It’s an Honorable Tradition

What is there to say at this point of every season except:

Thank heavens that’s over!

It was great in many places, such as New Jersey, Detroit and Sacramento. The Clippers were entertaining until April when the players got a little antsy and the front office wigged out. For the twice-defending NBA champion Lakers, of course, it was a time-serving exercise.

With that in mind, it’s time to hand out the awards that seem so meaningful now (the league’s, not mine) but will soon be forgotten when the one that counts--the Larry O’Brien Trophy--is presented.

Here’s my little version of this over-hyped rite of spring, the Iconoclast Awards. My motto: I may not always disagree with my colleagues, but I intend to try.

Most valuable player--Tim Duncan, San Antonio. I wanted to vote for Shaquille O’Neal, who’s so dominant he should win every year he shows up, which is what I used to do with Michael Jordan. Of course, Mike never had weak seasons and by Shaq’s standards, this wasn’t tip-top, was it? Meanwhile, Duncan, whose career numbers were up there, posted new highs in points, rebounds and assists.

After that, it’s 2) Shaq, who’s still Shaq, after all, and 3) Jason Kidd, who was brilliant, even if his shooting percentage (39%) wasn’t.

Winner in real life--Kidd, because the Eastern bloc will go heavily for him.

Defensive player of the year--Ben Wallace, Detroit. Dennis Rodman without the issues. Played center at 6-foot-8, 230 pounds, led the league in rebounds and blocks and was in the top 20 in steals.

Runner-up--Ron Artest, Indiana. Game’s most disruptive defender/teammate, especially for a guard, who is 6-7, 245. Great on the ball, great off the ball but he’s so intense, they have to talk him down out of his tree daily. Let’s hope he chills just a tad.

Winner in real life--Wallace. Because he has numbers, which sportswriters need, they can’t mess this up.

Coach of the year--Rick Carlisle, Detroit. An assistant under Larry Bird, he was considered too tough on players to succeed his mentor in Indiana. Finally getting his shot, he turned the Pistons around by teaching them to defend, going from No. 23 last season to No. 7.

Now he’s so solicitous of feelings, he called more than 100 writers to ask them to consider his players for awards, tracking many down on the road.

Runners-up--Byron Scott, New Jersey; Mo Cheeks, Portland and Nate McMillan, Seattle.

Scott’s outspoken style was a breath of fresh air last season, which turned out to be a nightmare, but this one was a dream. McMillan, another tell-the-truth and let-them-deal-with-it guy, made the playoffs with Gary Payton, Rashard Lewis and 10 guys named Desmond or Predrag. Cheeks, written off as overmatched (who wouldn’t have been?), rallied the crew that, another West coach notes, “would have driven Dean Smith out of coaching.”

Winner in real life--In a toss-up, Scott.

Rookie of the year--Pau Gasol, Memphis. Supporters of other candidates grouse he ran up numbers with a bad team, but 18 points, nine rebounds, three assists and 52% from the floor, for a seven-footer who’s still just 19 and will only get bigger and better, was remarkable.

Runner-up--Tony Parker, San Antonio. Jamaal Tinsley and Shane Battier were nice, but this kid, another prodigy who’s still 19, starts at the point for an elite team.

Winner in real life--Gasol. Easiest pick on the board.

Most Improved--Michael Olowokandi, Clippers. Made his move too late to wind up with big numbers, meaning he’ll be passed over, but there aren’t many athletic, happening seven-footers on the horizon. Unless you count Chicago’s Tyson Chandler, who’s several years away, there aren’t any.

Winner in real life--Minnesota’s Wally Szczerbiak, who may also be trade bait again if he keeps ticking off his teammates.

Sixth man of the year--Quentin Richardson, Clippers. Remarkably poised as a rookie No. 18 pick who seemingly had no position, he became a mini-impact player in his second season and looks like he’s only warming up.

Runners-up: Corliss Williamson, Detroit, and Troy Hudson, Orlando. Williamson averaged 14 points and shot 52% in 22 minutes for the NBA’s highest scoring bench. Hudson, whom Doc Rivers wouldn’t use last season, led all reserves in scoring after the break.

Executives of the year--Rod Thorn, New Jersey, and Geoff Petrie, Sacramento.

Even if the Kidd-Stephon Marbury deal was a blunder by the Suns and a stroke of luck for Thorn, who’d been told to dump salaries, getting Richard Jefferson and Jason Collins for Eddie Griffin and signing Todd MacCulloch were great too.

Petrie, arriving as Mitch Richmond asked to be traded and attendance dropped by 15% in a single season, turned it around, getting Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Peja Stojakovic, Hedo Turkoglu, Mike Bibby, et al.

All-NBA--Shaq, Duncan, Kidd, Tracy McGrady and Kobe Bryant.

Bryant morphed out of his own-my-own-planet persona, posting career numbers in assists and assist-turnover ratio, but his scoring dropped from 28.4 to 25.4 and people actually said he’d had an off-season.

Bryant’s blessing/curse is playing with O’Neal. They might win a lot more titles, but most of the credit will inevitably go to Shaq. If Kobe can accept that, as he seemed to this season, it will show how far he has come.

Lots of sharp basketball people think McGrady is better, because he’s bigger and a better defender in the post. However, Bryant just averaged 25.2, playing with O’Neal, while McGrady averaged 25.6, playing with helpers. Not that this settles the argument, or that it will be settled soon, but if Kobe were in Orlando, he’d be scoring more than 25.6.

All-NBA in real life--Shaq, Duncan, McGrady, Kidd and Allen Iverson or Gary Payton.

Most underrated--David Robinson, San Antonio. Drifts ‘til the All-Star break and at 36, is annually written off but few realize how much he has given up for Duncan. My bet is without Duncan, he’d still average 20. Unlike his old rivals, Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing, Admiral can still move around.

Most overrated--Vince Carter, Toronto. His act, which was already lame, blew up entirely when his departure, not his presence, turned the season around. As far as stardom goes, he’s starting over.

Crummy coach of the year--George Karl, Milwaukee. Insisted on signing old, malcontented, ball-monopolizing, earth-bound but, unfortunately, still talkative Anthony Mason. Ripped his players, who’d started 26-13, daily until they tuned him out and finished 15-28. Said he wasn’t going to blame it on injuries, zinging his players anew (“Great players ... don’t wear the armor of sympathy” he told Sports Illustrated, “but that’s not the gig today. The gig today is to talk about injuries, beg for sympathy.”) Then he begged for sympathy, saying it was the injuries. The problem is Karl’s head, which has been spinning like that little girl’s in “The Exorcist” since owner Herb Kohl bumped him to $7 million a year just for making the playoffs. George is used to worrying, not being doted on, and hasn’t figured out how to handle it.

Crummy executives of the year--George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge, Charlotte. New Orleans is smaller with little corporate money and, even in a recruiting mode, tepid interest. However, to David Stern’s consternation, the feud between Hornet owners and Charlotte officials doomed the franchise--which led the NBA in attendance for seven seasons in a row in the ‘90s--in what was so recently a hotbed.

Runner-up--Michael Heisley, Memphis. In three seasons as owner, he has been through two GMs, one coach and one city. After ditching Vancouver, he gave hard-headed Jason Williams and oft-injured Michael Dickerson $40- million deals without consulting President Dick Versace, messing up their cap as they were set to emerge from the shadow of Bryant Reeves’ contract. Just fired GM Billy Knight and is dangling Versace by a thread. Might just have a problem taking responsibility for anything that doesn’t work.

Loretta Summers Heisler You Think You Know So Much Awards--Given in the name of my long-suffering wife, for my shakiest calls of the season.

So let’s (shudder) get to it.

In December, I announced unequivocally 76er Coach Larry Brown, who has rarely turned around once it occurred to him to leave, was gone. He’s still there, vowing to stay. Just in case he pulls off the 180 of his career, oops.

Before the season, I listed everything that had, or could, go wrong with the 76ers, all of which did, and still picked them No. 2 in the East. Way to disregard your own stuff.

I picked Toronto to come out of the East. Of course, they still might, but I didn’t say they would have to wait ‘til Carter left, first.

I had Miami ranked anywhere from No. 5 to No. 25 as I tried to figure out what the Heat really was. The answer turned out to be a lot closer to 25 than 5.

I did the usual what-do-you-do-with someone-else’s-scoop-but-sneer number when Sports Illustrated’s Rick Reilly said Michael Jordan would come back.

After that, though, I was right on everything that happened to Jordan. Because I took every conceivable position at one time or another, I had to be.

There are more, but I’ve repressed them.

Four years ago, I made fun of my colleagues, J.A. Adande and Steve Springer in the paper for advising the Clippers to draft Mike Bibby over Michael Olowokandi. I always promised them that if I turned out to be wrong, one day I would correct the record.

OK, it’s time.

I was right, after all. I told you so, bozos.

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