Mark Heisler’s midseason NBA awards

Now for my eagerly awaited Midseason Awards, the only ones with a warning label that reads “Discard after Feb. 28, or sooner.”

It’s not that the NBA season is totally meaningless, but it doesn’t mean as much as people think it does.

The way it is today isn’t the way it was at the start -- as you can tell from my preseason picks -- and the way it is now isn’t the way it’ll be at the end.

A year ago at this time, the Celtics had the best record, 44-11, and were looking forward to an easy closing schedule with 66 days to play their last 29 games.

You saw how that turned out. Nevertheless, for what’s it’s worth . . .

MVP

Preseason MVP -- Kobe Bryant, Lakers.

Current MVP -- LeBron James, Cleveland.

Bryant is part of an ensemble cast, which hurts, but as great as James is, I didn’t think the Cavaliers would win the East, much less run away from it, with Shaquille O’Neal or not.

Top coach

Preseason Coach of the Year -- Gregg Popovich, San Antonio, for leading his old team on a last hurrah.

Or not.

Current Coach of the Year -- Nate McMillan, Portland, who has kept his team in the race without Greg Oden, Joel Przybilla, Travis Outlaw, and, recently, Brandon Roy.

Top executive

Preseason Executive of the Year -- Danny Ainge, Boston, who snared Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels, revitalizing the worn-out Celtics.

Some revitalized.

Current pick as Executive of the Year -- Chris Wallace, Memphis, for fielding a competitive team after years of dumping money.

Conference picks

Preseason pick in the East -- Boston.

Current pick in the East -- Cleveland.

Healthy, the Celtics, who started 23-5, would be right there with Cleveland, but now, even with their players back, there’s the question of how much Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen have lost.

Happily for the Celtics, all that counts is what they can bring in April.

Unhappily, in February, it’s not much.

Preseason pick in the West -- Lakers, no problem.

Current pick in the West -- Lakers, despite their problems.

After years of predicting greatness for them when they finally had all their players, I learned this cast of characters is great only in the spring, if then.

I’m sticking with my line at our preseason editorial meeting when we were deciding who would write the front-page story about the Lakers’ chances to break the Bulls’ 72-10 record:

“This team will be better than last season, but it won’t win as many games.”

Last season, they won 65. All it would take to match that is a 24-4 finish.

To win it all

Preseason pick to win it all -- Lakers, who looked head and shoulders above everybody.

Current pick to win it all -- Lakers, even if they no longer look head and shoulders above everybody.

Happily for the Lakers, they’ll be into it by June . . . presumably.

As for the Cavaliers, the Lakers let them get to their second option in both losses to them. I like Phil Jackson’s chances of game-planning a kink in a Cleveland offense with one player scoring or assisting on 44% of their points.

Free-agent derby

Preseason pick as most likely free agents to leave: 1) Chris Bosh, Toronto; 2) James.

Current pick as most likely free agents to leave: 1) Dwyane Wade, Miami; 2) Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix.

-- Mark Heisler