I got together with the D-League blogosphere (myself, Jon L and Mike Gansey from Ridiculous Upside, Steve Weinman from D-League Digest and Matt Hubert from Blog Talk BayHawk) a while back to discuss the best in the D-League from the regular season. What'd we talk about? Well, all sorts of things pertaining to the D-League.
In the end, though, we decided to give out the same awards that the D-League coaches vote on: Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player, Impact Player of the Year and Coach of the Year - as well as our own All-D-League teams.
Unfortunately, I got distracted in posting these on time because, you know, there were actual exciting things going on - and thus no need for filler posts. This afternoon the D-League announced the All-D-League teams, though, so I guess we better get running on this once again!
First, the D-League Blogosphere's selection (because we had a lot less "Honorable Mentions"):
2009-10 D-LEAGUE BLOGOSPHERE ALL-NBA DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE FIRST TEAM
G - Curtis Stinson
G - Reggie Williams
F - Mike Harris
F - Alexander Johnson
C - Dwayne Jones
2009-10 D-LEAGUE BLOGOSPHERE ALL-NBA DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE SECOND TEAM
G - Will Conroy
G - Morris Almond
F - Carlos Powell
F - Rob Kurz
C - Earl Barron
2009-10 D-LEAGUE BLOGOSPHERE ALL-NBA DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE THIRD TEAM
G - Mustafa Shakur
G - Alonzo Gee
F - Cartier Martin
F - Larry Owens
C - Rod Benson
2009-10 D-LEAGUE BLOGOSPHERE ALL-NBA DEVELOPMENT HONORABLE MENTION
(This is just a list of guys that received votes, but not enough to make the top three lists)
Curtis Jerrells, Donell Taylor, John Bryant, Blake Ahearn, Romel Beck, Orien Greene, Coby Karl, Brian Butch, Diamon Simpson and Greg Stiemsma.
And now for the official Awards compared to our selection in parentheses - basically, who do we/they underrate/overrate:
2009-10 GATORADE ALL-NBA DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE FIRST TEAM
G - Curtis Stinson (same)
G - Reggie Williams (same)
F - Mike Harris (same)
F - Cartier Martin (third)
C - Dwayne Jones (same)
2009-10 GATORADE ALL-NBA DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE SECOND TEAM
G - Will Conroy (same)
G - Mustafa Shakur (third, we tried keeping position friendly, though)
F - Alonzo Gee (third)
F - Rob Kurz (same)
C - Brian Butch (Honorable Mention)
2009-10 GATORADE ALL-NBA DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE THIRD TEAM
G - Antonio Anderson (n/a)
G - Curtis Jerrells (Honorable Mention - once again, position friendliness probably limited his votes)
F - Larry Owens (same)
F - Alade Aminu (n/a)
C - Earl Barron (second)
Honorable Mention: Morris Almond (second), Desmon Farmer (n/a), Orien Greene (same), Cedric Jackson (n/a), Coby Karl (same), Keith McLeod (n/a), Garrett Temple (n/a), Romel Beck (same), Rod Benson (third), Bennett Davis (n/a), Trey Gilder (n/a), Donell Taylor (same), John Bryant (same), Byron Mullens (n/a) and Greg Stiemsma (same).
What can we learn from that?
- Well, first, the D-League apparently undervalued Alexander Johnson: we had him as a first team selection, but he wasn't even an honorable mention in their rankings. Must be something I'm missing - though no mention of game minimums in the press relelase.
- The rest of the first team was unanimous - score one for us.
- We overrated Mo Almond and Earl Barron. I could have guessed about Almond, but am surprised we actually valued Barron more than the D-League coaches did.
- They like Brian Butch more than we do. I would for someone to explain his appeal.
- Carlos Powell wasn't named on the D-League's list. I assume maybe they disqualified him for leaving early? That'd also leave explain the absence of Romel Beck and Diamon Simpson.
- Antonio Anderson and Alade Aminu are the only two that showed up on their list without getting a mention on ours. I can see the appeal of Anderson, but don't think there's any way you can slice it that Aminu was in the top six forwards in the league.
- Desmon Farmer fans are probably going to be upset. He finished as the fourth highest scorer in the D-League and only got honorable mention status.