Someone — no joke — gave Greg Monroe a Defensive Player of the Year vote
I’m as big a Greg Monroe fan as anyone, but this is a tad ridiculous:
Someone gave Monroe a third place vote for Defensive Player of the Year.
I’ve made cases several times that Monroe hasn’t gotten nearly his due in awards voting, particularly last season, but wow … Defensive Player of the Year? I don’t think Monroe would even finish third on the Pistons if they ranked their top defensive players this season, and they’re not even a good defensive team.
Seriously, this needs to be investigated. I have to know who voted for him.
Posted in Notes • 16 Comments
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May 2, 2012 • 6:05 pm
by Max
Haha, I was just going to make this point off topic on another thread but you beat me to it. Good job!
May 2, 2012 • 6:34 pm
by tarsier
So can we now say that the media gives Detroit way too much credit? jk
May 2, 2012 • 7:46 pm
by Max
C’mon. The media is not one person and getting credit is not getting one 3rd place vote for any award whether the vote is merited or not.
May 2, 2012 • 8:42 pm
by tarsier
hence the “jk.” this was not a serious comment.
May 2, 2012 • 10:10 pm
by Patrick Hayes
Judging by the verbosity Max is known for, he probably just didn’t pick up on the shorthand. jk (just kidding) again
May 3, 2012 • 2:16 am
by Max
@Patrick……….you are right…..I didn’t pick up on the shorthand and don’t use contractions or acronyms myself.
May 2, 2012 • 6:10 pm
by Josh
meh… at least they recognized him. Probably a way to pay their dues to the dude who was snubbed last year.
May 2, 2012 • 6:13 pm
by acr
i wonder if it was an accident… maybe they meant to vote him 3rd place in most improved, and did it in DPY by mistake…
May 2, 2012 • 6:33 pm
by tarsier
So much for your being as big a Monroe fan as anyone. There is at least one crazy person out there blowing you out of the water.
May 2, 2012 • 10:59 pm
by Mark
I’m the biggest Monroe supporter, but even I recognize his defense needs A LOT of work. He routinely let opposing bigs just post him up and score with ease with no resistance at all. I’m shocked that someone saw his defense as DPY worthy. SHOCKED.
He had his moments of good D like any player, but certainly not worthy of DPY. Maybe that voter views steals as playing good D, because he IS a great stealer for a big man. Thats all I can think can of to explain this. The fact that Wade got the same amount of votes is hilarious, because Wade is by far a better defender than Monroe
May 3, 2012 • 5:03 am
by TradeAustinDaye
Monroe’s improvement took our team from a below NBA average defense to an above NBA average defense.
I’m glad someone showed appreciation to Greg Monroe for his defensive effort this season.
And he anchored the defense with a small front court mate (Max) and barely any help.
He plays tough defense up front with his size and uses it to his advantage.
We won a few games off the strength of Greg Monroe’s defense.
May 3, 2012 • 8:54 am
by Patrick Hayes
Even if those things you said were true, they do not make Monroe the third best defensive player in the league. That’s pure insanity or incompetence or both to think that. I really hope whoever voted that way just made a mistake, as someone suggested above. That’s still inexcusable, but at least it’s better than objectively watching Monroe on defense this season and concluding that he was one of the three best defensive players in the NBA.
I love Monroe. I actually think, because of his length and quick hands, he’s capable of becoming a pretty solid defensive player if he works as hard at that this offseason as he did on his offense last offseason. But it’s insult to players who are actually really good defensively now for someone to vote that way.
May 3, 2012 • 5:57 am
by Ryan P.
Uncle Grant… haha
May 4, 2012 • 4:43 am
by Max
I’ve come up with one somewhat logical explanation. If you really want your vote to count, you give your first place vote to your real choice and your second and third place votes to players who have no chance. If you are extremely conservative with this strategy and don’t want to take any risks, you give your second and third place votes to players who don’t even deserve to be in the top ten.
May 4, 2012 • 6:47 am
by tarsier
While that is possible, it would be the worst explanation yet as it is straight up unethical.
May 7, 2012 • 2:15 am
by Max
Who says these guys are ethical? For one thing, I bet a lot of votes on all of these awards are made by writers who decide to give their first place vote to their favorite of the two most likely to win the award when they know their own personal choice doesn’t have a good chance. These votes seem to be as political as anything as the best story rules the day rather than the most deserving players.