Walton Awards - Complete BS

[venom_7]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=walton_bill&id=2835979


ALL-NBA FIRST TEAM
G - Steve Nash
G - Kobe Bryant
C - Amare Stoudemire
F - Dirk Nowitzki
F - LeBron James

ALL-NBA SECOND TEAM
G - Gilbert Arenas
G - Dwyane Wade
C - Shaquille O'Neal
F - Chris Bosh
F - Tim Duncan


ALL-NBA THIRD TEAM
G - Allen Iverson
G - Tracy McGrady
C - Yao Ming
F - Kevin Garnett
F - Carlos Boozer


ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1. Brandon Roy
2. Andrea Bargnani
3. Jorge Garbajosa

NBA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
1. Tim Duncan
2. Shane Battier
3. Shawn Marion


NBA COACH OF THE YEAR
1. Avery Johnson
2. Mike D'Antoni
3. Gregg Popovich


EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR
1. Bryan Colangelo


NBA SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR
1. Leandro Barbosa
2. Jerry Stackhouse
3. Antonio McDyess


NBA MVP
1. Steve Nash
2. Dirk Nowitzki
3. Tim Duncan
4. LeBron James
5. Kobe Bryant

NBA MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
1. Leandro Barbosa
2. Andre Iguodala
3. Monta Ellis


This guy is a joke. Some are given like exec of the year and rookie of the year. His all-nba teams are all right, all though I would put VC instead of Tmac. McDyess should not be mentioned on the 6th man award. Manu instead. Mvp list, Kobe should be above TD and King James. And the real issue is with MIP. Kevin isn't even mentioned. Iggy isn't eligible, I dont really consider Barbosa because he did the same thing last year. Where is K$? Stupid Walton. Him and the VA Tech shootings ruined my day.

 

[piksi]

it is all subjective

 

[reyes13]

he's a king hater...he bashes Artest all the time.

 

[supamari0]

Amare and Shaq over Yao??? When will that stuff stop. Shaq isn't better than Yao anymore. And Amare isn't even really a center but even if you include him, he's still not better. The stats don't lie.

Shaq - 17pts and 7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks
Yao - 25 pts and 9.5 rebounds and 2 blocks
Amare - 20 pts 9.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks

Sorry, the Rockets homerism kicked in there.

 

[John Galt]

Odd he isn't pimping Kobe for MVP. I hate the Lakers and I hate Kobe, but how can he be denied the MVP after scoring 50 for the tenth time this season?

yeah yeah yeah... "value to your team". OK, how are the Lakers gonna be without Kobe Bryant? I mean seriously....

 

[NikateeN]

OK, how are the Lakers gonna be without Kobe Bryant? I mean seriously....

They might actually win, its hard to get good and get into a rythem if you have a ball hog on the team.

As far as the Walton awards...wow, Amare? Come on, i like Amare but seriously...and i could think of quite a few people for Sixth other than McDyess.

 

[vladetomiller]

Amare and Shaq over Yao??? When will that stuff stop. Shaq isn't better than Yao anymore. And Amare isn't even really a center but even if you include him, he's still not better. The stats don't lie.

Shaq - 17pts and 7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks
Yao - 25 pts and 9.5 rebounds and 2 blocks
Amare - 20 pts 9.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks

Sorry, the Rockets homerism kicked in there.

I dont think its homerism, Yao is the best center in the league right now and I would go with big Z as the second. Shaq is alright in the sense that he still commands that double team which Yao and Z dont command every time they touch the ball. But still what Yao has done a remarkable job this year.

Amare is a joke, he is not a center, he pretends to play center getting the calls of a PG for touch fouls on his screen and roll going to the hoop. He doesnt have any post moves and he is today's kenyon martin thriving in a system and I dont think his talent level is there to be in all nba first team

 

[Rockmeister]

Who cares what Walton says.

 

[hoopsfan]

They might actually win, its hard to get good and get into a rythem if you have a ball hog on the team.

As far as the Walton awards...wow, Amare? Come on, i like Amare but seriously...and i could think of quite a few people for Sixth other than McDyess.

Maybe it's hard to get a rhythm when you only played 14 games with your staring lineup? (Well, minus the starting center who didn't play all year.)
KB is 24th in the entire league in assists...you know it only works if the person you pass to can actually make a shot!!

But like you guys said...who cares what Bill Walton thinks!

 

[Bricklayer]

Odd he isn't pimping Kobe for MVP. I hate the Lakers and I hate Kobe, but how can he be denied the MVP after scoring 50 for the tenth time this season?

yeah yeah yeah... "value to your team". OK, how are the Lakers gonna be without Kobe Bryant? I mean seriously....

Never been the standard.

If it was Michael Redd might be MVP -- his crappy team completely collapsed without him too. Have to prove that you can make a team great, not just competitive. And for the millionth time, its never been "best player in the league", or MJ would have won about a dozen of them and it would actually be a very boring and staid award. I think Kobe's 50s in the later part fo the season are fairly remarkable for actually helping his team (often those performances seem to ahve teh reverse effect). But they are also likely an indication of why he will NOT win MVP -- like MJ in his youth, once you arise as a real MVP candidate your 50pt games should be less frequent, not more, as you stand at the heart of an elite team and make it go without it being a game of horse every night.

 

[VF21]

They might actually win, its hard to get good and get into a rythem if you have a ball hog on the team.

I hate when I have to defend something about Kobe Bryant, but the "ball hog" moniker just hasn't fit this season. He's done a good job of getting his teammates involved. His game has matured and I think he finally realizes it's about TEAM and not just individual.

Kobe's shooting is a rare talent. When you have a teammate who is 'on," you feed him the ball regarding of what his name is. When you watch the Lakers - if you ever do - you can pretty much tell when Kobe is gonna hit everything in sight. And if I, a Kings fan, can spot it, I'm pretty sure the Lakers themselves can feel the difference. They'd be insane NOT to let him shoot when he's hitting everything from every spot on the court.

 

[NikateeN]

I hate when I have to defend something about Kobe Bryant, but the "ball hog" moniker just hasn't fit this season. He's done a good job of getting his teammates involved. His game has matured and I think he finally realizes it's about TEAM and not just individual.

Kobe's shooting is a rare talent. When you have a teammate who is 'on," you feed him the ball regarding of what his name is. When you watch the Lakers - if you ever do - you can pretty much tell when Kobe is gonna hit everything in sight. And if I, a Kings fan, can spot it, I'm pretty sure the Lakers themselves can feel the difference. They'd be insane NOT to let him shoot when he's hitting everything from every spot on the court.

Im not saying hes not a great player or that he cant knock down shot after shot, i think hes the best in the business, but im saying without him the Lakers would get more experience on the floor, the rest of the guys would get more touches and their shots amongst other things would improve.

 

[hoopsfan]

Im not saying hes not a great player or that he cant knock down shot after shot, i think hes the best in the business, but im saying without him the Lakers would get more experience on the floor, the rest of the guys would get more touches and their shots amongst other things would improve.

Without him, the rest of the Lakers would get more experience in losing many, many more games than they did. Who cares if others get more touches...if they can't make a basket?

 

[VF21]

Im not saying hes not a great player or that he cant knock down shot after shot, i think hes the best in the business, but im saying without him the Lakers would get more experience on the floor, the rest of the guys would get more touches and their shots amongst other things would improve.

That makes no sense whatsoever. That's like saying the Bulls shouldn't have played Michael Jordan. When you a star the caliber of Kobe Bryant, you don't keep him off the floor to give the rest of the team more touches and hopefully improve their shots. You surround him with players that will compliment his talents and act as his wingmen. Any other use of him would just be silly.

 

[NikateeN]

That makes no sense whatsoever. That's like saying the Bulls shouldn't have played Michael Jordan. When you a star the caliber of Kobe Bryant, you don't keep him off the floor to give the rest of the team more touches and hopefully improve their shots. You surround him with players that will compliment his talents and act as his wingmen. Any other use of him would just be silly.

It makes plenty sense, if he is taking the majority of the shots then the other guys can never get into the right rythem, and obviously Kobe scoring isnt the key to winning games, as we can see a couple of times him throwing up 30, 40, 50 and still getting the loss, its still a team sport, and there is 5 people on a team.

 

[hoopsfan]

He doesn't get it VF.

I guess he thinks other players like MJ, LBJ, Wade, Carmelo, AI TMac, Reggie Miller, KG, Ray Allen, Agent 0, etc. should just keep passing the ball instead of scoring. You know...give the other players some more touches...why should they try to win games when you've got young guys that need "more touches"??

 

[VF21]

He doesn't get it VF.

I guess he thinks other players like MJ, LBJ, Wade, Carmelo, AI TMac, Reggie Miller, KG, Ray Allen, Agent 0, etc. should just keep passing the ball instead of scoring. You know...give the other players some more touches...why should they try to win games when you've got young guys that need "more touches"??

I see that now, hoopsie. And I simply cannot continue to argue the virtues of Kobe Bryant. I've already got a headache and my Vlade Divac bobblehead has started to shake. I'm afraid I may be doing damage to the very core of the universe if I continue.

 

[hoopsfan]

Back away from the computer....the universe will thank you.

 

[midnightlove1998]

if Smush Parker, Sasha, and Puppy Crap (Cook - Classic Dave Smif), gets anymore touches than they already do, then the Lakers wouldn't even be in the playoffs.

With a healthy Odom, the Lakers have a very solid and talented 1-2 that I'd put up against most in the league; but 3-12 are brutal. I'd rather have Kobe take 35 shots than have 3-12 take the 35.