NOMINEE	THE SKINNY
	Overrated	Dennis Rodman's and Carmen Electra's wedding	Way too much attention was given to this. Was he thinking clearly when they got married? Who cares?
	Underrated	Michael Finley, Dallas	Averaged more points than Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tim Hardaway, Reggie Miller and Gary Payton, but he played for the woeful Mavericks, so nobody noticed.
	Annoying	The future of the Bulls	A year of questions about whether Jordan, Pippen, et al., would return to Chicago gets tiresome. The Bulls are good at everything except making up their minds.
	Breakthrough	Tim Duncan, San Antonio	At the start of the season, the suspicion was that the Spurs rookie might be too soft. By the end, he was the squad's go-to guy and first-team All-NBA.
	Uplifting	Jerry and Bobbi Sloan	Watching his wife survive breast cancer inspired Sloan, the Utah Jazz coach, to quit smoking. Together, they inspired everyone else.
	MVP	Michael Jordan, Chicago	So good he'll probably deserve this award five years after he retires.
	Storyline to Follow in 1999	Fan backlash	Look for a lot of half-empty arenas as the public makes the league pay for the work stoppage. Fans' bitterness will last even longer than the lockout.