TORONTO,ON – APRIL 21: Louis Williams #23 of the Toronto Raptors receives the Sixth Man of the Year Award before the game against the Washington Wizards during Game Two of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals of the 2015 NBA Playoffs at the Air Canada Centre on April 21, 2015 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2015 NBAE (Photo by Dave Sandford/NBAE via Getty Images)
The Raptors have been bystanders for too long when individual awards are handed out by the NBA. Here’s my case for 3 of our players who have punchers’ chances of gaining recognition.
The Toronto Raptors haven’t had much of an impact on NBA individual-achievement awards over the years. Since the first season of 1995-96, our guys have won a total of three. We’ve had two Rookies of the Year (Damon Stoudamire in 1996 and Vince Carter in 1999), and a Sixth Man winner (Lou Williams, 2015). By any objective standard, that’s pretty sad.
Sam Mitchell in 2007 and Dwane Casey last season have copped Coach of the Year honours. Both were canned by their GMs – it’s less an award than a kiss of death. I’m not going to be dealing with suits’ awards today.
The Raptors are the team everyone’s talking about after trading for Kawhi Leonard. If our gang can put together another 50+ win season, and actually make some playoff noise, surely some of our players will be deemed worthy of some votes for major awards.
I suppose I can let the cat out of the bag – yes, there’s a case to be made for Leonard’s MVP candidacy, which I’m going to make.
There are two other fellows who have a chance to grab some hardware.
One award no one is going to win on the Raptors: Rookie of the Year. We didn’t have a single draft pick in June, and the odds of any non-drafted player making the team out of training camp are astronomical. The Raptors may not have a rookie on the roster, let alone an RoY candidate.
I’ve given consideration to OG Anunoby as a Defensive Player of the Year hopeful. I decided against giving him some love; he’s a season or two away. Kawhi has won that bauble twice, so he’s automatically a candidate again. I suspect he’d rather won the ultimate individual recognition, to complement his Toronto championship ring (I can dream – that’s what sports are about).
Here we go.
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