As the NBA regular season crawls to its finish, there begins the howling about who should get what honor for the season. Some categories are pretty obvious; Kevin Garnett is the MVP. Some categories don't exist but ought to; Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson is the worst defensive starter in the league. But there are three award categories where there might be some debate.

The Coach of the Year could be Hubie Brown or it could be Jerry Sloan. Fans in various cities will claim that their coach did something miraculous this year but it really comes down to these two guys. Until this year, the Grizzlies had never won 30 games in a season in the history of the franchise. Unless there is a misprint in my morning paper, Memphis is 50-28 and in the playoffs in the West. The Grizzlies did not “take it to the next level”; they jumped over the whole building. Meanwhile the Utah Jazz decomposed last year losing John Stockton and Karl Malone. They have a roster that is politely described as “not well known”; they have no one in the top 20 in the league in scoring; their leading rebounder gets 8 per game; only one player averages more than 1 steal per game; yet they are currently in the last playoff spot in the West and are 4 games over .500. Toss a coin between these two guys and the winner will be a worthy recipient. My choice would be Hubie Brown.

The Executive of the Year could be Jerry West in Memphis or Kiki Vandeweghe in Denver or Kevin McHale in Minnesota. [Each and every person who even mentions the name, Isiah Thomas, should be sent to the Basketball Re-education and Re-programming Clinic and forced to watch every WNBA game played in the past two seasons. Thomas made splashy moves not important ones.] All three contenders made significant changes to their team rosters in the past year and made their teams better. I already talked about the Grizzlies. Denver won 17 games last year and it seems as if it has been forever since they were a contender for anything other than the #1 pick in the draft. At the moment the Nuggets are a half-game out of the playoffs in the West. McHale has overcome the “draft-choice Purgatory” that the league imposed on the team due to their stupid illegal deal with Joe “Freaking” Smith and has a team that is a legitimate contender for the NBA title. Once again, there are no poor choices here but you can't flip a coin with three contenders so have them play rock/scissors/paper for the honor. My choice would be Kevin McHale.

The Defensive Player of the Year could be Ron Artest or Ben Wallace. There are no bad choices here because both of these guys are outstanding defenders. Interestingly, it seems this year as if Artest has learned to play defense against his temper as well as against other players. Flip that coin one more time. My choice would be Artest.

While the NBA geeks will argue over these awards, there is a much more interesting news item out there regarding the Phoenix Suns. The team is up for sale and the Arizona Republic had a story saying that one inquiry regarding the purchase of the team came from a company called Casino Fortune – an Internet gambling company. If you check out their website, this company does not engage in sports betting but it is affiliated in some way with some other casinos and that kind of stuff can get very Byzantine very quickly. Now here is a potential problem for the NBA to think about.

I read yesterday that the WWE is planning to launch a 24-hour per day wrestling channel using tapes of wrestling shows dating back to the 1960s as the programming. Folks, there are some news items for which no commentary is needed and no comment could add to the silliness.

Tony Kornheiser is more than a bit agitated by the “bait and switch” that MLS pulled by not playing Freddy Adu for most of last weekend's DC United game. His column in this morning's Washington Post is scathing. I commend it to your reading; here are some tidbits to whet your appetite:

“Do you know the first words most casual sports fans would say after sitting through an hour of professional soccer without Freddy Adu?

'Cab! Hey, taxi!' “

“If [the decision not to play Adu until after the 60th minute last weekend] went all the way up the ladder to the commissioner of MLS, that man should be sued for false advertising and fraud.”

I took a similar stance to Professor Kornheiser earlier this week and I completely agree that MLS has put itself in a position to incur the wrath – instead of merely the avoidance – of the casual fans they are trying to attract to their product. MLS needs to think about the future. There is a real probability that the NHL will not be around next year and that presents an opportunity for another sport to add to its fan base. Granted, the NHL season and the MLS season are not fully overlapped, but the opportunity still exists. MLS must not have nationally known sports media folks using the words “fraud” and “false advertising” about them lest they find themselves in the same niche as the WWE and its phoniness. Right now MLS would not want to go head to head with Arena Football on TV in a ratings war. That means they can't afford to take any more shots because if they go down from where they are now, they'll be at the same level of importance as luge racing.

I read that during their trip to Japan, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays conducted a clinic with some Japanese Little League players. In case of injuries during the year this could be valuable information for the D-Rays, as they might need to sign a fill-in or two.

Finally, here is a good line from Scott Ostler in the San Francisco Chronicle regarding the NFL crackdown on choreographed end-zone celebrations:

“The NFL means business. The 49ers have been assessed a 15-yard penalty for excessive celebration over the departure of Terrell Owens.”

But don't get me wrong, I love sports...

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