NBA End Of Season Awards

With the NBA season wrapped up, and the playoffs on the horizon, it's time to give out the end of season awards. Let's get er going!

Most Improved Team: New Orleans Hornets- At the start of the season if you predicted the Hornets would finish second in the West you'd either have to be a delusional Hornets fan or mentally unstable (or maybe a weird combination of the two). The bottom line is that this team came out of no where and improved their tenth place finish last season by 17 wins to finish second in the highly competitive Western Conference. And it's not like they were beating up on chump change teams all year. They have wins against every other Western Conference playoff team including four wins against the Suns, and two each versus the Mavs, Lakers, and Spurs. After a season like this the Hornets are serious Finals contenders.

Honorable Mention- Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, Portland Trail Blazers

Most Disappointing Team: Chicago Bulls- In the preseason the Bulls were considered by many as a big time contender in the East. Well, let's just say it was a long season for the Bulls. They finished the season with a miserable 33 wins, which is 15 less than last seasons total. After starting the season 2-10, the Bulls just couldn't get it together. It looks like they're back to being the 'Baby Bulls'. If I was a Bulls fan I'd be planning some type of riot due to management not being able to pull the trigger on that Kobe deal last summer.

Honorable Mention- Miami Heat, New Jersey Nets

Most Improved Player: Jose Calderon- The Raptors point man established himself as a premier point guard this season, by averaging a little over eight assists a game and improving his career three point percentage of .368 to .429. As a pass first guard he also averaged 11.2 points while only playing 30 minutes a game due to sharing time with T.J. Ford. Calderon is a future All-Star who should see his production increase even more next season, especially if the Raps decide to dump Ford.

Honorable Mention- Hedo Turkoglu, J.R. Smith, LaMarcus Aldridge

Most Unimproved Player: Darko Milicic- This was supposed to be Darko's breakout season. Wait a minute, last year was, or was it the year before that. Darko proved this year that he will never have a breakout season, and that he's one of the biggest bust in NBA Draft history (I still can't believe that he was picked before Melo, D-Wade, and CB4). Playing for the Grizzlies was supposed to give Darko a chance to shine, but he only managed seven points and six boards a game. He and Kwame Brown sure do make a great front court duo. I hear Sam Bowie may come out of retirement to join them next season, and the Griz are also thinking of signing Michael Olowokandi.

Honorable Mention- Andrea Bargnani, anyone on the Knicks

Rookie of the Year: Kevin Durant- 20 points and 35 minutes per game. No need to elaborate.

Honorable Mention- Al Horford

Coach of the Year: Byron Scott (Hornets)- When a team improves by 17 wins the coach must be doing something right. Playing for the Hornets the last few seasons couldn't have been the most stable situation, but Scott has made things work. He's been able to blend his players into a fantastic system that has seen the overachieving team play better than most of the leagues top contenders.

Honorable Mention- Doc Rivers, Rick Adelman

MVP: Kobe Bryant- There's several players in the running for this seasons MVP, and this year could be the toughest vote ever. When determining an MVP pick, people always say "If you took this guy off the team, they'd be nothing". Well, you could probably say that about 15 different players in the NBA. Kobe is the most skilled player in the league, and plays on the team with the best record in easily the toughest conference. No one really expected the Lakers to make much noise this year, but now they're the West's best team, and that's all because of Kobe. Yes, the Celtics did finish with a better record, but they obviously had a much easier schedule. Kobe's the man. It's that simple.

Honorable Mention- Kevin Garnett, Chris Paul

Enjoy the playoffs!

-Joe Osborne