The NBA regular season has come to and end. My Bullies barely grabbed the dreaded 8th spot. Lucky them having to face King James in the opening round. DRose is great but not a miracle worker.
But let us get down to what matters. The Jewish NBA. Clearly, this year’s biggest story centers around the arrival Omri Casspi. The Israeli sensation took the league by storm. He finished the season averaging 10.3 points , 4.5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game. A pretty solid first year. Plus if you add in his Rookie All Star Game appearance and competing the All Star weekend’s H-O-R-S-E game, it was a big success. There might even be some end of the year hardware for Casspi.
But Casspi did fade off towards the end. Maybe it was the rigorous schedule or the league figuring out how to defend him, around game 50 he began tailing off.
In the Kings final game of the season they lost to Jordan Farmar’s LA Lakers. Farmar only played 6 minutes…why? Because he strained his hamstring. He still managed to tie Casspi in points for the evening with 4. Farmar’s injury really hurts the Lakers bench. Farmar has come on strong as of late. He finished the season 7.2 ppg, 1.6 rpg, and 1.5 apg. While Casspi had the better numbers, Farmar’s Lakers are playoff bound.
The NBA only sports two Jewish players. Hopefully next year Casspi and Farmar will be joined by Jon Scheyer and Sylven Landesberg. Therefore we decided to make the NBA end of the year award a NBA Sportsman award instead of Player of the Year award. Joining Casspi and Farmar are Charlotte Bobcats’ Head Coach Larry Brown and Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban.
Larry Brown lead the Bobcats to its first ever playoff appearance. They finished 7th in the Eastern Conference. The thing about the Bobcats is that they do not have a star player. Stephen Jackson and Gerald Wallace do most of the scoring, but they do not have a true superstar. Brown deserves much of the credit. The team finished 44-38 which is 9 more wins than the season before.
Mark Cuban is arguably the most fun guy in the NBA. His Mavericks always try and make things interesting. They finished 2nd in the Western Conference with a 55-27 record. But most importantly Cuban brought in Caron Butler mid-season which gives the team a serious chance at a title. Butler, alongside Shawn Marion who was brought in before this season make the Mavericks a contender. Cuban never stops trying.
So there are your four finalist for TGR’s NBA Sportsman of the Year. The poll will be open posted on www.TheGreatRabbino.com for a few weeks (I figure since the NBA playoffs never end, why should the poll). Please vote for the best or your favorite. And good luck to Farmar, Brown, and Cuban in the playoffs.
And Let Us Say…Amen.
-Jeremy Fine
For More on the NBA Playoffs and everything Jewish in sports check out www.TheGreatRabbino.com
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