The NBA, like all sports, has a litany of awards. For years these followed the format of [Award Name] of the Year, e.g., Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. In 2009 the NBA renamed the Finals Most Valuable Player to the Bill Russell award in honor of the MVP in NBA history with the most rings. Bill Russell likely would have had a number, possibly even a record number, of Finals MVP awards, except the award wasn't around when he won his 11 titles. It’s hard to argue with this award, and it only took a decade longer for the NBA to finish naming their awards, let’s see how they did.
Most Valuable Player via the Michael Jordan Trophy
My Thoughts
Michael Jordan has long been the face of the NBA. Even twenty-five years after retiring, MJ is still a huge part of the NBA scene with his Nike brand and being a part owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. He also is tied for the second most MVPs. In short, I have no problem with this pick. I described it as “Pepperoni Pizza.” When you’re ordering pizza, there might be a lot of opinions, but for most, if you suggest pepperoni, they won’t have a complaint. MJ is like that. I give this award name an A, but that said?
Better Alternative: The Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Trophy
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has the most MVPs in NBA history, with six. As of this writing, he’s also the all-time points leader. He also has the largest gap between Finals MVPs in NBA history. This should be the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award. If you throw some goggles on the new MVP statue, it’s done. It’s worth noting that while MJ was a great PR face, Kareem has been known for being a more prickly figure, so it makes sense why it didn’t happen.
Defensive Player of the Year via the Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy
My Thoughts
He won the award twice and is the all-time leader in blocks (in part because blocks weren’t recorded in the era of Bill Russell). Really, not a bad pick for the award. Much like the MJ Trophy, this gets an A grade.
Better Alternative: The Ben Wallace Trophy
There are two players in the history of the NBA with four Defensive Player of the Year Awards, Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace. I feel defensive players in this vein are unheralded. Yes, Hakeem was a defensive force, but he was also an offensive beast. He was one of the few players in NBA history capable of recording a quadruple-double. Players like Dikembe and Wallace (and Rodman, another solid pick!) were just known for their defense. Ben Wallace has been underappreciated for too long, including a long wait for the Naismith Hall of Fame. It’s worth noting Ben Wallace was the defensive anchor of the team that broke up Shaq and Kobe. So, he’s my pick for this trophy.
Sixth Man of the Year via the John Havlicek Trophy
My Thoughts
Another solid pick, and one I love partly because John is from an era when starts were not recorded in the boxscore. Havlicek was an amazing player that came off the bench for the Celtics. Havlicek even won Finals MVP in 1974. An A as a grade for this award name.
Alternative: The Manu Ginobili Trophy
All I can say is, ‘Havlicek stole the award!’ Manu Ginobili is the epitome of this award and has been my pick for years. Sorry, John, he’s who I’d pick.
Rookie of the Year via the Wilt Chamberlain Trophy
My Thoughts
Wilt Chamberlain won MVP as a rookie averaging 37 points and 28 rebounds a game. As this is a regular-season award, there is no better choice. One slight change in the NBA landscape, in the historical NBA, most players would play four years in college. Wilt was 23 when he entered the NBA. However, finding a 19-year-old in the modern NBA who could be close to MVP as a rookie is pretty hard. And so, even though I give this pick an A+, I have a better pick up my sleeve.
Better Alternative: The Spencer Haywood Trophy
As a rookie in the ABA for the Denver Rockets (now Denver Nuggets), Spencer Haywood, as a 20-year-old, put up 30 points and 20 boards, playing 84 games and 45.3 minutes a game! He won both Rookie of the Year and MVP. Sadly, he hopped to the NBA, where he still played at All-Star level — which helped the argument that the ABA was on par with the NBA. He was also involved in a major lawsuit that helped get players more rights, and is why modern rookies are so much younger! He is the perfect image for the award.
Most Improved Player via the George Mikan Trophy
My Thoughts
Ok, sorry, no. The logic beyond this award is that George Mikan’s drills have been used to improve players. As a player, though? George Mikan as a rookie, put up the second-best numbers of his career. The logic is arguably sound, but it completely breaks the awards format, as all of the other trophy names are players that won (or would have won) the award. The Lakers finally retired George Mikan’s number, which could be the NBA trying to give him accolades. If that’s the case, make up a new award for this title. This fails. C-only because I can’t really fail Mikan.
Much Much, Much Better Alternative: The Steve Nash Trophy
This guy went from being a bad rookie to an ok player on Phoenix. He then went to Dallas, where he turned into a star. And then, after Dallas foolishly let him walk, he upped it even more and became an MVP. An obvious pick if ever there was one.
Clutch Player of the Year via the Jerry West Trophy
My Thoughts
With apologies, I’m not a fan of this award. Years ago, Jeremy Britton and I did a fun article in “Defense” of Kobe’s “bad clutch.” We noted, for a starting NBA player, clutch makes up so little of their time it doesn’t matter. If you want to compliment a player like MJ or bash a player like Kobe, clutch time isn’t the way to do it. That said? If you’re gonna do this award, and you’re gonna name it after a player? This guy’s a good pick. A grade.
Alternative: The Tim Duncan Trophy
Hear me out. Do you know what’s clutch? Not needing clutch. If you win the game before the last five minutes or win so many games, you can rest your players? That’s true clutch. So for that player, I nominate Tim Duncan. He was the epitome of clutch as he won games for years, not just in the end. I’m aware this won’t land but I figured I’d throw it out.
Alright, those are my suggestions! What do you think? Until next time, which will hopefully be more frequent.
-Dre