NBA NOTES - NBA AWARDS - RACISM is BUSTING LOOSE

LeBron James is up for his fifth NBA MVP Award on the NBA AWARDS show Monday, June 25 at 9 p.m. ET on TNT - (Keith Allison photo)

The second NBA Awards show is upon us which begs the question who will be this years best players and coach - Racism is rampant as the US President of Israel continues to spout racist dialog and actions - NBA player sues Milwaukee police for assaulting him - THIS DAY IN THE NBA

Sunday, June 24, 2018

NBA AWARDS

For the second season the NBA is televising their special Award Presentation ceremony Monday, June 25 at 9 p.m. ET on TNT. This season they've stepped it up by hiring actor/comedian Anthony Anderson to host.

Anderson stars and executive produces the hit ABC show black-ish and produces the spinoff grown-ish. Anderson has received three consecutive Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy nominations, two Golden Globe nominations and three Critics Choice nominations role in black-ish.

The MVP Award's top three candidates are LeBron James, Anthony Davis and James Harden. As many in the game say the top honor should go to the player that did the most for his team. Given that criteria James would be the top choice since his Cleveland Cavalier team made it through to the finals losing and to the golden State Warriors 4-1 games in a best of seven series.

A sentimental choice would be 6'10" center/forward Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans. Davis has excelled in leading his team to their deepest penetration in the playoffs. Davis became the first player with at least 2,000 points, 800 rebounds, 150 blocks and 100 steals in a season since David Robinson in 1995-96. He led the NBA in blocks, ranked second in scoring and finished fifth in rebounding. The 25-year-old phenom Became the Pelicans' all-time leader in scoring and rebounding and averaged 35 ppg, 13 rpg, 2.45 spg and 2.18 bpg in February (8-3 team record).

James Harden is also in the top three MVP finalists. Like James his accomplishments are well known. Again, his team lost to the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.

Other top three Awards candidates are:

NBA Rookie of the Year: Donovan Mitchell, Utah Jazz, Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers and Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics.

Sixth Man Award: Eric Gordon, Houston Rockets, Fred VanVleet, Toronto Raptors and Lou Williams, LA Clippers.

Defensive Player of the Year: Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans, Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers and Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz.

Most Improved Player: Clint Capela, Houston Rockets, Spencer Dinwiddie, Brooklyn Nets and Victor Oladipo, Indiana Pacers.

Coach of the Year: Dwane Casey, Toronto Raptors, Quin Snyder, Utah Jazz and Brad Stevens, Boston Celtics.

DID YOU KNOW?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has won a record six MVP awards. Michael Jordan and Bill Russell are next with five each, followed by Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James with four apiece.

Stephen Curry is the only unanimous winner of the award (2015-16). o Moses Malone is the only player to win the honor in consecutive seasons with different teams -- Houston in 1981-82 and Philadelphia in 1982-83.

Bill Russell (1961-63), Wilt Chamberlain (1966-68) and Larry Bird (1984-86) are the only players to be named MVP three straight seasons.

Derrick Rose (22) and Karl Malone (35) are the youngest and oldest winners, respectively.

TRUMPY... WHATS UP!!!

The apparent self proclaimed world's leader Donald 'The Apprentice' Trump has lost the plot. It has long been known and publicized that the NBA Champion Golden State Warriors have stated that should they win the title they would refuse to go to the White House to be congratulated by the Trumpster given his racist statements and actions. ZAZA PACHULIA, from Georgia, is the ONLY WHITE PLAYER ON THE TEAM!

The deal is Trump is trying to save face by denying them the traditional (supposedly) honor to be congratulated by a sitting president of the United States... of Israel.

Trump said after the Warriors made their statement the HE WOULD NOT INVITE THEM. Preceding the NBA Final result Trump told reporters on before attending the G7 summit in Canada that "we're not going to invite either team," referring to the Golden State Warriors or the Cleveland Cavaliers, for a visit to the White House.

James replied, "I know no matter who wins this series, no one wants an invite anyway. It won't be Cleveland or Golden State going".

Silver informed ESPN that James, Houston Rockets guard Chris Paul and Oklahoma City Thunder star Carmelo Anthony as players who advocate for social issues through their leadership positions in the National Basketball Players Association.

"These are multidimensional people," Silver said. "They should talk about issues that are important to them. It doesn't mean everybody has to agree on those issues, but that's America. This is a platform for free speech."

Apparently... the man behind the RED BUTTON has all of the FACTS TWISTED. Full story...

MORE RACIST POLICE ASSAULTS ON BLACKS

Earlier this year Milwaukee Bucks rookie Sterling Brown was attacked by Milwaukee police. Their actions were caught on camera to which NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated, "I saw the video for the first time when the public saw it. It's horrific," Silver said. "I think for any of us, regardless of the fact that he's an NBA player, it was difficult to watch. It's painful."

Brown has filed a civil suit against the Milwaukee Police Department following the incident. Silver also spoke with Brown's father, who was a police officer in Chicago.

Brown was found to have done nothing wrong and the mayor of Milwaukee apologized.

June 24, 1901 Chuck Taylor was born in Brown County, Indiana. Although Taylor played professional basketball for 11 seasons, he is best known as the creator of the first basketball clinic in 1922, and the designer of the famous Converse basketball sneaker in 1931 that was named after him. Taylor was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1968 as a contributor to the game.

June 24, 1992 Portland became the first city outside of New York to host the NBA Draft. The 1992 NBA Draft was held at Potland’s Memorial Coliseum, and the Orlando Magic tabbed 7-1 center Shaquille O’Neal of LSU with the first overall pick.

June 24, 1995 The Toronto Raptors selected Chicago guard B. J. Armstrong with the first pick and the Vancouver Grizzlies chose guard Greg Anthony with the second selection in the Expansion Draft, as the NBA’s two newest clubs began preparation for the 1995-96 season. The Raptors drafted a total of 14 players off the 27 NBA rosters and the Grizzlies chose 13.