Is this the year for Miami’s redemption? The year LeBron turns it all around and rids himself of those evil demons? We may never know for sure. But at least in the video game world, 2011-12 is all about South Beach and LeBron James. Without the real NBA, I simulated a season to see what would happen. Of course, gamers know with stuff like this, there are always oddities (How did Antawn Jamison make an All-NBA Team? Or Dirk an All-Defensive Team?). But they seem to get the majority of stuff right. If we’re relying on NBA 2K12, then this year would’ve been all LeBron’s.
James not only won the MVP, but also got himself a Finals MVP after dropping 29.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg and 6.0 apg in a 4-1 Finals win over his training buddy, Kevin Durant, and Oklahoma City.
The rest of the playoffs included two No. 2 seeds losing in the first round (San Antonio to the Lakers in six and Chicago to Milwaukee in six), as well as the Thunder making the Finals by beating the defending champs and then L.A. in succession as a No. 4 seed. The Knicks had a cupcake walk to the Eastern Conference Finals, winning in five over both Philly and the Bucks. Once they made the final four, the Heat steamrolled them in four straight.
How accurate this is, we may never know. But here are the individual awards for the rest of the season. You’ll raise your eyebrows more than once (where is Kevin Durant?).
East All-Stars
Dwyane Wade
Derrick Rose
LeBron James
Dwight Howard
Carmelo Anthony
Brook Lopez
Danny Granger
Josh Smith
Joe Johnson
John Wall
Amar’e Stoudemire
Deron Williams
West All-Stars
Dirk Nowitzki
Kobe Bryant
Zach Randolph
Al Jefferson
Russell Westbrook
Eric Gordon
Tony Parker
Blake Griffin
Monta Ellis
Mike Beasley
Manu Ginobili
Chris Kaman
MVP
LeBron James (30.5 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 5.4 apg, 2.1 spg)
Rookie Of The Year
Ricky Rubio (8.0 ppg, 5.4 apg) … I guess he was the only candidate?
Sixth Man Of The Year
Jason Terry (15.9 ppg)
Defensive Player Of The Year
Dwight Howard (23.8 ppg, 12.4 rpg, 1.3 stl, 2.0 bpg)
Most Improved Player
Darren Collison (17.2 ppg, 6.3 apg, 1.7 spg)
Coach Of The Year
Erik Spoelstra
All-NBA First Team
Russell Westbrook
Dwyane Wade
LeBron James
Josh Smith
Dwight Howard
All-NBA Second Team
Derrick Rose
Chris Paul
Amar’e Stoudemire
Dirk Nowitzki
Al Jefferson
All-NBA Third Team
John Wall
Kobe Bryant
Blake Griffin
Antawn Jamison
Brook Lopez
All-Defensive First Team
Dwyane Wade
Manu Ginobili
Josh Smith
LeBron James
Dwight Howard
All-Defensive Second Team
Thabo Sefolosha
Russell Westbrook
Blake Griffin
Dirk Nowitzki
Greg Monroe
What if the season actually went down like this? Anything surprising?
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