2014-2015 NBA Wrap-Up

What a tremendous season of basketball. Seemingly each night there was a different competitive game of interest on television, whether it involved the ever-changing seeding in the Western Conference or the tankapalooza epidemic that took over the Lakers, Knicks, 76ers and Timberwolves' seasons along with Miami playing four of their players all 48 minutes in the final game of the season in order for them to get the tenth pick in the draft (even though they still won!). My mind was changed weekly on who should win each of the NBA's awards and I was not alone. Really, how could I be when James Harden and Stephen Curry alternated 40-point games constantly?

Speaking of my mind, here is what my stupid mind thought at the beginning of this season and here are how things really shaped out...

2014-15 Predictions
Western Conference
1. San Antonio Spurs
2. Oklahoma City Thunder
3. Los Angeles Clippers
4. Golden State Warriors
5. Portland Trail Blazers
6. Houston Rockets
7. Dallas Mavericks
8. Memphis Grizzlies
9. Phoenix Suns
10. New Orleans Pelicans
11. Los Angeles Lakers
12. Sacramento Kings
13. Denver Nuggets
14. Minnesota Timberwolves
15. Utah Jazz

Eastern Conference
1. Cleveland Cavaliers
2. Chicago Bulls
3. Washington Wizards
4. Miami Heat
5. Toronto Raptors
6. Atlanta Hawks
7. Charlotte Hornets
8. Brooklyn Nets
9. New York Knicks
10. Indiana Pacers
11. Detroit Pistons
12. Orlando Magic
13. Milwaukee Bucks
14. Boston Celtics
15. Philadelphia 76ers

Reality
Western Conference
1. Golden State Warriors
2. Houston Rockets
3. Los Angeles Clippers
4. Portland Trailblazers (although they should really have been 6th based on record)
5. Memphis Grizzlies
6. San Antonio Spurs
7. Dallas Mavericks
8. New Orleans Pelicans
9. Oklahoma City Thunder
10. Phoenix Suns
11. Utah Jazz
12. Denver Nuggets
13. Sacramento Kings
14. Los Angeles Lakers
15. Minnesota Timberwolves

Eastern Conference
1. Atlanta Hawks
2. Cleveland Cavaliers
3. Chicago Bulls
4. Toronto Raptors
5. Washington Wizards
6. Milwaukee Bucks
7. Boston Celtics
8. Brooklyn Nets
9. Indiana Pacers
10. Miami Heat
11. Charlotte Hornets
12. Detroit Pistons
13. Orlando Magic
14. Philadelphia 76ers
15. New York Knicks

I got 3/15 standing positions correct. That's like a score I would get if you asked me to do a test on a college science course right now without prior warning or (based on my track record with science) with warning. 

Meanwhile, some funky stuff always goes down at the end of the year with my roster rankings. For instance, Lance Stephenson was SUPPOSED to be the second best player on the Charlotte Hornets AHEAD of Kemba Walker. Stephenson went on to become the Most Devalued Player in the NBA and led the Hornets down a disappointing 33-49 road. I also had Derrick Rose as the second most valuable player on the Bulls but, he ended up re-injuring his leg and even though it didn't cost him much time, he still wasn't the former MVP we have seen in the past. Kevin Love ended up being a much quieter Kevin Love that was used like Channing Frye instead of the superstar that average 25 and 10 in Minnesota. Dirk Nowitzki is officially washed up so his #1 ranking on the Mavs roster was a mistake. Did I really put Dwight Howard above James Harden on the Rockets rakings? Moving on...

I also made some award predictions, let's see how those opinions have changed.

Original MVP: Lebron James
Nobody could blame me for choosing the three-time MVP and two-time champion ANNND the undisputed best player in the world to win MVP again but, he got "tired" and took a two week vacation while Cleveland improved the team around him and that will end up costing him the MVP award this year.
MVP Ballot: 1. James Harden 2. Stephen Curry 3. Russell Westbrook

Associated Press

 Stephen Curry is going to get this award because he was the best basketball player this season. I'm giving it to Houston's James Harden because his All-Star big man, Dwight Howard, missed 41 games and Houston was not very deep in talent otherwise. With all of that plus Patrick Beverley and Donatas Motiejunas's late-season injuries, the Rockets still locked up the 2-seed thanks to James Harden's MVP-caliber season.

Original ROTY: Jabari Parker
Jabari was lost for the season due to a torn ACL in the Milwaukee Bucks' 25th game of the season. He does not have a chance at this award as a result.

ROTY Ballot: 1. Andrew Wiggins 2. Nerlens Noel 3. Nikola Mirotic'

(Jesse Johnson, USA TODAY)

There were two healthy rookies that were unquestionably ahead of the rest of the class, Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins. "Maple Jordan", as they refer to him in Canada, ended up averaging a flashy 16.9 PPG along with 4.6 RPG and 2.1 APG. The dude is nowhere near his peak yet and looks like he's a year or two away from an All-Star team.

Original DPOTY: Dwight Howard
Dwight also missed a large portion of the season (50%) and has no chance at the Defensive Player of the Year.

DPOTY Ballot: 1. DeAndre Jordan 2. Draymond Green 3. Anthony Davis

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports 

This award could go to either Jordan or Green and I gave it to Green based on the eye test plus statistics all telling me that he was the most dominant defensive force in the Association this season. DeAndre Jordan led the league in Defensive Win Shares (5.4) and dominated in Blake Griffin's absence for about a third of the season with an impressive 15 rebounds per game.

Original 6th Man: Isaiah Thomas
Being traded from Phoenix to Boston actually boosted Thomas's odds halfway through the season and he has a very strong case for the best backup award.

6th Man Ballot: 1. Lou Williams 2. Isaiah Thomas 3. Jamal Crawford
The Jamal Crawford Award is a strange award for a few reasons, A. It is not named after Jamal Crawford yet. B. It's an award for a backup that will likely play more minutes than many starters (Manu Ginobili) C. It can only be given to players who have started forty games or less when really, it should be more around 20 since the stats everyone pays attention to in the NBA would be very different between a 20-game starter and a 40-game starter. The award just shouldn't exist outside of team locker rooms. Lou Williams gets my vote since he averaged over 15 points per game and there aren't many candidates.

Original Coach of the Year: David Blatt
Blatt is a puppet controlled by Lebron until further notice.

COTY Ballot: 1. Mike Budenholzer 2. Steve Kerr 3. Brad Stevens
67 wins as a rookie coach will likely get Kerr this award but, Budenholzer had so much less to work with in terms of depth and superduperstar power. There are no NBA superstars (All-Stars don't count) in Atlanta. Golden State has two players (Klay Thompson & Steph Curry) that are better than any player on the Hawks, who also reached 60 wins. Pretty much every award has a Warrior nominated and I'm not sure I want to give them any awards because everything was TOO perfect this season. I fully expected these guys to put up a season like this eventually just not so soon. Mark Jackson was a garbage NBA head coach and Steve Kerr is great but not the best. Budenholzer's team has no holes headed into the postseason thanks to great coaching and complete health (outside of Thabo Sefolosha). They are tremendous on both sides of the ball and player's that have been around for years (Millsap, Korver, Teague, Carroll) all had the best years of their careers. Curry, Thompson, Barnes and Green might not have even peaked yet. The Warriors will get their chance.

Sorry, Steve.

Original Most Improved: Victor Oladipo
Oladipo was only much better in defense and scoring but his rebounds, steals and blocks were pretty much identical to last year. I was booking on Oladipo being a lesser Dwyane Wade when really, I'm seeing a much better Ben Gordon (don't sleep on his mid-00's stretch). One other problem is that his singing actually got worse than it used to be as made evident at this year's Slam Dunk Contest. He has no chance.

Most Improved Ballot: 1. Jimmy Butler 2. Draymond Green 3. Klay Thompson
No idea where to go with this one. Previously, Butler was only a defensive stopper and now, he's an All-Star. That was seen coming by nobody. Draymond Green went from being an average dude to an above-average offensive player and a stellar defensive player. Klay Thompson went from being a good shooter to a terrific shooter and an MVP candidate over the first two months of the season.

Fun stuff. NBA Round 1 preview coming soon...