NBA Summer League Las Vegas MVP Award Scandal
Mon, Jul 20, 2009 by Adam Sedie
Those of you who watched the NBA summer league games via the broadband internet package might be scratching your heads today. The top overall pick from last month’s draft, Blake Griffin, was selected as the MVP. He had nothing on Anthony Randolph. Let the NBA Summer League scandal begin!
Do you think I deserve my MVP bro? (Credit: AP)
Who voted for this? Was it inside job by Donald Sterling to sell more season tickets without having to sign Allen Iverson to do so?
Clippers: home of the Summer League MVP Blake Griffin. Buy tickets now!
Randolph scored 7.4 points, 2.6 blocks, and 1.2 steals per game more than Griffin, while shooting 11% better from the floor.
"We'll see who is better come Nov 15th" (Credit: sfgate.com)
Did Griffin win this award simply because he lived up to the hype?
Or is it because of his 2.3 more rebounds per game than Randolph? Maybe it’s the 1.7 more assists per game?
Randolph was clearly the Summer League’s best overall player on both ends of the floor.
There are only two glaring factors to consider why this happened, but nothing to justify the mistake the NBA made.
Randolph was robbed by the NBA this summer. (Credit: lasvegassun.com)
REASON #1: The out of site out of mind phenomenon.
Randolph played his last game July 14th. The voters must have forgotten how dominant he was by the final day of play, July 19th. How can you forget Randolph in only 5 days?
The out of sight out of mind phenomenon of course!
REASON #2 Griffin played every game.
Randolph played four games while Griffin played five. After a game in which you drop in 42 points you have proven your point. Why risk injury to your prospect? Of course you shelve your star right then and there. Why was Griffin MVP?
It was because he played in every game of course!
The games are still available online to subscribers for another week via the broadband on demand package. People can view the NBA’s mistake for one week longer via the internet.
Hopefully, people will watch and decide for themselves how badly the NBA blew this one.
Can’t wait for the first Warriors/Clippers game (November 15 in the land of smog) so this can be decided on the court.
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This was a pretty sad situation indeed. No logical way to make sense of it, but I know it will just inspire Anthony to play even harder so it works out in the end. Blake Griffin is a great athlete and a pretty smart player, but I don’t think he is as naturally gifted or exciting to watch as Anthony. We can all see that he has a lot of growing up to do, but that passion that sometimes portrays him as immature is also the driving force that will keep him wanting to be better. This is a quality that I think we only see in the real superstars of the league- Kobe, Jordan, Bird, etc.. and that lacks from the rest of the Warriors supposed future. Monte Ellis has played hard on the court, but has never shown a desire to compete and win. Jackson proclaims he is the leader of the team, but doesn’t have the true qualities of a leader at all. Andris is talented and solid, but seems to just float around on and off the court. When you look to other NBA teams you can find many examples, as well as players who act like they have a true passion for the game but in reality they just display frustration and anger believing that it is desire. Anthony Randolph was able to handle Nellie’s world famous rookie treatment and did it the right way. He learned and he learned very quickly that he would have to have a work ethic and I think he’s really shown that ever since. This is all very optimistic talk, especially comparing him to the NBA greats, but I see the building blocks in place.