Best Plus Minus: Brook Lopez (+21 in 263 minutes). He definitely has a few flaws (not the best rebounder given his size, difficulty in pick-and-roll defense), but his pluses far outweigh his minuses. Whatever the Nets want to do next year, he's a great building block.
Worst Plus Minus: Jimmy Butler (-39 in 269 minutes). When it comes to the draft, the conventional wisdom seems to suggest that getting a rotation player after pick #20 is generally considered a good-to-great pick, depending on where the pick is. Does Jimmy have the potential to be a starter, who can take the defensive challenge of the other team's best player, and bring adequate offensive production in an iron man's minutes? Yes. So, job well done, Chicago front office, no matter what plus-minus says.
Most Valuable Player: Nate Robinson (Net +33 in 210 minutes). There's no good explanation for this. A coach as demanding as Thibodeau, an offense and defense that requires the discipline of Chicago's... this shouldn't be the role that Nate shines in. And yet, without Derrick Rose, bad shots will be taken no matter what they try to run at least 20 times a game. Why not let somebody with no fear take (and make) those shots?
Least Valuable Player: Jimmy Butler (Net -25 in 269 minutes). See above.
Jerome James Award: Joe Johnson / Deron Williams. There's just too much talent (and contract value) to look anywhere else in this series. These are two multiple time All-Stars, with All-NBA spots on their resumes and enough experience to get paid what most people think of as max contract dollars. They were playing an inferior team talent-wise, whose injuries only made the disparity worse as the series wore on. That means they get the credit and the blame, whichever is coming the way of the Brooklyn Nets. I'd give 80% of the grief to Williams given Johnson gutting out a pretty tough injury, but it's hard not to be frustrated with the Nets' season given the roster's composition.
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