There has been a small rumbling in the NBA world about the possibility of players getting a chance to vote on the NBA awards for the season. The players want a voice when it comes to voting for the MVP, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player and other awards. It seems like there will be a good first step going in that direction for the future.
Kevin Durant was a leading voice behind this during All-Star weekend in February. He is a big supporter of taking some of the ‘power’ award from the media completely. The proposal by Durant allows the NBA players to vote on the awards for the regular season and not the media.
It appears that first-year National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts agrees and will allow the players to begin their select awards voting, not allowing the media to vote on these award later this year in the ‘2015 Players Choice Awards.’
Following from USA Today’s Sam Amick.
The memo, which was obtained by USA TODAY Sports, stated that anonymous votes will be cast and the winners will be announced at a summer meeting in Las Vegas. The media has voted on NBA awards since the 1980-81 season.
“This program was created at your request to recognize outstanding performance of your peers, on and off the court,” Roberts wrote. “No one knows better than you what it takes to shine.”
Roberts indicated in the memo that MVP is among the awards that will be voted on, and there is a “Man of the Year” award as well that will honor a player’s efforts in the community.
The first choice for ‘Man of the Year’ is a great start but what are the other categories? Will they be able to vote on their own MVP and other mainstay awards or are they not allowed too? Will there also be a car given to the winners presented by Kia?
Some awards to possibly consider could be, ‘Beat Beard’, ‘Biggest Flopper’, ‘Worst Fouler’, ‘Toughest Player to Defend’ or maybe even the best ‘Assistant Coach of the Year’?
It will remain to be seen but one thing is for sure, if the players do want to take over for voting awards, they definitely need to get it right. Getting it right will include doing the research and watching games to know exactly who would be most deserving of an award on the season.
