IN THE LANE

I WAS WRONG: For years in this space, the desire was for a year-end awards show, similar to the NHL approach. The NBA moved in that direction the past two years . . . and now it may well be time to reverse course. If the voting, as is currently the case, ends with the close of the regular season, then announcing the winners after the playoffs requires of a suspension of belief of what we witnessed for two months during postseason. But that doesn’t mean the concept of an awards show should be scrapped. Instead, include the playoffs in the deliberations and require ballots to be submitted 24 hours after the conclusion of the NBA Finals, which would leave enough time for awards-show preparation. The argument to this stage has been that almost half the league doesn’t advance to the playoffs, penalizing players from those teams, particularly when it comes to Rookie of the Year, with lottery picks most often going to rebuilding teams. But even this year, Donovan Mitchell and Jayson Tatum arguably gained ground on winner Ben Simmons during the playoffs. With a postseason as long as one-third of the regular season, the playoffs matter in the NBA as much as in any sport. IN THAT CASE: So if the playoffs were factored into the voting for the NBA’s postseason awards, how might have the results changed? Here’s one perspective. MVP winner: James Harden. MVP if playoffs included: LeBron James (he got team to the Finals). Coach of the Year winner: Dwane Casey. Coach of the Year if playoffs included: Brad Stevens (got an injury-riddled Celtics roster within a game of the NBA Finals). Rookie of the Year winner: Ben Simmons. Rookie of the Year if playoffs included: Jayson Tatum (stepped up through three rounds with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward sidelined). Most Improved Player winner: Victor Oladipo. Most Improved Player if playoffs included: Oladipo (made LeBron sweat more than any opponent outside of the Warriors). Defensive Player of the Year winner: Rudy Gobert. Defensive Player of the Year if playoffs included: Al Horford (an on-court defensive coordinator for three rounds). Sixth Man Award winner: Lou Williams. Sixth Man Award if playoffs included: Eric Gordon (as consistently dynamic as any reserve in Western Conference playoffs). Executive of the Year winner: Daryl Morey. Executive of the Year if playoffs included: Danny Ainge (secured enough depth to withstand depleted playoff roster). ONE MORE THING: Another idea floated in this space has been starting free agency before the draft and then allowing it to wrap around the draft. ESPN reported this past week that the idea has gained the support of the Houston Rockets and other teams. In a league driven by veteran stars, it only makes sense, as Pat Riley likes to say, to make the main thing the main thing, and then move into the draft as a means of filling gaps. Except that since you have to wait for the end of the playoffs to set the future salary cap, it likely would push the draft into July. That, by itself, actually could work in the NBA’s favor as far as extending interest deeper into the calendar. But you also can’t have summer league without first conducting the draft, which could push summer league into August. So the question then becomes whether becoming an 11-month league is in the NBA’s best interest, considering not only will training camps be in September this year, but so will the start of the preseason.