As the NBA season hits its most exciting point, we put another fantasy season in the books and hand out a little more hardware. It wasn’t an easy year for owners to navigate their way to a championship. Injuries, trades and ineffectiveness were rampant among the game’s best players, which put an added premium on an owner’s ability to find sleepers and pick through free agents.

Where it was inconvenient for Kevin Garnett’s production to be scaled back in Boston or for Yao Ming to suffer a season-ending foot injury, there were convenient arrivals of players like Rudy Gay, Danny Granger and Hedo Turkoglu. In 2008-09 more than ever, the middle of the player pool spurred owners’ championship runs, not necessarily their primetime draft picks.

Rotowhine’s Jeff Andriesse was especially salty about his team’s fortunes this past season, but took the time to do a lengthy awards list anyway. Give Me The Rock’s final player rater is on our side with the MVP choice, not that there could have been much debate, and shows the parody that took place among the game’s best players. Caron Butler, Marcus Camby and Baron Davis were all among the site’s top 10 players, while early picks Steve Nash, Josh Smith and Paul Pierce all faded back to the middle of the pack.

Now, for our fantasy awards.

Fantasy MVP
Chris Paul, New Orleans Hornets: Given his lowly draft status - late 1st or early 2nd round - Paul lapped the field for this one. While candidates like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James were bogged down by injuries and inconsistencies, Paul churned out air-tight averages and played in 80 of 82 games. — Dustin Hockensmith
Runners-up: Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers; LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers; Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix Suns

Best Performance by a Free Agent
Jose Calderon, Toronto Raptors: By season’s end, Calderon’s fantasy reputation took a serious hit, but he was a monster early with sky-high assist totals and ultra-efficient percentages. The honeymoon was over when T.J. Ford returned and took back an equal timeshare in the Raptors’ backcourt. — D.H.
Runners-up: Jamario Moon, Toronto Raptors; Al Thornton, Los Angeles Clippers; Ronnie Brewer, Utah Jazz

Rookie of the Year
Kevin Durant, Seattle Supersonics: Durant is an easy choice for this award. The rookie lived up to the hype, averaging 20 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. He will bust out next season if he adds another 20 pounds and continues to improve his shot selection. — Andrew Bohardt
Runners-up: Al Horford, Atlanta Hawks; Moon; Thornton

Breakout Player of the Year
Rudy Gay, Memphis Grizzlies: The second-year player started to realize his amazing potential this year raising his scoring average nearly 10 points to 20.8 a game. His rebounds (6.5), 3s (steals (1.4) and field goal percentage (46.3) all took a substantial climb. The sky is the limit for this athletic wingman. He narrowly beats out Hedo Turkoglu for this award. — Anthony Oliva III
Runners-up: Danny Granger, Indiana Pacers; Hedo Turkoglu, Orlando Magic; LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland Trail Blazers

Most Likely to Break Out in 2008-09
Jeff Green, Seattle Supersonics: His late-season surge showed why Seattle invested a top five pick in the Georgetown rookie. In the last month and a half of the season he averaged 13.2 points and 4.6 rebounds. Being able to build on this confidence in the offseason, and just having another year of experience under his belt, will make Green a force next season. — A.O.
Runners-up: Greg Oden, Portland Trail Blazers; Durant; Horford

Sixth Man Award
Manu Ginobili, San Antonio Spurs: Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has the fortunate luxury of bringing his top scorer off the bench. However, Ginobili does more than just score; he averaged 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists and played excellent defense for the defending NBA champs. — A.B.
Runners-up: Leandro Barbosa, Phoenix Suns; Ben Gordon, Chicago Bulls

Most Beneficial Midseason Trade
Phoenix acquiring Shaquille O’Neal: The chance for another championship rejuvenated O’Neal, leading to increased production. O’Neal grabbed three more rebounds per game and made slight improvements in assists and field goal percentage in Phoenix. — A.B.
Runners-up: Lakers acquiring Pau Gasol; Nets dealing Jason Kidd (Devin Harris); Heat dealing O’Neal (Ricky Davis)

Worst Preseason Sleeper Pick
Andrea Bargnani, Toronto Raptors: Bargnani gave plenty of reason to be optimistic by averaging 14.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.2 3s in the second half of 2006-07. He then epitomized the phrase ’sophomore slump’ by shooting just 38.6 percent and averaging 10.2 points and 3.7 rebounds this season. — D.H.
Runners-up: Ryan Gomes, Minnesota Timberwolves; Rashad McCants, Minnesota Timberwolves; David Lee, New York Knicks

Best Shooting Performance
Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix Suns: Shooting a filthy percentage (.590) has always been in Stoudemire’s repertoire, but he made leaps and bounds in the free throw department by shooting 80.5 percent over 691 attempts. The 2005-06 season aside (he played in just three games), Stoudemire has improved his free throw shooting in each of his first five seasons. — D.H.
Runners-up: Paul; Calderon; Chris Bosh, Toronto Raptors

Most Harmful Injury
Gilbert Arenas, Washington Wizards: Many owners were relying on Agent Zero this season to lead their teams. Much to their chagrin, he gave them next to zero, playing in just 13 games because of a knee injury. He got back on the court at the end of the season and finished with season averages of 19.4 points and 5.1 assists. — A.O.
Runners-up: Yao Ming, Houston Rockets; Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat; Shawn Marion, Miami Heat