The NBA have really screwed up this ‘awards ceremony’, let’s be honest here.
The season is over. The Warriors are unsurprisingly Champions.
Yet as we look back at the season, we still have no clue who the MVP is, who rookie of the year is, or most improved player.
The iconic MVP speech is watched by the entire NBA community. No matter which team we each support, we listen to and respect what the best player of that season has to say.
But the league decided to strip an iconic NBA tradition that fans look forward to every year. Westbrook and Harden, the frontrunners for the award, haven’t played in over a month and a half. They’re very much in the midst of the off season. Rather than having their teammates and coaches sat around them, they’ll have their rivals, that takes away some of the local pride of winning the MVP award.
The likely most improved player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, is in his homeland of Greece representing his country in the Eurobasket Championships this summer, he won’t be at the ceremony.
The NBA thought it would be ‘cool’ to add fan voted awards such as ‘assist of the year’ that the NBA community can vote for using social media. Having seen the campaigns, the only people that care are the teams social media accounts who have nothing else to post during the summer break. Fan awards were really a pathetic attempt to extend the length of the event. I highly doubt Nikola Jokic will be jumping for joy if he gets his hands on the assist trophy…Or Kristaps Porzingis for the ‘block of the year’…Oh wait, he’s in Europe as well! Because players actually have more important things to do!
And why Drake? Why not someone, who, you know, has actually played basketball? Who actually is respected in the league? Remember what KD said…”I don’t care about no Drake night!”
If Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan hosted the awards show, THEN i would be interested. But not Drake. Just another attempt for the league to use a celebrity to attract more attention to the league, even though the game of basketball is stacked with icons through the decades. Recruit hosts from within, Mr Silver.
The NBA draft is on Thursday. Literally the entire league is looking towards next season. So why have the awards show after the draft? No one cares about last season any more. WE’VE MOVED ON!
The stupid media have even voted Harden MVP…when Russell Westbrook AVERAGED A TRIPLE DOUBLE FOR THE ENTIRE SEASON! How could that possibly get overlooked, no matter what team they play for.
This awards show…absolute shambles.