Philadelphia 76ers: How Brett Brown and Dario Saric were robbed at NBA Awards ceremony
The NBA held their NBA Awards ceremony Monday night and while it was a night of celebration for some players, it also put another black eye on one of the up and coming teams. The Philadelphia 76ers entered the year with no type of fanfare. To be a 76ers fan has been hard but we stand behind our team and it has begun to pay off. Too bad the NBA doesn’t see the same thing that we see. If they did– Brett Brown and Dario Saric would have walked away with awards Monday.
Let’s try to keep this as brief as possible.
Dario Saric is not Rookie of the Year. Why is that? He lost out to the Malcolm Brogdon of the Milwaukee Bucks for what can only be described as playoff favoritism. The Bucks were the better team but to say that Brogdon was the better player is a slap in the face to Saric, his teammates and the fans of the Philadelphia 76ers. The only thing we can compare is numbers.
Brogdon averaged 10 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds in 26 minutes per with 28 starts. Saric averaged 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists in 26 minutes in 36 starts. It’s a close race but since the Bucks made it to the playoffs the nod had to go to Brogdon? No. Saric played on a team that was still trying to find themselves and for a player who played the majority of the season as the PG for a second unit to win ROY makes no sense.
Brett Brown had no shot at winning Coach of the Year but he should have.
The award was given to Mike D’Antoni of the Houston Rockets for his success with a team who won 55 games in a tough Western Conference. Brown led the 76ers to only 28 wins in a weaker Eastern Conference but it’s more to this story than total wins. Houston had a player who goes by the name of James Harden. To add more to the lineup they also managed to bring two of the best reserves in the NBA off their bench when games got tight in Eric Gordon and Lou Williams. Let’s also not forget– this is still the same Rockets team who managed to make the playoffs last season as well.
All Brown was able to do with Philly was lead them from 10 wins in 2015 to 28 wins in 2016 with no real viable scorer or direction. Who on the 76ers could matchup with Harden? Who on Philly has won 6th Man of the year like Gordon and Williams? Who on Philly has won a championship like Trevor Ariza and when has Brown coached players like Steve Nash, Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant?
Let’s get this straight.
D’ Antoni led the Rockets to 14 more wins than the previous season with the MVP runner-up and the league’s best 6th man. Brown led a 76ers team who was without the services of Nerlens Noel, Joel Okafor, and Joel Embiid for more than half the season. And how can we forget they were without their No. 1 pick– Ben Simmons but still managed to win 18 more games than they did the previous year?
How is that not COY material there?
It’s ok though NBA. The 76ers and their fans understand what’s going on here. It’s about favoritism. You can keep your NBA Awards and fake handshakes. Dario Saric and Brett Brown will earn your respect the right way.
Mark has been covering Sports and Entertainment for the past six years. His work has been featured on Bleacher Report, ESPN, Fox Sports, Teen Vogue, and many other websites.
