Sixers4Guidos, which bills itself as the first Italian blog for 76ers fans, is hosting the fourth round of NBA MVP/ROY rankings as voted on by bloggers. BrewHoop hosted Round 1, Clips Nation hosted Round 2, and 3 Shades of Blue hosted Round 3. Dwight Howard came in third place in MVP voting in this edition. Shockingly, Marcin Gortat was nowhere to be found in ROY voting.
Look after the jump to see the ballot and comments I sent to Sixers4Guidos for them to compile. I'm surprised that I was the only person who gave Daequan Cook any ROY votes. He's good, people!
Most Valuable Player:
- Kevin Garnett - As long as the Celtics keep rolling, the award is his. Heck, he might already have it wrapped-up.
- Kobe Bryant - Nobody expected the Lakers to be this good. Some of the credit has to go to Andrew Bynum for his marked improvement, but most of it has to go to Kobe, who seems to have finally figured out how to play team basketball.
- Chauncey Billups - He's quietly having his finest season, and he's doing it for a team many people expected to be on the decline.
- Chris Paul - The Hornets are holding their own in the toughest division in basketball and Paul has no quality teammates to speak of (excluding David West and Tyson Chandler, natch).
- Dirk Nowitzki - Dallas has quietly ascended to the top of the West, thanks in large part to Nowitzki snapping out of his early-season funk and playing once again like an MVP.
- Brandon Roy - The Trail Blazers are on a roll that nobody could have foreseen, and Roy, who should begin his string of perennial All-Star selections this season, is the biggest reason.
- Dwight Howard - His play has regressed a bit, as has his team's. Until the Magic get out of their miserable slump -- not counting tonight's tilt against Utah, which has not started yet, the Magic haven't beaten a team with a winning record since December 3rd -- Dwight can't be considered a bona-fide contender.
- Steve Nash - Everyone seems to think the Suns are in bad shape, but nobody can count them out as long as Steve Nash continues to run the offense.
- Baron Davis - Like Nash, Boom-Dizzle is the engine that makes his team go. However, the Warriors are inconsistent and sometimes take entire nights off. If Baron displayed better leadership skills, he'd move up a few notches in my rankings.
- Caron Butler - Sure, Brendan Haywood is having a career-year for the Wizards, but Butler is holding his own and really buoying a team missing its best player. When Gilbert Arenas announced he'd be on the sidelines for a while, did anyone think the Wizards would hang around at the Magic's heels like they have? They're only 3 games out of the division lead.
Yes, I'm aware that I didn't include LeBron James anywhere on my ballot. It didn't matter, because the King eked-out a victory over Kevin Garnett.
Rookie of the Year:
- Yi Jianlian - He's overachieving and is one of the few bright spots in what has been a brutal season for the Bucks so far.
- Kevin Durant - Kid Delicious is absolutely better than Yi, but I refuse to reward him with a first-place vote because his shooting percentage (.406) isn't high enough for my liking.
- Al Horford - Slowly developing into a double-double machine. Al Jefferson 2, maybe?
- Al Thornton - Has played well as a starter for the injury-depleted Clippers. It looks like he'll be a solid rotation player very soon.
- Daequan Cook - The dude is instant offense, yet Pat Riley refuses to play him. Fine. I've heard enough about him to know that he's going to be a very explosive scorer.
I won't give Durant my first-place vote until he can hit more than 45% of his shots. Until then, he should look forward to occupying the second slot on my ballot. Hornets 247 put it best when it comes to why Durant isn't deserving of the award: "Doesn’t pass, doesn’t shoot well, and has a worse rebound rate than Jameer Nelson, Charlie Bell, and Casey Jacobsen. Right now, he’s aspiring to be Tim Thomas".