Around the Association (5/8/2013)

An assortment (dare I say…a hodgepodge) of contemplations and ideas about the state of the NBA.

This post is reflective of the league landscape as of 4:00pm EST on 5/8/13*

*Which is to say, each and every one of these opinions may be invalidated and tarnished by the end of the evening; here is hoping that the Basketball Gods let them have more of a shelf-life than that.

• Hats off to George Karl, who 1000% deserves his Coach of the Year honours. The only criticism I have here is that this is somehow Karl’s first time receiving the aware. He was terrifically overdue. Coach Karl led Denver to a team-record 57 wins, all without having a “star player” to his name.
• Erik Spoelstra was runner-up for the award, with less than half of Karl’s vote total. It is an easy criticism to say that the panel of writers and broadcasters often are misguided when handing out this particular award, but it would seem they generally got it right here. On my own ballot – which is completely a work of fiction, hypothetical, and meaningless, I’m aware – I had Karl narrowly ahead of Gregg Popovich, and then Spoelstra, with Tom Thibodeau and Mike Woodson rounding out the Top 5.
• Speaking of Pop, “I Want Some Nasty” + “It’s a Big Boy Game”+ The Newly Minted “No Second Question, huh?” = Why Pop is The Best