Manu Fieldel
Years ago
Legit question.
I foresee a bumper year for Todd Blanchfield at Sydney, and considering his poor form in Melbourne, should actually be frontrunner for MIP.
But can they do it twice?
Any award other than rookie of the year could be won more than once.
Personally don't see Blanchfield getting it though
He'd be in with a good chance. Looks like he'll be featured in Sydney rather than sitting in a corner in Melbourne
KingPodge
Years ago
I guess it's possible.
Only time I think something similar has happened is Pennington winning NFL comeback player of the year twice.
I don't think he should. If his "improvement" came from having a really bad season in a bad situation, then re-finding his form in a new team, then no he hasn't improved. He just had a shit season.
Ok, if his third season is significantly better than his previous best season, sure. But if he just matches his previous best, I wouldn't call that improvement.
Manu Fieldel
Years ago
He was a gun in Townsville when he one it. He had the reins and was around a 20ppg scorer most nights. Had the ball in his hands a fair bit.
LoveBroker
Years ago
"I foresee a bumper year for Todd Blanchfield at Sydney, and considering his poor form in Melbourne, should actually be frontrunner for MIP."
Why do you see a bumper year for TB @ Sydney? At Melbourne he was really content letting the game come to him so to speak and it showed in how he regressed statistically.
If we were to say, well he was under Dean D, I would have to come back with he will now be under Gaze, is there that much of an improvement?
Did Blanchfield leave before Vickerman was signed? If so sucks on the timing as he goes from one fraudulent coach to another.
Manu Fieldel
Years ago
LoveBroker, at least Gaze's shuffle offence -- theoretically anyway -- promotes ball and man movement, with cutting a feature.
Admittedly, they were just weird through the second half of last season.
And with Melbourne, the ball was in the hands of Goulding and Ware, who are mostly focused on getting their own. Lisch is a great teammate to have.
Baller#3
Years ago
yeah most improved should be improvement on the players previous best season.
So if a player jumped from 5 to 15ppg and then 15 to 25ppg why not?
LoveBroker
Years ago
In Blanchfield's case it would be more like 5 to 15 then 15 to 8 then 8 - 20.
Would you pay the MIP to a person who has regressed then recovered?
This reminds me of the year in primary school where I tanked the first half and then *cough* improved *cough* improved in the second half yet still didn't win the end of year awards Most Improved award.
Why are we only talking about Blanchfield? Everyone knows the Sixers will scoop the pool of individual awards before bowing out in the first round of the playoffs...
You need to be a registered user to post from this location. Register here.
Advertise on Hoops to a very focused, local and sports-keen audience. Email for rates and options.
An Australian basketball forum covering NBL, WNBL, ABL, Juniors plus NBA, WNBA, NZ, Europe, etc | Forum time is: 12:10 pm, Sat 20 Apr 2024 | Posts: 968,026 | Last 7 days: 754
