Awarding the NBA's best

It would be nice if postseason awards were true to their billing, which would mean we wouldn't vote on them until the true end of the season. All we hear from the beginning of November on is how the only thing that matters is the playoffs, yet we do our electing before the real action begins. Late voting might be slightly prejudicial to players from, say, the Chicago Bulls and Denver Nuggets, who will be lining up for tee times as of Thursday, but I think voters are intelligent enough to keep worthies from the non-playoff qualifiers in mind while holding off to see what the second season brings.

Nevertheless, my ballot -- as requested by the NBA -- is in. In fact, you've no doubt already read a dozen why-I-voted-for-this-guy stories. Here's your 13th:

DEFENSIVE PLAYER: Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons. Battlin' Ben will finish the season as the leader in blocked shots, rebounds and happenin' hair. Now, is the 6-foot-9 Wallace really a more fearsome defender than the Lakers' 7-foot-1 Shaquille O'Neal? No. But Shaq missed more than a dozen games and doesn't frequently expend maximum Wallace-like effort when he's on the floor.

Special regrets to ... Kobe Bryant of the Lakers, Doug Christie of the Kings and Ron Artest of the Pacers, this season's best on-the-ball defenders.

SIXTH MAN: Bobby Jackson of the Sacramento Kings. This is a troublesome category because it's tough to define. The Clippers were pushing Quentin Richardson for the award, but Q is maybe the second-best player on the team. I like sixth men who are truly that, the sixth or seventh best player who has somehow found a niche, some kind of specialty role, to make his team better when he comes off the pine. Jackson is a ball-hawking, 3-point-shooting gnat who elbowed his way into a significant spot on the league's best team.

Special regrets to ... Corliss Williamson of the Pistons, who found new life in the Motor City while playing only 22 minutes a game.

ROOKIE: Pau Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies. As part of its vote-seeking campaign, the Memphis P.R. staff mailed out bobblehead dolls of both Gasol and teammate Shane Battier, risking the potential of splitting a vote that should clearly go to Gasol.

Special regrets to ... none. This category is Gasol's.

MOST IMPROVED: Andre Miller of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Why? Because he's terrific and I couldn't find any other category in which to honor him.

Special regrets to ... Jermaine O'Neal of the Pacers. (But I did find another place to recognize him.)

COACH OF THE YEAR: Rick Carlisle of the Pistons. By now you've read about the phone calls Carlisle made to voters in an effort to drum up support for his players -- Wallace for defense, Williamson for sixth man and Jerry Stackhouse for All-NBA. Trust me on this: I've known Carlisle for many years, and he did not sell out in some sort of diversionary effort to drum up support for himself. But he deserves this award. Going into the season, how many pundits considered the Pistons to be even a playoff team let alone the No. 2 seed in the East? Not this one.

Special regrets to ... Rick Adelman of the Kings. All he does is win 60 games and come out on top of the Lakers, yet he probably won't even finish in the top five. Funny, isn't it? The best teams are in the West, but the Coach of the Year candidates come from the East: Carlisle, the Nets' Byron Scott and the Celtics' Jim O'Brien. But it's always like that. The coach award seems to come not from the top team, but from a team that exceeds limited expectations.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Tim Duncan. Night in and night out, Mr. Fundamental is so routinely phenomenal that we tend to forget about him.

Special regrets to ... Shaq and Kobe, who kind of cancel each other out, and Jason Kidd, who may well win the award.

ALL-NBA TEAMS:

Third team:
Guards: Baron Davis, Hornets, and Allen Iverson, 76ers (would've been higher, obviously, if not for injuries); Forwards: Paul Pierce, Celtics, and Karl Malone, Jazz; Center: O'Neal, Pacers.

Second team:
Guards: Steve Nash, Mavericks, and Gary Payton, Sonics (maybe the league's most underrated player); Forwards: Kevin Garnett, Timberwolves, and Chris Webber, Kings; Center: Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks.

First team:
Guards: Bryant, Lakers, and Kidd, Nets; Forwards: Duncan, Spurs, and Tracy McGrady, Magic; Center: O'Neal, Lakers.

You may have noticed that I cheated a little. Nowitzki is a center in size only (7-foot), but I absolutely refuse to keep a deserving forward or guard off the team in a year of uninspired pivot play. (Even adding O'Neal -- Jermaine not Shaq -- was a bit of a gift.) Also, McGrady is more of a guard than a forward, but he's got to be on my first team and that was the only way to get him on.

Special regrets to ... Elton Brand of the Clippers (debated long and hard between him and The Mailman); Antoine Walker of the Celtics (debated for a minute or two between him and his good bud, Pierce); John Stockton of the Jazz (always hard to leave off a 40 year old who on many nights plays as if he's 20); Peja Stojakovic of the Kings (another possible Malone-replacer, but check out the old fella's numbers); and, of course, No. 23. If not for his season-ending injury, Michael Jordan of the Wizards would've surely been a first- or second-teamer.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum covers the NBA beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send a question to his NBA Mailbag.

 

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