Kruse Line’s NBA End Of Season Awards

The Hangover Award For Biggest Regret: Dorian Finney-Smith to Houston

Following a stellar season in Brooklyn and the Lakers got his bag this offseason from Houston to help sure up their defense. Since then after being hurt for most of the first half of the year, Smith has been disappointing to say the least.

Averaging a lackluster 27% from three, along with 33% from the field. He was never seen as an offensive monster but now he has no threat for a defense to watch him

The Jalen Green Award For Best End-of-Season Hot Streak: Leonard Miller

After being a G-League superstar the past few years since being drafted by Minnesota. Leonard Miller now on a tanking team has shown what has made him an intriguing prospect in the first place.

His scoring ability at his size combined with a great motor adds a needed piece to a team in Chicago that has often lacked proper size in this era of Bulls purgatory.

Preseason Prediction That Aged Well: Dallas Misses The Playoffs

I will happily enjoy getting this prediction right. My primary reason for not being in on this team was the lack of guard play combined with playmaking outside of free agent D'Angelo Russell and Brandon Williams.

That ended up being their biggest fault even with all their other shortcomings. Outside of Ryan Nembhard and Naji Marshall this team never had the proper playmaking outside of Cooper Flagg to be an actual threat.

Preseason Prediction That Aged Bad: Memphis Is A Top Five Team In The West

In my defense, as soon as Ty Jerome was announced to be out for months I had a bad feeling about this take. Even after the Bane trade, I felt this team's depth showed to be good enough to cover for it, but KCP did nothing as a grizzly and Jerome came back after the team already had blown it all the way up. That idea also came with the hope that franchise star, Ja Morant was going to be healthy and hate to say it..good.

This is more of a sad prediction seeing a team that only three years ago looked like a juggernaut slowly turn into a shell of itself, similar to its star player.

The Marcus Smart Award For Worst Irreplaceable Player: Kevin Porter Jr

Safe to say, this is how bad Milwaukee has gotten. Numerous people within the organization have said in the middle of their early season skid that they wont be able to tell what this team is without Porter Jr and Giannis on the floor together, due to Porter still being injured at the time.

While Porter has brought good scoring and playmaking to Milwaukee since last year, he is not a good enough player to decide the trajectory of your team this rapidly. This speaks to how lackluster this roster around Giannis has been if a guy like Porter is this integral to a team.

The Bradley Beal Award For Worst Acquisition: Lonzo Ball to Cleveland

While Ball was likely not going to replace Ty Jerome's scoring from the previous year, the hope was to bring a tall versatile guard to pair next to Garland and Mitchell.

It's sad to say, Ball just is a non factor at this point in his career. He no longer is a threat at the rim, not the same defender he was prior and isn't a good enough shooter to make up for any of those other issues. It's tough to say but it looks like his career might be over at this point.

The Oppenheimer Award For Bleakest Future: Sacramento Kings

In a close tie between them and Chicago, the tiebreaker was Sacramento has very few future pieces for the future of Kings basketball. Maxime Raynaud has been a good story and Nique Clifford are good players but those are low-level starters to bench players at the highest.

While having the likelihood of a top five pick in their hands do you trust an organization with the history of Sacramento to make the right choice come draft day?

The Alex Caruso Award For Favorite Role Players: Tre Jones

While Chicago has been mostly a wasteland for this season, Tre Jones is one of the very few brightspots. His combination of defense and playmaking has made him a versatile fit on Chicago alongside Josh Giddey.

When Giddey has been out and after Coby White was traded, Jones has still showed out bringing a better scoring game then he's shown last year and when in San Antonio. Hopefully he will be able to move to a team where this can contribute to a winning team.

After LaBaron Philon withdrew last season from the draft, my guy became Rasheer Fleming. His length reminds me a lot of Kawhi Leonard's measurable, combined with his improved three point shooting, his ability as the next 3&D wing feels imminent.

While only getting limited minutes in his first season, he's been apart of the rotation since Dillon Brooks went down and has stayed in the rotation. Next year he can hopefully solidify himself as a defensive menace with the three point shooting to stay on the floor.