Big Baller League

TEAM AWARDS

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Donavon Mitchell, who did 29-6 playing at the 3.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: MKG, until he broke his skull. Next season buddy!

MOST IMPROVED: Bradley Beal, who showed some signs of life after a slow start to his career.

SIXTH MAN: Josh Hart, he was literally SLN's 6MOY.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: Ending up with Gafford in this draft.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: MKG's broken skull.

TRADE/ACQUISITION OF THE YEAR: Pretty sure I did nothing?

REGRETS: Not doing more with the pick sack I had.

TEAM AWARDS

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER:
Deron. After a career full of slander, he's a top 5 SG in the league.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Drumlord. Our defensive anchor and franchise player!

MOST IMPROVED:
Weirdly... 35 year old Deron? Volume up, FG% up, stock:TO up

SIXTH MAN:
Rodney Hood! Lit it up in the back third of the season.

BIGGEST SURPRISE:
Danuel House being a good contributor out of the gate. Hoping volume goes up a bit!

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT:
None!

TRADE/ACQUISITION OF THE YEAR:
Jrue for Sabonis. We'll see how history judges this one... Jrue going up to A+ outside is pretty sick...

REGRETS:
Moving Bosh too early? Wasn't a good seller's market last season but everyone's buying right now

BLAZERS TEAM AWARDS

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER:

By the numbers it was my main man Tim Hardaway Jr. Who doesn't want 31ppg on 48/42/89 splits. Offensively, the guy is top 5 in the league.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:

Greg Monroe! Wow look at these signings making good. The Blazers didn't play a whole heck of a lot of defense last year, so admittedly this is a low bar, but 12 boards, 2 steals and a block per game is pretty solid! 2 steals as a center!

MOST IMPROVED:

Think this is a N/A. Lauri is really the only reasonable candidate and his numbers were identical to his rookie season. Maybe that's an accomplishment?

SIXTH MAN:

Rashad McCants! He simply refuses to play bad minutes. 18ppg last year largely playing backup 1-2-3, on equal stocks and turnovers. He's going to retire shooting 40% from 3. Book it.

BIGGEST SURPRISE:

Sean May, turning the clock back. I wound up starting him for much of the year, just based on how bad we were rebounding, and he turned in a gem, putting up > 12 rebounds per 36 with a positive stock to turnover diff.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT:

Not being able to find minutes for JJJ. We were so bad rebounding the ball that he really couldn't meaningfully crack the big rotation. His stocks looked promising, but the possessions gained there didn't account for what he cost us on the boards.

TRADE/ACQUISITION OF THE YEAR:

Signing Monroe / Hardaway / Bayless in FA. I'm very happy with all 3 of those deals, and have gotten offers for each of them. We've got a pretty nice degree of flexibility right now along with young guys locked in for a long period of time. I think things in Portland are looking relatively sunny! At least for such a gloomy city.

REGRETS:

I'll always be curious about the road not taken with this team - continuing to strip mine assets, suck as hard as possible, and shoot for a top lotto pick. I had my heart set on the bigs at the top end of this draft, which I completely whiffed on. HOWEVER, per above, I still feel good about all the offseason signings, my cap situation, and 3/4 of the guys I drafted look pretty good already, so I'm ultimately happy.

TEAM AWARDS

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: LeBron. He will be missed.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Monta and LaMarcus both were incredibly impactful on defense.

MOST IMPROVED: Barton. Went up in inside and outside over TC.

SIXTH MAN: Ariza. Steadfast play at the 1- throughout the entire season.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: Monta and Lamarcus have not hit the drop off yet!

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Tyson coming and not being enough of a difference maker to win us 1 more game than the teams we tied with.

TRADE/ACQUISITION OF THE YEAR: Moving Bron for substantial return in DJ, Yaro, and picks.

REGRETS: Trading away 500 RP for Tyson at the end of the season.

TEAM AWARDS

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: It's a toss up between Joker and Boban. Both insanely efficient from the floor with volume. I will give Joker the nod because he turned into a triple double machine and his shooting splits were outrageous. He also shoots threes and Boban doesn't.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Bonga! Bonga! Bonga! 3.5 stocks at the PG slot is awfully tasty. We had the lowest opponent FG% and 3pt%... something tells me Bonga's perimeter defense is juiced to the tits in addition to be a stocky fella.

MOST IMPROVED: Joker's rebounding going from B to high B+ as well as ticking up in scoring earns him the nod. No other good candidates here.

SIXTH MAN: Dwight Howard! His efficiency took a dip last year but I love what he provides to this team in terms of post defense, stocks, and rebounding. It also helps he is on such a team friendly deal.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: Bonga actually being a guy. Rookie of the year in a class of Luka Doncic and SGA is pretty freaking awesome. He is perfect for a balanced/inside offense which doesnt require a hyper efficient 3pt shooter. His defense is insane and you get B- rebounding at the PG position. Possession cheat code.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: No disappointments this past year! My contract situation makes it hard for me to trade right now which takes some of the joy out of the league for me but this is the bed I made for myself.

TRADE/ACQUISITION OF THE YEAR: Isaac Bonga, ROTY, for RPs. Any Bonga doubters should see what he did to Harden and Jrue in the playoffs.

REGRETS: None really

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER:
OPJ. He’s an all around good SF that I’m hoping takes it up a notch this year after a +3 TC and +20 Pot

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Draymond. Good rebounder and positional defender. I just wish he got more stocks.

MOST IMPROVED:
Tristan Thompson. Did a nice job taking over the starting C role from Kwame. Very good big for very cheap.

SIXTH MAN:
Dejounte. I think his destiny is being a very nice backup combo guard and he did a nice job in that role last season.

BIGGEST SURPRISE:
Dejounte didn’t break out as my PG of the future

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT:
Dejounte

TRADE/ACQUISITION OF THE YEAR:
Bringing in Brandon Jennings was huge and had us fighting for a playoff spot until the bitter end. We’re destined to be right on the playoff bubble for the foreseeable future with him.

REGRETS:
Moving for a better starting PG earlier might have allowed me to get a couple more early wins and secure the 8 seed but oh well - I was really hoping for Dejounte to be the guy