NBA union announces awards players will vote on

[SugarHill]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2015/04/08/players-choice-awards-nbpa-michele-roberts/25449403/


Kevin Durant may finally be getting his way. Sort of.

Nearly three months after the Oklahoma City Thunder star voiced his opinion that NBA players should vote on the league's regular season awards instead of the media, first-year National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts issued an internal memo announcing the "2015 Players Choice Awards."

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."

Durant has hardly been alone when it comes to being critical of the media landscape in the NBA, as Roberts questioned the pre-game locker-room access given to reporters in an interview with ESPN that was published less than two weeks after Durant's comments.

Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, an MVP candidate, shared his view on the voting situation in a mid-March interview on The Dan Patrick Show as well, saying that players should be given part of the MVP vote.

"I think (players) should have a portion of the vote," Curry told Patrick. "Obviously we're the ones playing against each other. We know who's having the best year, who's doing things that really stand out. So I think that should be a part of the vote, for sure."

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.

didn't see a thread on this. Interesting.

[LoneyROY7]

Should be interesting to see the discrepancies between this and the media vote.

[RightTwoCensor]

This is a step in the right direction toward players having their voices triumph the media's. They'll probably compare and contrast the players vote with the media's vote and the opinion of every other NBA fan and they'll see if players really can be accountable for providing unbiased votes.

[iamgine]

Durant voting for his mom.

[SugarHill]

Durant voting for his mom.
http://media.247sports.com/Uploads/Assets/339/211/3211339.gif

[TheGreatDeraj]

Nice step in the right direction.

I hate how the media votes for MVP etc. I would rather the coaches and GMs vote, but a player vote is a whole lot better than the media.

[DonDadda59]

"2015 Players Choice Awards."

Sounds like some low rent shit that'd be on Nickelodeon or VH1. They'd probably have another fashion show n shit. :facepalm

[mehyaM24]

"2015 Players Choice Awards."

Sounds like some low rent shit that'd be on Nickelodeon or VH1. They'd probably have another fashion show n shit. :facepalm
:roll::applause:

i hear you don

[NattyPButter]

eventually these awards will have more meaning then the media based one. Since the media can also be bias too. I find it stupid how they started talking about the MVP only a month into the season. They It's like they already had their minds set up who won MVP by January and don't count what happens in the rest of the games.

[SugarHill]

eventually these awards will have more meaning then the media based one. Since the media can also be bias too. I find it stupid how they started talking about the MVP only a month into the season. They It's like they already had their minds set up who won MVP by January and don't count what happens in the rest of the games.
IF that was the case, Hibbert would have a DPotY and George would have MVP

[AkronAngel]

About damn time.

[Kblaze8855]

The awards would come out the same most years. Back when the players voted for the official one and the AP did the media vote they picked the same MVP all but I believe 3 times in 30 years. Media gave Tiny the mvp when he put up 34/11 over Cowens with 68 wins. And I think they gave Oscar one of Russels.

But it was usually the same.

[I<3NBA]

some people here will be very disappointed when the results come out. more often than not, results would be the same for media and players vote. players' vote are even more unreliable because they will be biased for their friends or teammates (unless they prohibit voting for your team mates).

[BigNBAfan]

i hope we see transparency, which players voted for who... i bet that fakkit harden would vote for himself

[VengefulAngel]

i hope we see transparency, which players voted for who... i bet that fakkit harden would vote for himself

I'm pretty sure most top players would vote for themselves lol.

[bagelred]

stupid.

[NattyPButter]

IF that was the case, Hibbert would have a DPotY and George would have MVP

I'm talking about this year.

[Kblaze8855]

some people here will be very disappointed when the results come out. more often than not, results would be the same for media and players vote. players' vote are even more unreliable because they will be biased for their friends or teammates (unless they prohibit voting for your team mates).


Having checked since my last posts....the players voted for 25 years. They had the same MVP pick as the media 23 of those years. One year of 3 groups(players, sporting news, and basketball writers of america) one took Wilt and the other 2 took Oscar. Oscar won the official/players vote.

23 years all 3 picked the same...24 years 2 of 3 had the same.

The one year they really split was the media picking tiny and the players picking Cowens.

It would almost always be the same. The players picks are actually even more ****ed up if you look at individual years. In 1975 12 players got a first place vote. Including Mike Bantam. A 13/7 small forward on a 32 win Suns team. And no...you cant vote for yourself.

[clipps]

I think to make it the most fair is that players can't vote players on their own team. It would remove a lot of the bias. Of course, some players might vote for personal friends that are on other teams.

[gts]

Meh just another award that means nothing in the end

on a side note does this seem like a good idea? politically? Seems/feels like the players union is looking to drive a wedge between themselves and the media in the coming months...

I have a feeling the next CBA negotiation is going to get really ugly with this new head of the NBPA, it would seem the players would want the media to be unbiased and basically telling the media we don't like how you vote so we're going to do our own is just a bad move

this isn't the first shot at the media by the NBPA since she's taken the helm, there was the whole locker room interview dustup where she accused the media of just hanging out in locker rooms spying on what the players say

[navy]

Meh just another award that means nothing in the end

on a side note does this seem like a good idea? politically? Seems/feels like the players union is looking to drive a wedge between themselves and the media in the coming months...

I have a feeling the next CBA negotiation is going to get really ugly with this new head of the NBPA, it would seem the players would want the media to be unbiased and basically telling the media we don't like how you vote so we're going to do our own is just a bad move

this isn't the first shot at the media by the NBPA since she's taken the helm, there was the whole locker room interview dustup where she accused the media of just hanging out in locker rooms spying on what the players say
Sports Media is cancerous.

[Budadiiii]

Durant says something and creates a whole damn new awards platform. :bowdown:

KD is the most influential athlete in sports.

[Ca$H]

The awards would come out the same most years. Back when the players voted for the official one and the AP did the media vote they picked the same MVP all but I believe 3 times in 30 years. Media gave Tiny the mvp when he put up 34/11 over Cowens with 68 wins. And I think they gave Oscar one of Russels.

But it was usually the same.

LOL. No. Nash would have zero. Kobe would have 2-3. Shaq would have 3-4.

[sundizz]

This is stupid. A lot of NBA players are morons.

Also, they probably all watch a lot less basketball than the media. I wouldn't think too many of them spend their free time analyzing statistics, etc. I wouldn't mind them having a 25% part of the vote, 25% going to coaches, 25% going to the media, and 25% going to general managers.

[longtime lurker]

I knew that MVP voting was a joke when some jealous voted for pj brown one year.

[FLDFSU]

some people here will be very disappointed when the results come out. more often than not, results would be the same for media and players vote. players' vote are even more unreliable because they will be biased for their friends or teammates (unless they prohibit voting for your team mates).

I promise the players would not vote Steve Nash back to back league MVP.