When I first learned how to shoot, my father just told me to shoot with my left hand, and ever since then, I’ve just been a left-handed shooter.

That’s the way I’ve been playing my whole life. I didn’t realize it until I was older. When he was teaching me how to shoot, I was a really young kid. So I didn’t realize that I was actually right-handed. It’s worked out for me so far. I just got to continue to get better with both hands.

Brandon Knight, who finished eighth in Rookie of the Year voting, appears to be doing his best to play better next season. The above photos show a Knight and Jermaine Taylor (a former Central Florida player who’s spent time with the Houston Rockets and Sacramento Kings) working with trainer Stan Remy. They were practicing near Miami at the Hallendale High School gym, which is not air-conditioned, so that probably explains Knight’s sweat-drenched shirt.

"We train everyday no matter what’s going on,” Knight said through a publicist. “Weekends. Holidays. Mother’s Day. We take time to spend with our families, but in order to get to the next level on the court, there are no days off."

Rookie, Team 1^st 2^nd 3^rd Total

Kyrie Irving, Cleveland 117 2 1 592

Ricky Rubio, Minnesota – 49 23 170

Kenneth Faried, Denver 1 30 34 129

Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio 1 9 15 47

Iman Shumpert, New York 1 7 7 33

Klay Thompson, Golden State -  5 15 30

Isaiah Thomas, Sacramento – 6 10 28

Brandon Knight, Detroit – 6 3 21

Chandler Parsons, Houston – 3 5 14

MarShon Brooks, New Jersey – 1 1 4

Kemba Walker, Charlotte – - 3 3

Josh Selby, Memphis -  – 1 1

As someone who thought Knight was a borderline All-Rookie second teamer, I think that’s most fair, if not a little generous to Knight. He showed strong promise, but this award should honor the rookies who are the best right now. Knight’s strong counting stats (total points, assists, etc.) alone don’t convince me he belongs anywhere near a Rookie of the Year ballot, considering his game is still fairly flawed.

On the bright side, it’s not definite, but Knight appears likely to make the All-Rookie second team. The All-Rookie teams are position independent, so it doesn’t matter that Knight was the sixth guard in voting.

DeMarcus Cousins, DeJuan Blair, Taj Gibson and Derrick Favors were the interior bigs who made the select team. In many ways, Monroe compares favorably to those four, but the USA Select team’s primary goal is to prepare the Olympic team. Who knows whether – because of their style and/or ability to imitate potential opponents – those four made the team even if Jerry Colangelo believes Monroe is better?

For that matter, who knows whether Monroe was invited an declined?

I would’ve like to see Monroe make the team, but without more information, it’s difficult to summon any outrage and cry snub.

Heard of at least three teams interested in Alonzo Gee of #Cavs Phoenix, Minnesota, and Detroit. He is a RFA in 2012

You might remember Gee from such posts as “Pistons can’t keep Alonzo Gee off the offensive glass in loss to Cleveland.” He’s a nice young player, and although small forward isn’t the Pistons’ greatest need, he’d be a fine addition at the right price.

Brendan Bowers of Stepien Rules:

Heard Phoenix Suns are looking to offer RFA Alonzo Gee a multi-year deal in $4 million per season range & are in lead for his services #Cavs

That should be more than the Pistons are willing to spend for Gee when they have more pressing big-man needs. “Interested in” is a low bar, and Detroit is probably interested in hundreds of players. I like Gee, but if I were the Pistons, I wouldn’t best that offer.

Despite being a budding NBA star, Greg hasn’t gotten too big for his home area. He gets back to New Orleans as often as possible.

And he plans to be in town today, Greg and Norma say, when the family goes to First Emmanuel Baptist Church for services.

Then Norma said the family will gather at her mother’s house for a cookout that probably will feature ribs, pork chops and smoked sausage, with crawfish boiling over to the side.

Greg won’t sit idly by — he usually helps his uncles on the grill. Greg’s favorite dish is shrimp pasta, so he might roll up his sleeves and create the dish.

My explanations for Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year and Most Improved Player can be found at Basketball Prospectus.

Most Valuable Player

Dan Feldman

1. LeBron James

2. Kevin Durant

3. Chris Paul

4. Dwight Howard

5. Kevin Love

Patrick Hayes

1. LeBron James

2. Chris Paul

3. Kevin Durant

4. Tony Parker

5. Russell Westbrook

This award is basically LeBron James and everyone else. The only other player I seriously considered in my top five was Love. I probably went with Westbrook because of this.

Defensive Player of the Year

Dan Feldman

1. Tyson Chandler

2. Dwight Howard

3. Kevin Garnett

Patrick Hayes

1. LeBron James

2. Tyson Chandler

3. Andre Iguodala

I’m tired of the bias against perimeter players in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. I’m fine with Tyson Chandler winning, but LeBron James is the most impactful non-Dwight Howard defender in the league. He’s always in passing lanes, he can block shots and he can lockdown any of the three perimeter positions. Plus, he could probably guard most power forwards in the league effectively.

Rookie of the Year

Dan Feldman

1. Kyrie Irving

2. Ricky Rubio

3. Kenneth Faried

Patrick Hayes

1. Kyrie Irving

2. Ricky Rubio

3. Isaiah Thomas

Choosing who to pick third between Manimal and Thomas was one of the tougher choices on my ballot. Ultimately, I picked Thomas not only because he was very productive, but because of his draft position (last player picked) and the fact that the Kings’ backcourt is loaded with players with better pedigrees — Tyreke Evans, Jimmer Fredette, Marcus Thornton — in front of him, his path to earning minutes as a rookie was harder. He not only earned minutes, he was better than all those guys in front of him.

Sixth Man of the Year

Dan Feldman

1. James Harden

2. Jason Terry

3. Taj Gibson

Patrick Hayes

1. James Harden

2. Lou Williams

3. Thad Young

Seriously, there was no competition for this one. Harden was by far the best non-starter in the league. As for my other picks? Williams and Young were both integral parts in Philly’s surprising start to the season. I had a hard time picking just one of them, so I picked them both. I could easily flip-flop them between second and third though. I could argue Taj Gibson in that mix though too.

Most Improved Player

Dan Feldman

1. Jeremy Lin

2. Nikola Pekovic

3. Ersan Ilyasova

Patrick Hayes

1. James Harden

2. Nikola Pekovic

3. DeMarcus Cousins

Harden went from nice scorer off the bench to a legit ‘third’ for an Oklahoma City big three. Pekovic made the Darko Milicic signing easier to forget. I normally wouldn’t pick a player like Cousins, who should’ve improved anyway from year one to year two, but after Paul Westphal was fired, not only did Cousins production improve immensely, so did his demeanor. He also came into this season in much better shape. So he gets a Most Improved vote for his on and off court improvement.

Coach of the Year

Dan Feldman

1. Gregg Popovich

2. Tom Thibodeau

3. Frank Vogel

Patrick Hayes

1. Ty Corbin

2. Gregg Popovich

3. Tom Thibodeau

Corbin was my choice simply because so little was expected out of the Jazz this season. For them to get to the playoffs is pretty impressive, although since it appears a good percentage of his team might hate him, I might reconsider that vote in hindsight. Popovich is the best in the world and Thibodeau held together a team that dealt with catastrophic injuries. Either are worthy candidates.

Executive of the Year

Dan Feldman

1. Neil Olshey

2. Larry Bird

3. R.C. Buford

Everyone says teams don’t get equal returns when trading a superstar. Olshey took advantage of that.

Patrick Hayes

1. Neil Olshey

2. Masai Ujiri

3. R.C. Buford

You get one of the four or five legit franchise players in he league, you get this award. Olshey did so he does. Ujiri put together an insanely fun team, got out of Nene’s contract before injuries/age could make the return on it less, picked up Andre Miller for the gigantic Ray Felton and drafted one of the most productive players in the draft in Kenneth Faried. Buford always gets a spot in this top three by default.

Sportsmanship Award

Dan Feldman

1. Shane Battier

2. Jeremy Lin

3. Antawn Jamison

4. Luke Ridnour

5. Chris Paul

6. Jason Kidd

Maybe I’m biased and voted for the Michigander, but Battier seems like the type of guy who would never do this to someone.

Patrick Hayes

1. Jeremy Lin

2. Antawn Jamison

3. Luke Ridnour

4. Shane Battier

5. Chris Paul

6. Jason Kidd

Lin dealt with distractions that I can’t even fathom this season, and handled everything remarkably well.

Citizenship Award

Dan Feldman

1. LeBron James

LeBron and Dwyane Wade’s effort to raise awareness to Trayvon Martin’s death was commendable.

Patrick Hayes

1. LeBron James

What Feldman said.

All-NBA

Dan Feldman

First team

• G: Chris Paul
• G: Dwyane Wade
• F: LeBron James
• F: Kevin Durant
• C: Dwight Howard

Second team

• G: Tony Parker
• G: Russell Westbrook
• F: Kevin Love
• F: Blake Griffin
• C: Andrew Bynum

Third team

• G: Kobe Bryant
• G: Rajon Rondo
• F: Dirk Nowitzki
• F: Kevin Garnett
• C: Tyson Chandler

Slotting Griffin, Nowitzki, Garnett and a few other forwards was tough. All were very good, but none great.

Patrick Hayes

First team

• G: Chris Paul
• G: Tony Parker
• F: LeBron James
• F: Kevin Durant
• C: Dwight Howard

Second team

• G: Dwyane Wade
• G: Russell Westbrook
• F: Kevin Love
• F: Dirk Nowitzki
• C: Andrew Bynum

Third team

• G: Steve Nash
• G: Rajon Rondo
• F: LaMarcus Aldridge
• F: Kevin Garnett
• C: Tyson Chandler

Yeah, I left Kobe off. Sue me. Sorry, but I found Nash nearly dragging Phoenix to the playoffs more impressive than Kobe shooting almost the same number of shots per game as the two most efficient scorers on his team combined.

All-Defensive

Dan Feldman

First team

• Tyson Chandler
• Dwight Howard
• Kevin Garnett
• LeBron James
• Andre Iguodala

Second team

• Tony Allen
• Dwyane Wade
• Avery Bradley
• Josh Smith
• Joakim Noah

Shawn Marion just missed my cut, and on a different day, he would’ve made the second team.

Patrick Hayes

First team

• Tyson Chandler
• Dwight Howard
• Kevin Garnett
• LeBron James
• Andre Iguodala

Second team

• Tony Allen
• Luol Deng
• Rajon Rondo
• Chris Paul
• Josh Smith

Putting Allen and Rondo on the second team rather than the first was the hardest thing I had to do in these awards. There’s actually a large number of really good defensive players in the league right now. You could probably make a case for four guys off the the Bulls alone to make it.

All-Rookie

Dan Feldman

First team

• Kyrie Irving
• Ricky Rubio
• Kenneth Faried
• Kawhi Leonard
• Isaiah Thomas

Second team

• Iman Shumpert
• Klay Thompson
• Chandler  Parsons
• MarShon Brooks
• Gustavo Ayon

I could’ve gone either way on Brooks and Brandon Knight, but right now, I wish I would’ve voted for Knight.

Patrick Hayes

First team

• Kyrie Irving
• Ricky Rubio
• Kenneth Faried
• Kawhi Leonard
• Isaiah Thomas

Second team

• Iman Shumpert
• Brandon Knight
• Chandler  Parsons
• MarShon Brooks
• Klay Thompson

I agree with Dan. He should’ve voted for Knight.

Before the Olympics, the top NBA stars (minus Isiah Thomas) lost to a group of college players, including future Pistons Grant Hill and Chris Webber, in a scrimmage. Ben Steele of Order of the Court explains what had been known about it:

The scrimmage wasn’t taped and was held behind closed doors. There was no official scoring, so accounts widely differ. Michael Wilbon reported in The Washington Post that the collegians won, 88-80. David Halberstam has the score as 58-52 in “Playing For Keeps.” Johnson and Bird recall losing the 20-minute scrimmage 62-54 in “When The Game Was Ours.”

Turns out, it was taped (score: 62-54) and will be shown as part of a documentary an NBA TV on June 13. And – it gets better – the documentary will show it was all part of Chuck Daly’s plan. Richard Sandomir of The New York Times:

The scrimmage lost to the college players was a fix, part of Coach Chuck Daly’s plan to demonstrate to team loaded with 11 future Basketball Hall of Famers that they could lose in international competition.

“He threw the game,” Mike Krzyzewski, who assisted Daly, along with Wilkens and P.J. Carlesimo, said in the documentary. Daly calmly told Krzyzewski during the scrimmage, “We’re all right.”

(In 2008, Krzyzewski made similar remarks when he said, “Chuck wanted them to lose.”)

In the documentary, he said: “If you look at how much Jordan played and how he subbed the guys in, not picking up, not making any adjustments; he knew what he was doing.”

Asked why Daly didn’t confide his intentions to his assistants, Krzyzewski said: “We probably would have screwed it up.”

Before the media filed in after the scrimmage, Daly ordered that the result be banished from the scoreboard. At their next and last scrimmage, the Dream Team trounced the collegians.

Starting with a compliment? Bet you can see where I’m going.

First, some context. Bill Simmons ranked “the 20 most fortunate breaks an NBA champion ever received,” explaining the premise:

A basketball season always features collateral damage, whether it’s injuries, lucky breaks or someone stupidly assaulting a fire extinguisher. Asterisks should be saved for fishier achievements like Bonds’s 73 homers, Roger Clemens’s last few Cy Youngs and Pia Zadora winning a Golden Globe. A "footnote title" respects the champion while also acknowledging that, "Look, SOMETHING funky happened and you can’t discuss that postseason in detail without mentioning that one funky thing."

Hollinger’s tweet followed that.

Again, in context: The whole idea of the discussion – which I find pointless, though maybe fun* – is that Simmons still “respects the champion.” If Hollinger is following that lead, I think it would stand to reason he does, too.

*Simmons’ whole premise is sort of silly, which he basically admits. If he wanted to, he could’ve come up with footnotes for every championship team. They’re fun to discuss, but they don’t make a championship less meaningful.

Before we go further, it’s worth pointing out that Hollinger is right. The Pistons benefited from injuries. I don’t think that takes away from the Pistons’ title – their training staff deserves credit for keeping everyone healthy, and unlike their opponents, they didn’t rely on as many older players – but Hollinger is right.

Associated Press on Jason Kidd:

The star point guard has struggled with a knee injury, and there has been speculation that his back hurts, too. But Kidd refused to talk about his injuries during the series — or after.

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune:

Jermaine O’Neal reported to yesterday’s morning shoot-around complaining of increased swelling in his left knee.

Considering him more gimpy than go-to, Indiana rarely worked the ball inside and O’Neal finished with 11 points on 10 shots while battling pain, foul trouble and a bulky knee brace.

Indiana played at far less than full strength, with Jamaal Tinsley still battling several injuries in his left leg and taking multiple trips to the locker room. Backup point guard Anthony Johnson played with the stomach flu.

But O’Neal, an All-NBA second-team selection who finished third in balloting for Most Valuable Player this season, is the fuel for the Pacers’ racecar.

He originally sprained his left knee in the first quarter of Indiana’s Game 4 victory on Friday. But he returned to contribute 12 points and 13 rebounds in 38 minutes and felt so confident about his injury on Saturday that he declared it a "non-issue."

Then came yesterday.

"It’s an injury," O’Neal said. "It takes away some of your mobility. It won’t get better overnight, so I’ll have to find a way to deal with it. This series isn’t over."

Adding to the intrigue were conflicting stories by Carlisle and O’Neal, the former saying the swelling required the draining of fluids and the latter denying that.

This much is clear: O’Neal didn’t get enough touches for 38 minutes of action.

Associated Press:

Karl Malone is playing despite having what he believes to be a torn ligament in his right knee, and Derek Fisher and Devean George have also been slowed by injured knees.

Again, this shouldn’t take away from Detroit’s title. Every championship team receives some degree of luck, and this is the area where the Pistons caught a break.

This also isn’t Hollinger’s anti-Detroit bias. He hasn’t been shy about complimenting those Pistons, like he did the year before their championship:

So the Pistons don’t have the superstar talent we’re used to seeing in conference championship teams. They’re built more on the lines of recent deep, big teams like Indiana or Portland. David Stern is probably praying they don’t make it to the Finals; selling viewers on a team with 10 interchangeable parts tends to go against the league’s marketing M.O.

But with the emergence of Prince at small forward and Okur up front, these Pistons are the best team in the East. I didn’t believe it all season. But after Friday, there’s not a doubt in my mind.

And it’s not him covering for the fact that PER, the stat he created, underrated the Pistons’ top defenders, especially Ben Wallace. He freely admits PER has shortcomings:

Bear in mind that PER is not the final, once-and-for-all evaluation of a player’s accomplishments during the season. This is especially true for defensive specialists — such as Quinton Ross and Jason Collins — who don’t get many blocks or steals.

It’s just Hollinger giving another example of a team that caught a break on its way to a championship.  The 2004 Pistons, in that regard, were just like the title teams before and after them. I don’t think it cheapens their accomplishment to admit that.

Perfect fit: John Henson

Henson presents the Pistons with a low risk/high reward opportunity. At worst, he will be a defensive upgrade off the bench, and someone who should develop into a better-than-average rebounder once he fills out physically. He can pair with Monroe to become a fearsome defensive duo; both players are agile and coordinated. Henson also has significant offensive upside, improving each year at North Carolina as he developed strength and touch. He’s not a good shooter — yet — but he’s certainly improved in that area, as well.

My guess is he will end up being a solid shooter and someone who will be able to score consistently inside. The nice thing about Henson is that he does not have to be a big-time scorer to be a positive contributor for the Pistons. But he has the potential to be a legit 16-point, 10-rebound guy while also routinely being among the league leaders in blocks. He’s 21 with an 18-year-old’s body.

The Pistons have 20 minutes a game for him next season, at least, which would allow him to improve considerably as he continues to mature physically. As he, Monroe and Knight get another year or two of seasoning, considering their collective intelligence and high basketball IQ, they would form an excellent foundation to help the Pistons to return to the playoffs.

If the Pistons don’t move up in the lottery and none of the top-tier players fall, Henson already would’ve been my preference at No. 9. After reading this, I’m even more excited about him.