The NBA regular season is drawing to an end. I know; but it only seems as if an NBA season last as long as an Ice Age. There is a real light at the end of the tunnel; and very soon, there will be no more Miami/Minnesota match-ups. So, before the NBA moves on to its next seemingly interminable phase – its three-month playoffs – allow me to present my nominees for a few of the season-long awards:
NBA MVP: For this year, I believe that Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Chris Paul stand several significant steps above the rest of the field. I do not think it would a stain on the award or the league if any of these three players won the award. My preference by the slimmest of margins is Kevin Garnett.
NBA Rookie of the Year: Once again, three players stand out above the crowd – - Luis Scola (Houston), Al Horford (Atlanta) and Kevin Durant (Seattle). I like Durant slightly more than Horford for this honor.
NBA Sixth Man: It has to be either Manu Ginobli (San Antonio) or Leandro Barbosa (Phoenix) and I like Barbosa here.
NBA Defensive Player of the Year: Several worthy candidates here but for effectiveness and consistency play-after-play and game-after-game, I have to favor Shane Battier.
NBA Coach of the Year: I could make a case for Stan Van Gundy, Jerry Sloan or Doc Rivers – - but not this year. My two finalists would be Mo Cheeks (Phila) and Byron Scott (New Orleans). I think Scott deserves to win it.
In the NBA playoffs, people talk about the need to protect one’s home court and the importance of a road win. Frankly, that is the key to making the playoffs too but a simple measure of a team’s ability to do this is to take the difference between a team’s wins on the road and their losses at home. It gives you a pretty good measure of the quality of the team over the season. Consider the NBA East; you have a sense that Boston and Detroit are the cream of the crop. Check out this measure for the playoff teams as of this morning:
Boston +23
Detroit +17
Orlando +10
Cleveland + 4
Washington + 2
Philly + 2
Toronto 0
Atlanta – 3
In the NBA West, this measure provides an interesting ordering to the myriad of very good teams there. Note the absence of any playoff teams in the NBA West with differentials near or below zero:
San Antonio +15
Los Angeles +15
New Orleans +14
Houston +14
Utah +13
Phoenix +13
Dallas +10
Golden State + 9
Denver + 8
Only Atlanta has a playoff shot with a negative differential here and only Sacramento of the “also-rans” has a differential anywhere near zero – - the Kings are minus-2 as of this morning.
The English FA Cup “tournament” has been contested since 1871. For those in the US who think it would be impossible to play all 340 of the NCAA Division I basketball teams in a tournament, consider the FA Cup. It starts out with over 700 teams in England and Wales and plays a single elimination format that weaves the tournament games in and among the regular season games for the various teams and leagues. Granted, it takes about an eight-month span to get all the games in, but they do it every year.
This year, Cardiff City – a Welsh team – will be in the final game at Wembley Stadium on May 17. The last time a Welsh team made it to the finals was in 1927 when the same Cardiff City club beat Arsenal to win the Cup. All the “powerhouse” teams that folks in the US hear about all the time have been eliminated; the final game will be Cardiff City versus Portsmouth. This year, Cinderella went to Great Britain and took hold of the FA Cup competition.
Speaking of soccer, I read somewhere – - didn’t make note of where so I can’t send you there for details – - that the salary structure in MLS has become severely unbalanced. According to my notes, David Beckham is guaranteed to make $6.5M this year for MLS play. Players in MLS making the minimum salary will earn $33,000; players who have developmental contracts with MLS will earn $12,900. According to the article I read, Beckham will account for approximately 15% of the total salary paid by the league to all of its players for 2008. I find that last number stunning.
The disparity between the “top-paid player” and the earnings of players at the league minimum is probably similar in other sports – - such as the NBA. But even a player making $25M in the NBA would not come close to accounting for 15% of the total NBA salary amount. In rough numbers the total amount the NBA paid out in salaries for the 2007/08 season was 2.06B; the highest paid player was Kevin Garnett making $23.7M; thus, he makes 1.2% of the league total not 15%. For a player to make 15% of the NBA total salary, he would have had to make about $310M for last year.
By the way, if I asked you to guess who the second-highest paid player in the NBA was for the past year, I suspect you would have to guess for a while. This player made $21.7M – more than Stephon Marbury and Shaq and Kobe and Allen Iverson. Give up yet? It was Michael Finley…
Finally, here is a comment from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times about Don Cherry – - and it could be equally applicable to Craig Sager:
“Filming is expected to begin this summer for “The Don Cherry Story,” a two-part TV movie on the life and times of CBC’s caustic but colorful hockey commentator.
“As for procuring Cherry’s garb, the wardrobe department insists, no 1960s-era Hide-A-Beds will be harmed in the making of this movie.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…