NBA Sportsmanship Award
The NBA Sportsmanship Award is an annual National Basketball Association award given to a player who most "exemplifies the ideals of sportsmanship on the court with ethical behavior, fair play, integrity." It is directly analogous to the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award, awarded by the NBA's sister league, the WNBA, with neither award demanding excellence of play. Every year, each of the 30 NBA teams nominates one of its players to compete for this award. From these nominees, one player from each NBA division are selected by a panel as the divisional Sportsmanship Award winners. At the end of the regular season, players in the league cast votes for the award, with eleven points given for each first-place vote, nine for second-place vote, seven points for third, five points for fourth, three points for fifth and one point for each sixth place vote received; the player with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award and presented with the Joe Dumars Trophy.
Grant Hill has won the award three times. Kemba Walker, Jason Kidd and Mike Conley are the only other players to have won it multiple times, each having done so twice. National Basketball Association portal Official website
NBA Most Valuable Player Award
The National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award is an annual National Basketball Association award given since the 1955–56 season to the best performing player of the regular season. The winner receives the Maurice Podoloff Trophy, named in honor of the first commissioner of the NBA, who served from 1946 until 1963; until the 1979–80 season, the MVP was selected by a vote of NBA players. Since the 1980–81 season, the award is decided by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada; each member of the voting panel casts a vote for first to fifth place selections. Each first-place vote is worth 10 points. Starting from 2010, one ballot was cast by fans through online voting; the player with the highest point total wins the award. As of June 2018, the current holder of the award is James Harden of the Houston Rockets; every player who has won this award and has been eligible for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has been inducted. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won the award a record six times.
He is the only player to win the award despite his team not making the playoffs back in the 1975–76 season. Both Bill Russell and Michael Jordan won the award five times, while Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James won the award four times. Russell and James are the only players to have won the award four times in five seasons. Moses Malone, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson each won the award three times, while Bob Pettit, Karl Malone, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash and Stephen Curry have each won it twice. Only two rookies have won the award: Chamberlain in the 1959–60 season and Wes Unseld in the 1968–69 season. Hakeem Olajuwon of Nigeria, Duncan of the U. S. Virgin Islands, Nash of Canada and Dirk Nowitzki of Germany are the only MVP winners considered "international players" by the NBA. Curry in 2015–16 is the only player to have won the award unanimously. Shaquille O'Neal in 1999–2000 and James in 2012–13 are the only two players to have fallen one vote shy of a unanimous selection, both receiving 120 of 121 votes.
Since the 1975–76 season, only two players have been named MVP for a season in which their team failed to win at least 50 regular-season games—Moses Malone and Russell Westbrook. Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award NBA Development League Most Valuable Player Award General Specific
Tim Duncan
Timothy Theodore Duncan is an American former professional basketball player. He spent his entire 19-year career with the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association. Duncan started out as a swimmer, did not begin playing basketball until ninth grade, he played basketball for St. Dunstan's Episcopal High School. In college, Duncan played for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, winning the Naismith College Player of the Year, USBWA College Player of the Year, John Wooden awards in his senior year. After graduating from college, Duncan earned NBA Rookie of the Year honors after being selected by San Antonio with the first overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft. Regarded as the greatest power forward of all time as well as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, he is a five-time NBA champion, a two-time NBA MVP, a three-time NBA Finals MVP, a 15-time NBA All-Star, the only player to be selected to both the All-NBA and All-Defensive Teams for 13 consecutive seasons. Off the court, Duncan is known for his active philanthropy.
He holds a degree in psychology and created the Tim Duncan Foundation to raise general health awareness and fund education and youth sports in various parts of the United States. Tim Duncan is the son of Ione, a midwife, William Duncan, a mason, he has two older sisters and Tricia, one older brother, Scott, a film director and cinematographer. He was born and raised on Saint Croix, one of the main islands composing the U. S. Virgin Islands. In school, Duncan was a bright pupil and dreamt of becoming an Olympic-level swimmer like his sister Tricia, his parents were supportive and Duncan excelled at swimming, becoming a teenage standout in the 50, 100 and 400 meters freestyle and aiming to make the 1992 Olympic Games as a member of the United States Team. When Hurricane Hugo destroyed the island's only Olympic-sized swimming pool in 1989, Duncan was forced to swim in the ocean and he lost his enthusiasm for swimming because of his fear of sharks. Duncan was dealt another emotional blow when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and died one day before his 14th birthday.
In her last days, she made Duncan and his sisters promise to finish college with a degree, which would explain Duncan's refusal to leave college early. Duncan was inspired by his brother-in-law to turn to basketball. Duncan had difficulties adapting to the game he thought would help relieve his pain and frustration. Nancy Pomroy, the athletic director of the St. Croix Country Day School was quoted: " was so huge. So big and tall, but he was awfully awkward at the time." He overcame this to become a standout for the St. Dunstan's Episcopal High School, averaging 25 points per game as a senior, his play attracted the attention of several universities, despite having only picked up the game in ninth grade. Wake Forest University basketball coach Dave Odom in particular grew interested in Duncan after the 16-year-old played NBA star Alonzo Mourning to a draw in a 5-on-5 pick-up game. Odom was searching for a physical player to play near the basket. Given the weak level of basketball in the Virgin Islands, Odom was wary about Duncan at first after first meeting him and thinking him to be inattentive.
However, after the first talk, Odom understood that this was just Duncan's way of paying attention, discovered that he was not only athletically talented, but a quick learner. Despite scholarship offers by the University of Hartford, the University of Delaware and Providence College, Duncan joined Odom's Wake Forest Demon Deacons. In the year before Duncan's arrival at Wake Forest University, the Demon Deacons reached the Sweet 16, but lost main scorer Rodney Rogers, who entered the 1993 NBA draft. In the 1993–94 NCAA season, Coach Dave Odom was considering redshirting Duncan, but was forced to play him after fellow freshman big man Makhtar N'Diaye was ruled out due to NCAA rules violations and transferred to Michigan. Duncan struggled with early transition problems and was held scoreless in his first college game, but as the year progressed, he and teammate Randolph Childress led the Deacons to a 20–11 win-loss record. Duncan's style of play was simple but effective, combining an array of low-post moves, mid-range bank shots and tough defense.
He was chosen to represent the U. S. in the 1994 Goodwill Games. Meanwhile, Duncan worked towards a degree in psychology and took classes in anthropology and Chinese literature. Despite focusing on basketball, Wake Forest psychology department chairperson Deborah Best was quoted: "Tim was one of my more intellectual students. Other than his height, I couldn't tell him from any other student at Wake Forest." Duncan established his reputation as a stoic player, to the extent that opposing fans taunted him as "Mr. Spock", the prototypical logical, detached character from Star Trek. In the 1994–95 NCAA season, the sophomore was soon called one of the best eligible NBA prospects, along with his peers Joe Smith, Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse. Los Angeles Lakers general manager Jerry West suggested that Duncan might become the top pick in the 1995 NBA draft if he went early, but Duncan assured everyone he had no intention of going pro until he graduated though the NBA was planning to add a rookie salary cap in 1996.
He was determined to stay in school. In that season, he led the Demon Deacons into the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game against a Rasheed Wall
Kevin Garnett
Kevin Maurice Garnett is an American former professional basketball player who played for 21 seasons in the National Basketball Association. Known for his intensity, defensive ability, versatility, Garnett is considered one of the greatest power forwards of all time, he is one of four NBA players to win both the Most Valuable Player and the Defensive Player of the Year awards. In high school, Garnett was a 1995 McDonald's All-American at Farragut Career Academy and won a national player of the year award, he entered the 1995 NBA draft, where he was selected with the fifth overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves and became the first NBA player drafted directly out of high school in 20 years. Garnett made an immediate impact with the Minnesota Timberwolves, leading them to eight consecutive playoff appearances. In 2004, he won the NBA MVP Award. Garnett has been named to 15 All-Star Games, winning the All-Star MVP award in 2003, is tied for third-most All-Star selections in NBA history, he was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2007–08, has been selected nine times for All-NBA Teams and 12 times for All-Defensive Teams.
Garnett holds several Timberwolves franchise records. In 2007, after 12 seasons with the Timberwolves, Garnett joined the Boston Celtics in a blockbuster trade. In his first year with the Celtics, he helped lead them to the NBA championship, while finishing in third place for the MVP award. In 2013, Garnett was included in a second headline trade that sent him to the Brooklyn Nets with longtime Celtic Paul Pierce. In 2015, Garnett was traded back to Minnesota, he announced his retirement from professional basketball in September 2016. Garnett was born on May 1976, in Greenville, South Carolina, to Shirley Garnett, he was the second of his mother's three children. Garnett's mother never married his father, O'Lewis McCullough, with their relationship ending shortly after his birth. Garnett grew up with his mother and stepfather, Ernest Irby, with whom he didn't get along, two sisters. Garnett fell in love with the sport of basketball while attending Hillcrest Middle School, although he did not play organized basketball until high school.
In his first three years of high school, Garnett attended Mauldin High School in Mauldin, South Carolina and played on the school's basketball team. However, during the summer before his senior year of high school, Garnett was in the general vicinity of a fight between black and white students. Although not directly involved, Garnett was one of three students arrested for second-degree lynching, a charge, expunged through a pre-trial intervention. Due to the racially charged incident and fearful of being a target, Garnett decided to leave Mauldin High and transferred to Farragut Career Academy in Chicago, for his senior year of high school, he was named National High School Player of the Year by USA Today. He was named Mr. Basketball for the state of Illinois after averaging 25.2 points, 17.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 6.5 blocks while shooting 66.8% from the field. In four years of high school, Garnett posted an impressive 2,553 points, 1,809 rebounds and 737 blocked shots. In high school, Garnett played alongside Ronnie Fields, who became a professional basketball player.
Garnett was named the Most Outstanding Player at the McDonald's All-American Game after registering 18 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocked shots, declared himself eligible for the 1995 NBA draft. To mark the 35th anniversary of the McDonald's All-American High School Boys Basketball Game, Garnett was honored as one of 35 Greatest McDonald's All-Americans. Garnett's decision not to play college basketball was influenced in part by his failure to score well enough on the ACT to meet NCAA requirements for freshman eligibility. Garnett told Student Sports Magazine in 1995 that if he had attended college he would have chosen to play college basketball for the University of Maryland. Garnett was drafted with the fifth overall pick in the 1995 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, became the first player to be drafted directly out of high school since 1975. Since joining the NBA for the 1989–90 season, the Timberwolves had not won more than 29 games in any season. In Garnett's rookie season, the Timberwolves were in the midst of a transition phase.
Garnett came off the bench in his rookie year, but moved into the starting lineup soon after Saunders became head coach. In his rookie year and fellow newcomer Tom Gugliotta carried the scoring load. Garnett did not leap to stardom as prep-to-pro prospects such as Amar'e Stoudemire, LeBron James and Dwight Howard would, but he did have a respectable rookie year, he averaged 10.4 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game and was voted to the All-Rookie Second Team. Despite having some promising players, the Timberwolves suffered through their seventh consecutive sub-30 win season and failed to make the playoffs. At the time, Garnett was the youngest NBA player in 11 months of age. Before the 1996–97 season, the Timberwolves made a draft-day trade for point guard Stephon Marbury of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. During the season, Garnett posted improving averages of 17.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.1 blocks and 1.7 steals. He had two games where he registered eight blocks. With a 40–42 record, the Timberwolves made their first playoff appearance in franchise history and Gugliotta made their first All-Star appearances, Marbury established himself as a valuable young lead guard.
However, the Houston Rockets, led by Hakeem Olajuwon
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan known by his initials, MJ, is an American former professional basketball player, the principal owner and chairman of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association. He played 15 seasons in the NBA for the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards, his biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." He was one of the most marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. Jordan played three seasons for coach Dean Smith at the University of North Carolina; as a freshman, he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982. Jordan joined the Bulls in 1984 as the third overall draft pick, he emerged as a league star and entertained crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, demonstrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in Slam Dunk Contests, earned him the nicknames Air Jordan and His Airness.
He gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat". Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball before the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season, started a new career in Minor League Baseball, he returned to the Bulls in March 1995 and led them to three additional championships in 1996, 1997, 1998, as well as a then-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in January 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Wizards. Jordan's individual accolades and accomplishments include six NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Awards, ten scoring titles, five MVP Awards, ten All-NBA First Team designations, nine All-Defensive First Team honors, fourteen NBA All-Star Game selections, three All-Star Game MVP Awards, three steals titles, the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award.
He holds the NBA records for highest career regular season scoring average and highest career playoff scoring average. In 1999, he was named the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN, was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press' list of athletes of the century. Jordan is a two-time inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, having been enshrined in 2009 for his individual career, again in 2010 as part of the group induction of the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team, he became a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2015. Jordan is known for his product endorsements, he fueled the success of Nike's Air Jordan sneakers, which were introduced in 1984 and remain popular today. Jordan starred as himself in the 1996 film Space Jam. In 2006, he became part-owner and head of basketball operations for the Charlotte Bobcats, bought a controlling interest in 2010. In 2014, Jordan became the first billionaire player in NBA history, he is the third-richest African-American, behind Robert F. Oprah Winfrey.
Jordan was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Deloris, who worked in banking, James R. Jordan Sr. an equipment supervisor. His family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina. Jordan is the fourth of five children, he has two older brothers, Larry Jordan and James R. Jordan, Jr. one older sister and one younger sister, Roslyn. Jordan's brother James retired in 2006 as the Command Sergeant Major of the 35th Signal Brigade of the XVIII Airborne Corps in the U. S. Army. Jordan attended Emsley A. Laney High School in Wilmington, where he highlighted his athletic career by playing basketball and football, he tried out for the varsity basketball team during his sophomore year, but at 5'11", he was deemed too short to play at that level. His taller friend, Harvest Leroy Smith, was the only sophomore to make the team. Motivated to prove his worth, Jordan became the star of Laney's junior varsity team, tallied several 40-point games; the following summer, he trained rigorously. Upon earning a spot on the varsity roster, Jordan averaged more than 25 points per game over his final two seasons of high school play.
As a senior, he was selected to play in the 1981 McDonald's All-American Game and scored 30 points, after averaging 27 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists per game for the season. Jordan was recruited by numerous college basketball programs, including Duke, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. In 1981, Jordan accepted a basketball scholarship to North Carolina, where he majored in cultural geography; as a freshman in coach Dean Smith's team-oriented system, he was named ACC Freshman of the Year after he averaged 13.4 ppg on 53.4% shooting. He made the game-winning jump shot in the 1982 NCAA Championship game against Georgetown, led by future NBA rival Patrick Ewing. Jordan described this shot as the major turning point in his basketball career. During his three seasons at North Carolina, he averaged 17.7 ppg on 54.0% shooting, added 5.0 rpg. He was selected by consensus to the NCAA All-American First Team in both his sophomore and junior seasons. After winning the Naismith and the Wooden College Player of the Year awards in 1984, Jordan left North Carolina one year before his scheduled graduation to enter the 1984 NBA draft.
The Chicago Bulls selected Jordan after Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie. One of the primary reasons why Jordan was not drafted
NBA All-Rookie Team
The NBA All-Rookie Team is an annual National Basketball Association honor given since the 1962–63 NBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the NBA head coaches; the All-Rookie Team is composed of two five-man lineups, a first team and a second team. The players each receive two points for each first team vote and one point for each second team vote; the top five players with the highest point total make the first team, with the next five making the second team. In the case of a tie at the fifth position of either team, the roster is expanded. If the first team consists of six players due to a tie, the second team will still consist of five players with the potential for more expansion in the event of additional ties. Ties have occurred several times, most in 2012, when Kawhi Leonard, Iman Shumpert, Brandon Knight tied in votes received. No respect is given to positions. For example, the first team had four forwards, one guard in 2008, while the first team had four centers and one guard in 2016.
Nine All-Rookie Team members have won both the Rookie of the Year Award and the Most Valuable Player Award during their careers. Wilt Chamberlain and Wes Unseld are the only players to accomplish this feat in the same season; as of the end of the 2007–08 season, 29 members of the All-Rookie Team have been elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, 28 members were not born in the United States and 120 members are active in the NBA. National Basketball Association portal General Specific
Tyson Chandler
Tyson Cleotis Chandler is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association. Chandler was the second overall pick of the 2001 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers was traded to the Chicago Bulls, he has played for the New Orleans Hornets, Charlotte Bobcats, Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns. As starting center for Dallas, he played an integral role in the franchise's first NBA championship in 2011, he has been named to the NBA All-Defensive Team three times. While with New York, Chandler was voted the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2012, when he was named to the All-NBA Third Team, he won gold medals with the US national team in the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the 2012 Summer Olympics. Chandler was born to Frank Chandler and Vernie Threadgill, though he did not meet his father Frank until in his life, he grew up in a family farm in Hanford, just south of Fresno, California. Chandler began playing basketball at the age of three years on a basket Chandler's grandfather, fixed on a tree.
Chandler grew up doing farm work such as milking cows, slopping pigs, cultivating crops. At the age of nine years and his mother moved to San Bernardino, California; as a child, Chandler was teased because of his height. Chandler and his family moved to Compton, where he enrolled at Dominguez High School, a school known for its athletics, producing basketball players such as Dennis Johnson and Cedric Ceballos. In his freshman year, Chandler made the varsity team and played with future NBA player Tayshaun Prince, a senior. With the Dominguez Dons, Chandler became a teenage sensation. Point guard Brandon Jennings, a ball boy for Dominguez at the time, said, "You'd see the girls around Tyson, the Escalade he drove, you wanted to be like him". Chandler earned accolades from Parade Magazine and USA Today, was selected to the McDonald's High School All-America Team; as a freshman, he was profiled on current affairs TV program 60 Minutes. In his junior year, Chandler averaged 12 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocks.
In his senior year, Chandler led Dominguez to a state championship and a 31–4 record, averaging 26 points, 15 rebounds, 8 blocks a game. Chandler was recruited by several universities and considered UCLA, Syracuse, Memphis and Michigan. Chandler declared for the 2001 NBA draft as a prep-to-pro. Chandler was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers with the second overall pick in the 2001 NBA draft, before being traded to the Chicago Bulls for former No. 1 overall pick Elton Brand. The Bulls placed their rebuilding efforts on the backs of two teenagers in Eddy Curry. Chandler's 2003–04 season saw him appear in a career-low 35 games, he missed two months early in the season with a bad back, before missing the final weeks of the season after landing hard on his back on March 27 against the Atlanta Hawks. In September 2005, Chandler signed a six-year deal with the Bulls. In July 2006, the Bulls looked to deal away Chandler, who had five years and $54 million left on his contract, in order to pursue Ben Wallace.
On July 14, 2006, Chandler was traded to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for P. J. Brown and J. R. Smith. Chandler led the NBA in offensive rebounds in both 2006–07 and 2007–08, ranking second in the league in rebounds per game in 2006–07 and third in rebounds per game in 2007–08, he ranked second in the NBA in field goal percentage in 2007–08 and would have led the league at.624 in 2006–07 but fell four field goals short of the statistical minimum to qualify. On February 17, 2009, Chandler was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith and the draft rights to DeVon Hardin. After examining Chandler's left big toe however, the Thunder determined that the risk of re-injury was too great and did not give Chandler a clean bill of health; as a result, on February 18, the trade was rescinded and Chandler was sent back to the Hornets. Chandler appeared in just 45 games during the 2008–09 season, missing 29 of the team's final 44 games due to left ankle injuries.
Chandler finished the 2008–09 season as the franchise's all-time leader in field goal percentage and rebounds per game, while ranking fifth in total rebounds despite playing just 197 career games with the team. On July 28, 2009, Chandler was traded to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Emeka Okafor. In his lone season with the Bobcats, Chandler played in 51 games and averaged 6.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks despite being hampered by a stress reaction in his left foot that caused him to miss 29 games. On July 13, 2010, Chandler was traded, along with Alexis Ajinça, to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Erick Dampier, Eduardo Nájera, Matt Carroll and cash considerations. Chandler was the perfect fit during his first season with the Mavericks, anchoring their defense on a team with Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd, he was credited with giving the Mavericks the'toughness' and defensive intensity that they sorely lacked, earning selection to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team for his efforts.
He helped. In Game 4 against the Heat, with Nowitzki under the weather and ailing backup center Brendan Haywood unable to stay in the game, Chandler had 13 points and 16 rebounds in an 86–83 win that tied the series at 2–2, he grabbed nine offensive boards, w
