Brandon Knight's in attendance. He's taken a few lessons from PJ and got an Uber here.
Spoiler:
Oh, and here's a suave Tyler Ulis!
Spoiler:
Bled has just shown up. I think the shut down has gotten to his head
Spoiler:
Everyone else is shuffling in. Book's trying to keep a low profile. Those glasses aren't fooling anyone Book!
Spoiler:
And we're good to go. Let's get down to business with a season review.
Leandro Barbosa
LB's best stretch came early, when the struggling Suns looked to him. The experience vet amassed 7 votes in 3 games between games 21-23. He scored efficiently off the bench in limited minutes as the Suns looked for answers.
Dragan Bender
Dragan Bender - the almost unicorn. Dragan almost managed to win the unicorn award by not receiving any Cactus votes across the season. Unfortunately he shot himself in the foot in the last game and received a single Cactus vote, ruining his chances of any awards tonight.
It was a quiet season for Dragan, but not many Suns fans would be disappointed with it. He showed some very solid fundamentals and perhaps could have come out of his shell if not for the 6 week ankle injury late in the season. His positive vote % was a team best, albeit in a small sample. Here's the full list:
Eric Bledsoe
Likely the winner of the Nashty if he hadn't been shut down, Bled had a career year. He started the season exceptionally well
The 5 game stretch between games 14 and 18 was a team best this season. He received 13 of a possible 15 votes.
Those 5 games were:
@PHI: 27p/5r/6a
@WAS: 29p/9r/6a/2s/2b
@ORL: 16p/9r/5a/1s/1b
vMIN: 23p/6r/10a/3s
vDEN: 35p/6r/6a/2s/2b
Unfortunately Bled hit a bit of a wall around game 50 and started getting a bit prickly. Much of this could be attributed to a bit of wear and tear and eventually the Suns decided they'd seen enough and shut him down. The Suns proceeded to go 2-14 in the following weeks.
Devin Booker
Book got off to a shaky start in the first 30 games. He mixed good with bad, trending both positively and negatively in that time.
Then, utter fire. From Game 36 to Game 51 he averaged a whopping 2 Nashty votes per game without receiving a single Cactus vote. That 16 game stretch is the best by any Sun and easily the most impressive. Mexican Booker is best Booker.
Tyson Chandler
It was a surprising season for the Suns' elder statesman. After the first 25 games Chandler was on 17 net votes, which had him on pace to be the second best per game player by net votes. Plenty would be please with the output he provided early in the season. His strong performance made him a movable asset, yet he chose to remain with the Suns, turning down potential trades. Beyond the Nashty voting, there is no doubt he provided significant off-court value.
Marquese Chriss
Few would argue against the notion that Marquese was gifted his starter's minutes. Early on in the season there were some games that he looked like he was trying to get more than just 3 Cactus votes in a single game. But he stabilized, he figured things out and showed that those minutes deserved to be his to help his development. Despite his yo-yo'ing performance on the court, Marquese managed to stay rather neutral for most of the season, before a late season burst sent him trending positively.
Jared Dudley
Mr. Positivity was top 5 in + vote %. Following his mid-season "break" he had a bit of rust to wear off. Similar to Marquese, he came home strong and ended with a positive post-ASB net Nashty score. Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?
Derrick Jones Jr
A late season bloomer, Derrick Jones struggled to make an impact initially. However, a few positive games late in the season (including a career high 15 point game) left plenty of Suns fans looking forward to seeing more.
Brandon Knight
This is not good. No further analysis needed.
Alex Len
Alex got off to a terrible start, on -9 net votes after just 8 games. He struggled here and there from thereafter, but as you can see, started trending positively. Despite many calling this year somewhat of a letdown for him, his Nashty + Cactus voting suggests perhaps it wasn't as bad a season as some may have thought.
PJ Tucker
If this graph is anything to go by, PJ Tucker fastbreaks are not going to win you too many Nashty votes. But PJ managed to stabilize after a trip to the his native Nacholand of Mexico. Coincidence?
If only GMs knew the key to PJ's success was high quality nachos. Perhaps we could have netted a 1st round pick for him.
Tyler Ulis
The only player to receive a 4 point game. 3 points for the unanimous #1 in the Nashty voting, and a bonus point for hitting the game winner. He posted 20 points, including the game winning 3, as well as a Net +/- of +17, a team best. That game told us he'd arrived and likely gave the FO the confidence to shut down Bledsoe.
TJ Warren
TJ found it hard to get Cactus votes, second to only Bender in + vote %. Many feared following his minor head injury that someone had done a brain transplant on him. He didn't look himself, and there were concerns as to whether he could get back on track. He started absolutely flying after Game 58, posting 40 net Nashty votes in the final 24 games (1.66 votes per game). Only Booker managed a better run this season.
TJ dominated the net Nashty voting in both per-minute and per-game settings. He fell just 6 votes short of winning the Nashty. If the season was just a week longer, he'd likely be holding the trophy. But that honor goes to.... oh wait, that's coming.
Alan Williams
If we gave Nashty votes based on bench celebrations I wouldn't even have to run this award. Sauce would just get the title every year. The good news is, this guy is a bit more than just a bench celebrator. He managed a run of 15 net votes in 15 games, hallmarked by his excellent rebounding. Despite that, he tailed off late. Good guy Sauce just wants the Suns to pay him less money this summer so we can have more flexibility.
Awards Time
Steve Nash is in attendance to present the awards. Without further ado:
Our first award is known as 'The Coach's Pet'. This award is given the Suns player with the highest net Nashty votes. There are no surprises here, congratulations.....
TJ Warren!
Any words TJ?
TJ: ....
Thanks TJ!
Our next award is for the Most Outstanding In The Field of Tanking. An absolute superstar in this field, the Cactus goes to:
Brandon Knight
And now, the moment we've all been waiting for. The 1st Nashty winner of all time. The player who accumulated the most positive votes throughout the season. The award goes to....................................
Devin Booker!@!#!!!!
(huge shoutouts to Dirk Nowitzki for the shop- show him some love if he posts here!)
Congrats to all, see you next season!
