2016-17 NBA Awards: The Disappearing Act Award for player who came up small
Monday night, the first televised NBA Awards show takes place. Finally, some two months after the end of the 2016-17 NBA regular season, we'll find out who takes home MVP, Rookie of the Year, Executive of the Year, Sixth Man, Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and more. However, the annual honors bestowed on players, coaches and executives alike leave something to be desired.
If you're going to have an awards show, you may as well go all out with the type of awards fans really care about. Luckily for you, we at Yardbarker are here to help. In addition to the annual awards the league hands out, we've added a few of our own.
In the NBA, you're either clutch or you're not in the eyes of talking heads and fans. Or at least, you're not clutch until you are or vice versa. This is especially "true" for the star players in the league. In order to truly be elite, to mark the difference between star and superstar, the alpha dogs must come up big when their teams need them most.
Unfortunately for some players, they're more known for coming up small when their teams need them the most, and this past postseason provided many examples of All-Star or highly paid players failing to come through in the clutch. That's where the Disappearing Act Award comes in for the player who came up the smallest when his team needed him the most, which applies to the following:
Alex Wong: Kyle Lowry. Listen, even when he's not scoring, Lowry is a plus-player for the Raptors, the engine that makes the team go with his playmaking ability and how he opens the floor up for his teammates. But year after year, the Raptors have had to worry about whether their franchise point guard would fall into a shooting slump come playoff time.
In this postseason, Lowry shot 42.6 percent from the field in the first round against Milwaukee, making 28.1 percent of his threes. He missed the final two games in Toronto's four-game sweep at the hands of the Cavs with an ankle injury and now heads toward free agency. We'll see just how much Toronto values his contributions during the regular season and how much the Raptors weigh that against what he has done in the playoffs.
Shiloh Carder: I'm going with Kyle Lowry. Entering the postseason, the Raptors were the trendy team who had the best shot at foiling the Cavaliers' third straight trip to the Finals. Obviously that didn't happen, and Lowry's play factored in that. He scored just four points in their first playoff game against the Bucks. They would go on to win that series but caused no problems against the Cavs.
Lowry enters this offseason ready to bank a new contract. That 15 points per game playoff showing (yes, he missed the last two games with a sprained ankle) may get him a max contract, but he may not be looked at as a guy who can carry a team to a title.
Joe Boland: Paul George. I wrote this in May: Yes, Paul George averaged 28 points, nearly nine rebounds, more than seven rebounds and almost two steals per game against the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round, and yes, he got very little help from his teammates in the lopsided sweep. Sounds mulligan-worthy, right?
Well, Paul forfeited any and all mulligan privileges by repeatedly calling out his teammates, whether we’re talking C.J. Miles, Lance Stephenson or anyone else. Oh yeah, he also reportedly told his teammates he really wants to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. No wonder his teammates provided little help — they already know George is prepared to throw them under the bus on his way to Tinseltown with virtually no remorse.
Oh yeah, he also couldn't, you know, actually make any clutch shots for the Pacers, despite what his commercial tries to tell you.
Jason Clinkscales: LaMarcus Aldridge in the Western Conference Finals. Just do a Twitter search of “LaMarcus Aldridge jumper” for your entertainment. Do it.
Daniel Tran: Tristan Thompson was given a fat five-year, $82 million contract to rebound the ball. When you get that kind of scratch, maybe you can do better than averaging 5.8 rebounds in the NBA freaking Finals. Tristan Thompson was a beast during the Cavs' championship run last year and was averaging nearly a double-double for the playoffs prior to this year’s Finals. Too bad he never showed up, or we might be talking about the greatest upset of all time rather than the Golden State Warriors being the greatest team of all time.
Sean Keane: Tristan Thompson, Cleveland Cavaliers. Last year, Thompson was a huge force in the Finals, dominating the boards and switching out on the perimeter. This year, he was almost unplayable — maybe because Steph Curry wasn't coming off an MCL sprain.
Speaking of Curry, he out-rebounded Thompson for the Finals, and Thompson went scoreless in two of the five games. Worst of all, he made America listen to Jeff Van Gundy talk about the Kardashians! When the broadcast team is talking about whether you've been cursed by your girlfriend, it doesn't say positive things about your performance.
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