Ladies and gentlemen, your (likely) 2006-07 Rookie of the Year.

Hardware Handouts

The NBA has been handing out their end-of season awards over the last few days.  The aforementioned Marcus Camby took home the Defensive Player of the Year award, as well as a spot on the All-Defensive Team.  Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen, Kobe Bryant and Raja Bell rounded off the first team.  Kevin Garnett, Ben Wallace, Jason Kidd, Kirk Hinrich, and Tayshaun Prince made the second team. 

Definite snubs include Shawn Marion, Josh Smith and Shane Battier, all of whom I would put ahead of Prince and Hinrich.  You can argue the positioning with Hinrich, but no chance that Prince deserves a spot over any of those three, but this could also be why I don’t get to vote in these matters.

The sixth man of the year was handed to Suns super guard Leandro Barbosa.  Jerry Stackhouse was likely considered by many, but there is no arguing as to the impact that Barbosa had this season off the bench.

The Most-Improved Player of this season was Warriors guard Monta Ellis.  It’s amazing how the kid was able to find time to shine this season, but he really stepped up his game in the absence of Jason Richardson early on, as well as Baron Davis around mid-season.  Ellis averaged over 14 points and four assists per contest, improving over his six points, two assists average from last season.  He just barely beat out Kevin Martin, who likely ruined his shot at this award by coming on strong towards the end of last season.  The three-vote spread was the narrowest in the history of the award. 

Wrapping up the hardware will likely be Brandon Roy, taking home the Rookie of the Year award that is to be announced on Wednesday.  This decision shouldn’t have been hard for the voters, as this wasn’t a particularly strong season for the young guys.  A few showed promise, like Andrea Bargnani and LaMarcus Aldridge, but Roy’s numbers were far and away better than his colleagues. 

Looking Forward

The second session of the playoffs is upon us, but we must not overlook the huge implications of the Dallas/Golden State match-up.  If the Warriors can somehow pull of this enormous upset, the Phoenix series (versus San Antonio/Denver) becomes that much more important.  It wouldn’t be far-fetched to think that the NBA champion could be determined in the second round of the playoffs.

The Eastern teams will be waiting out the West to start up round two.  The unfortunate ones are the Nets and Raptors, who will have a minimum of one less game of rest on their opponents – and that’s assuming the Nets can pull out a win in Game Five.  The extra rest becomes a vital part of the post-season, as the Mavericks can attest after taking several match-ups to the seventh game last season before crashing in the finals against the Heat.

Players to watch in the near term include Tracy McGrady, Mehmet Okur and Richard Jefferson.  While none of these guys have gotten incredibly special attention thus far in the playoffs, they’ll have to be on their ‘A’ game over the next few days if their respective teams are going to flourish.  McGrady’s 26 points and 16 assists in Game Five is a solid start – but can he keep it going? 

By this time next week, the first round of the playoffs will be complete and we’ll be talking about what needs to take place for each team to continue their journey.  Will we be talking about a Warriors/Rockets series?  Maybe even a Nuggets/Suns bash?  Only time will tell with this Western conference.  Catch you all next week…