14 teams will miss the NBA's second season, here are their awards.

The Close But No Cigar Award New Jersey Nets/Cleveland Cavaliers: One of these teams will be just missing the NBA?s second season and they couldn?t be any different.  The Cavaliers started the season on the top half of the Eastern Conference and began to slide, slide and slide.  Paul Silas was fired and Brendan Malone didn?t do much to stop the tide.  Dan Gilbert is taking a Rock to everything that is in Cleveland.  No matter the result, expect nearly everyone to be gone, except LeBron James.

The Nets pulled off an amazing steal, picking up Vince Carter, which has gone way better than anyone could have imagined.  If they hadn?t dug themselves into such a hole when Jason Kidd was on the IL, they could have run away with the Atlantic Division.  It also didn?t help that Richard Jefferson was taken out for the better part of the season on a cheap play.

The Choke City Award Orlando Magic: The Magic looked like a surefire playoff team, but all of a sudden they found it impossible to win a game.  Johnny Davis was fired and Chris Jent didn?t inspire better play.  Finding talented size in the lottery is difficult and luckily they did that last season in Dwight Howard.

The Trading The Franchise Player Award - Toronto Raptors: Anytime the face of your franchise stops playing, it means that things are in disarray.  They have a new face now in Chris Bosh, but not a whole lot more.

The Sucker Who Took Malik Rose?s Contract Award New York Knicks: Spike Lee says LeBron James is coming to the Garden, but that?s as likely as Ron Artest being given David Stern?s Citizen Award.  Perhaps there will be ping pong ball tampering so the Knicks can land Andrew Bogut.

The Let?s See If We Can Convince Our Best Player To Stay Award Milwaukee Bucks: Any national story about the Milwaukee Bucks this season was centered on whether they will be able to resign Michael Redd.  If Redd walks, the Bucks will be left without any direction whatsoever, but even if he stays the Bucks are still several players away from competing in the difficult Central Division.

The We?re Actually Better Than Teams That Have Been In The League For Decades Award Charlotte Bobcats: The Bobcats outperformed nearly all expectations.  Emeka Okafor had one of the most solid frontcourt seasons from a rookie in recent memory.  Getting Raymond Felton to stay in state would be a great step for the Bobcats.

The Ray Charles Award Atlanta Hawks: If the Hawks were in the Western Conference, the over/under on when the Hawks would not be in the lottery would be a quarter of a century, but they are in the East, where a single player can turn things around, i.e. LeBron James in Cleveland.  There is no Lebron in this year?s draft, but maybe a Deron Williams, combined with a key free agent signing could make things look better for Atlanta.

The Skydive Award Minnesota Timberwolves: Not seeing Kevin Garnett in the playoffs is still a shocker.  They were the West?s best team in the regular season last year, but just couldn?t pull things together.  Expect Minnesota to package their pick to trade to acquire a 2nd scoring option.

The Best Team In LA Award Los Angeles Clippers: The Clippers measure their success in comparison to the Lakers success and this year it looks pretty good.  Of course the Clippers are in the lottery like they are nearly every season, but at least they are better than the Lakers.

The Kurt Cobain Award Los Angeles Lakers: Self-destruction makes for interesting news and the Lakers have made it an art.  If the Lakers? uniforms said Clippers across the front, then there would be absolutely no prayer for things to turn around for quite some time.  But the Lakers have an uncanny ability to get the NBA?s best players, whether it is Wilt, Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Shaq or Kobe.  Somehow they will find a way to get a top notch frontcourt player to run with Kobe.

The Million Dollar Smile Award  Golden State Warriors: No team in this lot is more confident than the Warriors.  Ever since they traded for Baron Davis on the day of the trade deadline, they have clearly been the best team that won't be making the playoffs.  They head into the lottery with indifference to its position, as they believe that they are playoff ready right now.

The Disarray Award Portland TrailBlazers: For so many seasons you could count on the TrailBlazers to be firmly in the playoffs, but those deep teams that became a staple in the red, white and black are long gone.  Lack of genuine talent has caused the Blazers to self-destruct in the light of their mediocrity.

The Red Cross Award Utah Jazz: They got off to a great start, but Andrei Kirilenko got injured, Carlos Boozer got injured, Raul Lopez got injured and Carlos Arroyo got traded before Jerry Sloan had a chance to injure the point guard himself.  They will likely look to trade Carlos Boozer and perhaps Sloan will retire, which would change the face that has become so familiar as Utah basketball.

The Yard Sale Award New Orleans Hornets:  Trading away Baron Davis looks like a mistake now, but it was a move that they had to make.  J.R. Smith is a talent and they have facilitated the emergence of Dan Dickau, but they will be mainstays in the lottery for many years to come.

The columnist may be reached at Christopher.Reina@realGM.com