a nice basket underneath the hoop right after the opening tip. He made a nice pivot move to get up the shot. Then he showed us a nice kind of fade-away bank shot over Greg Monroe. Then he gave a nice hesitation move with a hook shot. Later, he would give us a pump-fake and a nice finger-role layup. My favorite post move he gave us though, was the little shimmy shake fade-away that he nailed over Greg Monroe. It is clear that Towns has his post game down.

His defense really struck me though. He was really able to contain a big man in Greg Monroe in the post and he really started to bother Monroe. When the Wolves went against the Bucks the 1st time this preseason, we didn't see that because Towns got into foul trouble early on. But in this game, Towns was able to defend at the 4 and the 5.

While Towns is a center, he proved the ability to play at the 4 spot. At the end of the game, Gorgui Dieng was put in with Towns. Gorgui played the 5 spot while Towns was placed at PF. It worked and the Wolves played pretty well with the both of them in there. You could see that the Wolves played a lot of high post action and PNR with both of them in the game, and you know Ricky Rubio will find you if you make a nice roll to the basket off a pick.

Towns played well at the defensive end and the offensive end. His rebounding is what put the cherry on top though. He ended the game with 12 rebounds, and he fought for each one of them. It really wasn't Towns that surprised me with the boards though, it was the whole Minnesota team. They really fought for each possession and grabbed as many boards as they could. While they did loose the rebounding batter, they definitely won the hustle battle. This is a young team that clearly wanted to win.

We new Towns would have these attributes, we might have thought they would have been that refined, but we knew he could play defense and rebound as well as post up. What you might not have known about him is that he can run the fast break and pass the ball really well. Towns fits so well with this Timberwolves team because he can run. Just take a look at the dunk and the alley-oop he had in transition. His passing abilities looked good in the summer league and they look pretty good now too. He had a nice around-the-back pass to Tayshaun Prince for a 3 pointer in the game.

In the end, Towns played really well, and I expect him to have a great season. It will be fun to see him, Wiggins, Muhammad, and LaVine running with Rubio throwing some oops.