Okafor wins ROY

[capstone21]

however, what I am confused about is that he just barely beat out Gordon. I don't get why Gordon is getting so much glory. I think Okafor and Howard had tremendous years and both should be considered much higher in the ROY consideration for Gordan who scores a lot but shoots a low percentage.

[Diesel]

Yeah, I thought Howard deserved more credit. I understand Okafor winning, but Howard put up Similar numbers and he did it ALL Year Long on a team where he was the 3rd option on offense.

Did Okafor play 44 game?

Gordon...I don't know. I think Chicago winning got him 2nd. Had Chicago had a losing record, nobody would care about Gordon!

[Gray Mule]

Yep! Chicago's winning record made the difference

in the voting. He made a difference for them.

Without him, they probably miss the playoffs.

Havent found the complete voting results, so I don't

know how any of the Hawk's four rookies made out.

We didn't win a lot, but we played our four players

quiet a bit. We had a lot more "Rookie Minutes" this

season than any other team, I'll bet.

If Hawks can do as well in the upcoming draft as last

season, we should have a decent team by season's end

next year.

[Brxa]

hawks = zilch

okafor, gordon and howard got majority of the votes. After them it was Igoudala with 10 pts, and JR smith and Deng with 1 pt each.

[Admin]

I know some of you guys wanted to see Howard win just cause he was the local kid, but come on......Okafor was DOMINANT for most of the year on a team without hardly any help at all.

He started 73 games as a rookie, led the rookies in most of the major categories (scoring, rebounds, minutes played, 2nd in blocks to SMOOTH, plus 4th in the entire NBA in rebounding, 4th in the NBA in double doubles with 47 which also led the rookies, and he was one of only 8 players in the entire NBA to average a double double for the whole season) and he did it all without anyone to take the pressure off of him. You say that Howard had to do it as the 3rd option, well I submit that if you put Francis and Hill on the Bobcats that Okafor would have been even better because he wouldnt have had so much attention drawn to him.

If anyone deserved to win the ROY, it was Okafor by a long shot. Had this award been the Most Valuable Rookie, Gordon would have won because without him his team doesnt make the playoffs....which is why I feel he justly deserved to be 2nd in the ROY voting.

What I do think is BS is that JR Smith got a 3rd place vote and neither of the Josh's got a vote period. That to me is insane that not even one voter thought either of them deserved 3rd.

[DominiqueWilkins]

Congrads to Okafor. I feel he deserved the award, and I'm happy to see he is crowned ROY.

Ben Gordon 6th man, so no feelings hurt?

[capstone21]

I think Okafor did deserve it by a long shot. I just don't think Gordon should have been #2. I think Howard had a better year then Gordon and the voting should have reflected that.

[Admin]

I think that Howard had a very good year, especially considering that he is a rookie coming from HS. However, a serious case can be made that Gordon was the best 4th quarter/clutch player in the NBA this year and thats something that you just dont see from a rookie. I think the reason he got so many votes is because he was a difference maker whereas Howard wasnt. I would have been fine with Howard or Gordon getting the 2nd spot as cases can be made for both. The only certainty for me was that Okafor was the ROY.

[AHF]

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I think the reason he got so many votes is because he was a difference maker whereas Howard wasnt.

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That is dead on.

[Diesel]

Okafor: 15.1 ppg, 10.9 rpg, 1.71 bpg, 44.7% FG%. in 35.6 mpg 73 games.

Howard: 12.0 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 1.66 bpg, 52% FG% in 32.6 mpg 82 games.

The difference is that Okafor was a first option, Howard was a third option. So Okafor gets the perception that he's more dominant than Howard because he gets the ball most of the time.

Howard however, had to share the ball with Ball hog and Grant. However, when he got the ball, he did something with it. Defensively and on the boards, there's a very slight difference between the two and that difference will probably be made p wiht the three minutes extra that Okafor was on the floor.

I don't see how you can even begin to claim HOMERISM.. That's BS. Howard was deserving of consideration plain and simple.

[Admin]

I never said he wasnt deserving of consideration. I thought that he had a really good year, especially being a straight from HS player.

You also make a good point about the stats that he put up as the 3rd option. However, an argument can be made just as strongly that he was able to put up better numbers because he had so much protection and wasnt under the pressure of being the face of the franchise like Okafor had to be.

Like I said, they both had very good years, but Okafor was simply the man from the 1st game of the season. I should know, I had both he and Howard on my fantasy team for most of the season (Okafor for all of it) so I followed them both very closely.

My point about your homerism was in the fact that for one, you were WAY off in the games that Okafor played in plus tried to downplay his accomplishments and for another that you made the comment about nobody caring about Gordon if the Bulls hadnt been winning. The FACTS are that a VERY strong argument can be made that Gordon was the best 4th quarter/clutch player in the entire NBA this season and he is the major reason why Chicago is in the playoffs.

[chillzatl]

You can't call a guy who puts uop 15ppg, dominant. He was very good for his rookie year though and deserved to win.

Anyone who saw Howard play this year knows he can't create his own shot against an NBA defense yet. Especially one that would be focused on him entirely. Okafor can do that and did. He's far more polished all-around, than Dwight. Dwight was worthy of mention, as a matter of respect for what he did as a teenage rookie. But Okafor was clearly more deserving because he put up better stats while taking a much larger role for his team.

[Admin]

the word, but consider that he was a rookie and look at the stats he put up as a rookie. Who was the last center to come into the league and put up numbers like that as a rookie? As it stands right now, I think that Shaq would be the only center I would take ahead of Okafor if I had my choice. I think that Okafor will end up being the next Mourning, as long as he can stay healthy. Anyways, for a rookie and especially a rookie center, he was dominant. For a rookie to have 47 double doubles and to average a double double for the season is incredibly impressive.

[pathway23]

Isn't Okafor the PF on that team? Brezec is the Center. Okafor may have filled in at Center when Brezec was injured or out of the game but for most of the year, the Bobcats had Brezec start at Center

I'm not saying Howard deserved ROY over Okafor, I think he deserved more consideration than Ben Gordon did. Ben Gordon did some great things as a 6th man though and justly deserved that award, and he deserved to be considered 3rd in ROY, not 2nd

[Plainview1981]

You also make a good point about the stats that he put up as the 3rd option. However, an argument can be made just as strongly that he was able to put up better numbers because he had so much protection and wasnt under the pressure of being the face of the franchise like Okafor had to be.

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I dissagree... There is alot of pressure on Howard. Look

at who has been taken out of high school the last few

years. A high schooler taken with the 1st pick in the

draft(ESP when you think of guys like LaBron and Amare

that have came out lately)has alot of pressure on him.

It isn't like anybody expected Emeka to take Charlotte

anywhere this year.

[chillzatl]

okafor had more media pressure on him regardless. HOward was a HS pick yes. But nobody even expected him to get as much playing time as he did. He was expected to pretty much be a project, low minute bench guy this year. BUt he did a lot with the little they gave him and they had to give him more. There wasn't much pressure on him at all in that regard. He also had Francis and Hill to take some of that. Nobody expected Howard, a HS kid, to lead the magic anywhere.

In the game pressure sense, which was what was meant more in the previous threads. OKafor definitely saw more of that. He was doubled and tripled every night. He had nobody to take the pressure off of him on the court. Howard hardly ever saw that.

I know you seem to think that playing for a bad team is like, Ho Hum, lets go out and go through the motions and lose and nobody really cares. But that's a bunch of bs.

[Plainview1981]

http://www.nba.com/magic/stats/

Look at the Magic roster.... Tell me, just why wouldn't

Howard play alot of minutes? Other than Kato(who only

plays 25MPG)Howard is the best bigman there by default.

My comment wasn't really about on the court production.

I just feel that through with Howard being taken number

1 out of high school there is more pressure on him to

carry a franchise than there is Oakafor. I think the

expectations of high schoolers are increasing. Even

myself, I look at Josh Smith who had a decent rookie

season and I still think: Well, he's still no Labron

James or Amare Stoudamire.

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I know you seem to think that playing for a bad team is like, Ho Hum, lets go out and go through the motions and lose and nobody really cares. But that's a bunch of bs

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That's the way it seemed to happen for JT/Reef and Dog

isn't it?

[Plainview1981]

Vince Carter and to a lesser extent Tracy McGrady

became more careless on bad teams. But I think

when everybodfy pretty much knows you are going

to be bad then there is less pressure.Some of this

seems to go back to the EO/Gordan thing...I'm just

not a fan of rewarding players on bad teams unless

there is no other options. Like I said, I know

it isn't EO's fault that Charlotte didn't have a

shot at the playoffs... But sometimes things just

aren't fair.

[chillzatl]

Even still, nobody expected him to lead a team, to carry them. The pressure on him was minimal He was expected to be, at best, a decent 3rd or 4th option. There's no pressure there. He pretty much exceeded expectations set by the media after a few games. A HS player taken high in the draft isn't a huge deal these days either.

In Reefs case yes, he loafed. JT didn't, his production is the same now as it was. He just plays for a good team. I've watched them quite a bit and I haven't seen him playing any harder there than he was here. It's not his fault that he didn't have as good a team here, where his production meant more. But that doesn't take anything away from what he was able to do when he was here.

A few players who loaf on bad teams doesn't really mean anything in the scheme of what we're talking about here. You think that a guys 20/10 on a bad team, means nothing. Now if he happens to have some good players around him, then that 20/10 mean something. As if he weren't really trying hard before. I just don't see how you can think like that unless you've never really competed in anything before.

[Plainview1981]

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A HS player taken high in the draft isn't a huge deal these days either.

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Try telling Dickie V that

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In Reefs case yes, he loafed. JT didn't, his production is the same now as it was. He just plays for a good team. I've watched them quite a bit and I haven't seen him playing any harder there than he was here. It's not his fault that he didn't have as good a team here,

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One thing.... JT seems to be putting more effort on

defense in Dallas where he clearly didn't here. I mean,

he allowed guys like Anthony Johnson and Tyus Edney to

have a field day. Seems as though he has played better

defense(yes, scheme is probably also making some

difference) atleast in the Dallas games I've seen.

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You think that a guys 20/10 on a bad team, means nothing.

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It does mean something(Altough EO wasn't averaging 20/10)

but when you are on a 12 win team alot of games lack

intensity and other teams don't bring they're best alot

of times. That's how teams like the Hawks team the

second half of last year can overachieve.