Not surprised actually, given:

During the course of the 2007/08 regular season, Anstey averaged 21.7 points per game (sixth in the NBL) at 49% from the field, as well as 12.0 rebounds (first in the NBL), 2.9 assists, 1.9 blocks (first in the NBL) and 1.5 steals.

Anstey deserves it over Ere now considering the difference between there team's season's finish.

One finished, the other in a Grand Final.

Well done to Anstey. Whether you love him or hate him, his numbers prove that he is very consistent and is a well deserved winner.

I'm surprised Balls wasn't third or even a close second as i really thought he had a huge, break out year on a very average team. Also put up some big numbers in a handful of games, and had a few double doubles too!! But nonetheless a great year by Ballinger and congrats to him!!

You would have to think the Top 5 would also be named the All NBL 1st Team as well..

Anstey
Ballinger
Redhage
Ere
Franklin

"Anstey deserves it over Ere now considering the difference between there team's season's finish.

One finished, the other in a Grand Final."

WTF? One team gets to the GF with one of the most loaded rosters in league history and one team makes the semi's whilst missing his captain and last season MVP on court with him. I actually think that Ere was far more "Valuable" to the Bullets than Anstey to the Tigers.

Don't get me wrong, Anstey is a deserving winner, but where they finished on the ladder, whether it's semi's v GF's, is pretty irrelevant. Different if one was on the bottom and the other won the rings.

It's decided based on the regular season. Finals performances are irrelevant.

Good on Anstey, he deserved it. I reckon the top 6 in order were fairly accurate

Anstey Deserved it.....he was far more consistent and a far more complete player that Ere

Ere is just a flat out scorer

Anstey does it all for the Tigers

with out the aggresiveness IMO Ere should have won the MVP with Anstey having Lampley DT Dmac Barlow Hoare Croswell Stiff etc whilst putting up decent numbers Anstey i think had enough aronud him while ere had to take many games into his own hands to get the win. reminds me of alot of MVP votings the nbl has given over the years that may not be as worthy.

with out the aggresiveness IMO Ere should have won the MVP with Anstey having Lampley DT Dmac Barlow Hoare Croswell Stiff etc whilst putting up decent numbers Anstey i think had enough aronud him while ere had to take many games into his own hands to get the win. reminds me of alot of MVP votings the nbl has given over the years that may not be as worthy.

Anstey is worthy. He is off to Detroit in a few weeks.

Ere showed how much he could step up in the absence of McKinnon. Throughout the season the focus was on him winning it because the general consensus was that he stood out amongst the rest. I also wondered after Brisbane bowed out of the finals, how detrimental this would be to his quest for the MVP. I am not convinced that its determined by the regular season. If that is the case, why do we wait until the final 2 teams to contest the championship are identified before announcing the winner?

Just thinking about this a bit more. How stupid is it that they didnt promote that this was being announced today? Nothing on the NBL website, maybe a preview?

More examples of the NBLs failure to promote itself properly.

EC, the voting is done and dusted after the regular season, but it's just announced during the gap before the grand final series. The Brownlow, similarly, is announced just before the AFL Grand Final. There is no way for the finals games to influence the result.

EC - Brian Wethers won it a few years back and his team wasn't in the playoffs at all.

The last 3 consecutive years, it has been won by a player from a championship contesting team. Ere personally has had a more successful year this past season than he did last season. Anstey has not shown much if any improvement over last season. How he shines above Ere is beyond me considering Anstey wasn't good enough to win it last season. Ere has played with a "wow" factor throughout the season. He has been a class above all the rest. Is it any wonder his name always cropped up first in predicting who the MVP should be. I don't have a problem with Anstey winning it because he is also a worthy contender but not better than Ere.

Past seasons are irrelevant, as is improvement. Votes were cast based on this season only.

As I said: "During the course of the 2007/08 regular season, Anstey averaged 21.7 points per game (sixth in the NBL) at 49% from the field, as well as 12.0 rebounds (first in the NBL), 2.9 assists, 1.9 blocks (first in the NBL) and 1.5 steals."

Here's a statistical comparison between Anstey and Ere.

Quite similar in most categories. Ere has a better strike rate from outside and averages about 5 PPG more, but Anstey gets about 6 RPG more, has a slight edge on assists and averages 1.5 BPG more.

The extra game wouldn't have hurt either.

I thought Ebi was going to get it earlier in the season but came to realise a while ago that it would be Anstey.