Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 9:00 am  |  72 responses

Even the Summer League Has an MVP ‘Controversy’

by Marcel Mutoni

Why should the regular season be the only one to enjoy a good old fashioned MVP debate?

To be honest, I haven’t caught a nanosecond of Summer League play, and I don’t feel any poorer for it as a hoops fan. Some people, though, take this stuff quite seriously and follow it religiously. That’s the overwhelming reason why you’re getting this post.

Blake Griffin was named MVP of the Vegas Summer League, and even though his jersey wasn’t retired in sad and hilarious fashion, this honor has some quite heated. Namely, fans and media in the Bay Area.

From the Contra Costa Times:

I just learned that Blake Griffin was named MVP of the Las Vegas summer League. I don’t know who chooses, but certainly they spent too much time at Margeritaville. Anthony Randolph shoulda been MVP.

Certainly, Griffin had more hype. He cemented himself as one of the most dominant rookies in summer league history and many expect him to have a stellar rookie season. And, no doubt, many of the voters, whoever they are, may not have seen much of Randolph since the Warriors played the first half of the schedule and most people came for the second half, when Griffin arrived. Randolph did miss his last game. Still, a look at the stats would’ve been enough to crown Randolph the winner:

Randolph: 26.8 points, 60.9 FG%, 8.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks.
Griffin: 19.2 points, 50.0 FG%, 10.8 rebounds and 0.4 blocks.

Hard to argue with the above. Especially when one considers that Randolph’s team had a significantly better showing this summer than Griffin’s.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I would like to get back to not caring.

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  • http://www.broy7.com nate the great

    yeah im a eric gordon fan, and randolph, but my team is the blazers. i cant wait for the blazers to go deep in the playoffs.

  • http://slamonline Blaze

    were the games even televised? From what I saw on the news Curry lit it up, Blake had a huge game, and Thabeet stunk.

  • http://slamonline Blaze

    @Nate the great- nice to see a fellow blazer fan here. Been going to games since Clyde,Kersey,uncle Cliffy,Porter, and 00Duck.

  • http://www.blogs.myspace.com/originadro Witness

    Can we safely say that while the Lake show is runnin Cali we’re goin to start the B-Griff/A-Rand debate?

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com Hursty

    Bryan- I just guessed that you were being sarcastic. Sorry.
    nick- I have to disagree. Buddinger put a lot of points on the board (and he did it very effectively), but he didn’t guard anyone. Dorsey also had a lot of hockey assists – the pass that led to the assist. I guess if you had an offense MVP and defense MVP it’d be those guys though for the Rockets.

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    I completely not related fashion. The Rockets wont be that bad this season. They will be hungry to compete. Unlike the Clippers.

  • http://ballislife.com Moose

    @ nick: I think you won’t regret it, haha. Just out of curiosity, what do you study? Prestigious school like that, you’ll probably get a job fairly easily in your field, whatever that is, after graduation.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    What really concerns me is how Anthony Randolph is going to be robbed of minutes and development by the one and only Nellie.

  • http://www.clutchfans.net nick

    @moose–My “field” is creative writing, so sadly, I will in fact not get a job easily. I just graduated and i’m currently applying to grad schools while working for peanuts as an assistant coach for the emory debate team which actually is a pretty decent gig.

  • http://www.clutchfans.net nick

    Hursty: You’re right that Buddinger played no defense, but I think he showed himself to be the most game-ready of Rockets rookies as a plug-and-play system cog. Dorsey was a monster on the boards, but I can’t let go of the fact that he averaged 5 fouls…If this were the regular season, he might have taken himself out of a couple of those games. Of course, he wouldn’t be playing 30 mins per if this were the regular season, so that may not be an issue. I was very, very, very, VERY surprised with Dorsey’s passing, which was consistently excellent, not only kicking out of the post but also finding cutters. He showed a touch on some of those passes that I didn’t know he possessed in any phase of the game. I’m thinking of one pass he threw against the lakers in particular, a little touch-floater to a cutter coming down the lane (i forget who…taylor, I think). I think with consistent minutes, he could turn into a very, very effective bench big, especially if he picks up a little bit of offensive footwork from banging against Scola and Anderson every day in practice.

  • kevin

    Randolph will probably be the top fantasy sleeper this year i think if he starts he will get 10-15 PPG, 2 BPG, 1 SPG, 8-10 RPG
    but the summer league is basicly practice

  • ab_40

    blake griffin 0.4 blocks per game? they better hope camby stays around because this looks shamefull. so at first he was K Mart and now he’s K Mart without the shot blocking… bummer

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com Hursty

    Yeh, Buddinger looks ready to go. Stick him in for 10-12 minutes a night, he looks set right now. More polished than I expected actually. So, regarding those early Ben Wallace/Joey Dorsey comparisons… BRRT haha. Dorsey can come in, play 10-15 give a hard foul here or there etc. Imagine him and Hayes on together, defense, rebounding, great passing. I hope a little of Scola and Andersen rubs off on him. I guess that guarding guys like Yao and Scola last year improved his offense, and being defended/watching Hayes has taken his D to another level. Speculation, but he looks sooo much better.
    Rockets coaching is brilliant, so is management, but DAMN the physical conditioning and health staff needs an upgrade.

  • gay allah

    ok, scrap that. Grif is the goods peoples. ZR was better but as been stated is NBA coached etc. Put my money on the Clips for their offseason aquisitions and an incredible juggling act that obviously gives them a roster worthy if not better than A few already established teams ( Oklahoma T`s, SacK, Wash etc etc) So get sick wit it people, aaaight

  • Rob Wells Jr.

    Anthony Randolph is an athletic freak! More than Griffin i believe.

  • http://adfji.com Jukai

    I hate to say “I told you so” but what did I say about Buddinger? Kids mint. I couldn’t believe he didn’t get guarenteed money.

  • http://www.myspace.com/weezyleezy337 weezy f. leezy

    was it griffin..was it randolph…..even harden soulda got a mention. all i know is……IT SURE WAST RICKY FU\CKIN RUBIO!

  • http://slamonline Dark Knight

    Why wasn’t Kobe considered? Lebron? ;)

  • ngoiekafita

    First on the Anthony Randolph bandwagon!!!!
    (I either take him or Wilson ‘pony’ Chandler as my starting SF on NBA 2K)

  • ngoiekafita

    Mmm, i’ma start charging whoever wants to ride on AR bandwagon!

  • http://june7thdonald@netzero.com donlaker

    dude how is nobody talking about adam morrison hitting turnaround fadeaways in vegas
    he clearly is the mvp of summer
    and a randolph is nice hope he gets better quickly

  • zyup

    umm is it because griffin is an actual rookie like bayless and randolph is a 2nd year summer league visitor other known as a veteran lol in summer league years!

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