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A short blurb to declare my personal unreliable picks for the upcoming season:

Rookie of the Year:

- Tyreke Evans – Really strong bet to get ROY due to fact this talent was the heir apparent to Derrick Rose at Memphis, only he’s bigger, stronger (maybe not faster but darn close) and just as adept if not more so at scoring. He will struggle early on like most rookie point guards in the league with turnovers, but the ceiling is high for this high draft pick playing for a bad team with no competition at his position. All indications point to a seamless transition to the pros in terms of offensive production. Pretty much the only criteria to garner rookie of the year honors. His assists and defense (if he is that type of player) will come later in his career.

Sixth Man of the Year:

- Manu Ginobili – Going with the past winner, 2 seasons removed. With the San Antonio Spurs being deeper as to not rely on Ginobili to start, he will still be the first off the bench, and the last off the court in every game in the 4th quarter throughout the season. The big IF with Ginobili is his health. A summer of rest (no Olympic obligations), a contract year combined with the loophole that a bench player logging starter minutes make Manuuuuu the consensus logical pick to garner this award once again… that is if there were ever players with multiple Sixth Man awards. I’ll have to look it up. Then again if Gregg Popavich decides to start Ginobili and axe my predictions at the roots, we’ll just disregard this and say I had Lamar Odom all along.

Defensive Player of the Year:

- Josh Smith – A beast blocking shots, if this still very young veteran can pull his game together to expand his athleticism and versatility to become a defensive stalwart on the blocks and the wing as well as grab more boards, he can steal this award from frontrunners, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, and Dwayne Wade.

Scoring Champion:

- Kevin Durant -I like him as the dark horse in a league of LeBrons, Kobes, and Dwaynes. Pure natural scorer, can hit from three, can post up over smaller players, lithe like a smooth skipping stone on the court, his size and length prevents problems for many defenders. His 3rd year, with a growing young nucleus of talent around him developing while he is developing means good things for every Thunder involved. Leaps and bounds compared to his rookie year when he was the ONLY option on offense and yet still managed to average 20.3 ppg. Indeed great things are in store for Mr. Durant and any pure fan of basketball. Unfortunate Disclaimer: I have not watched Durant play live on TV since his college days with the Texas Longhorns, being the last time was at the Excalibur casino in Las Vegas during March Madness back in 2007, when the Longhorns rolled over the New Mexico Lobos in the first round. I have seen highlights of Durant’s fresh pro career on ESPN, but long for the Oklahoma Thunder to make enough noise to get themselves on TNT or ESPN prime time games.

Most Valuable Player:

- Kevin Durant – My unprecedented man-love for Durant knows no bounds (imagine if he was a Texas Tech alum!). Many feel this Oklahoma Thunder team is a year or 2 away from real consideration. However because the MVP award lends its controversies to what exactly merits an MVP in terms of pure stats, or unmeasurable attributes in addition to stats that leads to wins, or a good player on the best team, or the best player on a good team. Pick your poison, but in the mentality that the past two winners got theirs; it can be strongly argued that if Durant only gets his team to the playoffs be it the 6th seed or 8th in the uber-tough Western Conference, his campaign for MVP will skyrocket.

NBA Champions:

- Los Angeles Lakers – I dare not jinx the-favorite-team-that-shall-not-be-named in the interest of not kiboshing said favorite team before the season even gets under way. All silliness aside, until proven otherwise, the Lakers are the team to beat. The Boston Celtics certainly could and would be able to crush the Lakers if Kevin Garnett returns to health and form by June. Especially given the depth on the front court with Rasheed Wallace and Kendrick Perkins in tow, this team will give Los Angeles fits. However, the Lakers have a formidable frontcourt of their own in Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum (health also permitting), and Lamar Odom. The advantage goes to the Lakers early on because their backcourt could slightly be better due to the addition of Ron Artest, the presence of Black Mamba, and especially if someone wakes up Sasha Vujacic to remind him he’s a sex machine… or just the machine, whichever is more relevant on the basketball court.