Honors Galore

"MVP, All-NBA First Team, All-Defensive First Team, scoring champion, three-point king." Vanessa's eyes sparkled as she counted Kobe's honors from this season on her fingers.

"So amazing." Vanessa gazed adoringly at her king.

Kobe scratched his head bashfully. Only in front of Vanessa would he show such an expression.

"It's a shame Dikembe Mutombo took the Defensive Player of the Year award this season," Kobe said regretfully.

His scoring average this season had reached 41.9 points per game!

Terrifying scoring numbers!

With such an offensive workload, it was only natural that he could not collect even more honors. Even Kobe, the Iron Man himself, had seen his focus on defense decline.

With the growth of Stephen Jackson, Bowen, Ben Wallace, Little Fish, and the others, Kobe no longer needed to exhaust himself every game shutting down the opponent's top scorer.

In the end, the league awarded this season's Defensive Player of the Year to Dikembe Mutombo!

His average of 3.9 blocks per game was utterly terrifying!

In particular, he had directly elevated Philadelphia's interior defense by an entire level.

Philadelphia did not have any defensive stoppers, and Odom was also a player stronger on offense than defense. It could be said that before Dikembe Mutombo joined Philadelphia, the 76ers' biggest weakness had been their interior defense!

His arrival perfectly filled Philadelphia's final weakness! For the first time ever, the Philadelphia 76ers overtook the Pacers and reached fourth place in the Eastern Conference!

The Eastern Conference landscape this year was still turbulent!

First: Charlotte Hornets, 73 wins and 9 losses

Second: Miami Heat, 63 wins and 19 losses

Third: Indiana Pacers, 60 wins and 22 losses

Fourth: Philadelphia 76ers, 59 wins and 23 losses

Fifth: Orlando Magic, 54 wins and 28 losses

Sixth: Milwaukee Bucks, 48 wins and 34 losses

Seventh: