by Lang Whitaker | @langwhitaker
For a few years now, I’ve had a vote in the NBA’s official postseason awards balloting. I’ve always taken this responsibility seriously — I spend time studying stats, talking to players and execs, and I even ran some of these by a few of the SLAM fam to get their opinions. The other thing I’ve always done is posted my votes. If you disagree, that’s fine, because we’re allowed to have opposing opinions. (Even though mine are correct and yours are not.) Either way, I just wanted to be up-front with how I voted. I’ll try to stop by the comments section later on today and answer any questions/comments.
Here are the categories I was asked to vote on for the 2012-12 NBA Season…
ALL-NBA FIRST TEAM
F – LeBron James
F – Kevin Durant
C – Marc Gasol
G – Kobe Bryant
G – Chris Paul
ALL-NBA SECOND TEAM
F – Tim Duncan
F – Carmelo Anthony
C – Dwight Howard
G – James Harden
G – Tony Parker
ALL-NBA THIRD TEAM
F – LaMarcus Aldridge
F – Paul George
C – Joakim Noah
G – Russell Westbrook
G – Stephen Curry
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
1. Larry Sanders
2. Paul George
3. Greivis Vasquez
COACH OF THE YEAR
1. Erik Spoelstra
2. George Karl
3. Mike Woodson
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
1. Marc Gasol
2. Joakim Noah
3. Paul George
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1. Damian Lillard
2. Anthony Davis
3. Bradley Beal
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
1. LeBron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Carmelo Anthony
4. Chris Paul
5. Kobe Bryant