Recapping Awards Season For The 2020 NBL Showdown
You could be forgiven for thinking the NBL season had only just begun but we’re actually almost down to the chocolate-chunk at the bottom of the trumpet cone. That’s the nature of a shortened season, five weeks of regular stuff and then a week of playoffs and we’re done. Those playoffs are already underway now but a couple days before they started there was a low-key awards evening held at SkyCity over dinner during which the major awards were all handed out. Initially this was gonna be an article in which I picked my own winners for each category but... honestly? It’s hard to argue with what they’ve ended up with. So instead let’s just break them down and ponder what we’ve got here.
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Winner: Tom Vodanovich (Manawatu Jets)
Contenders: Derone Ruakawa, Jordan Ngatai, Marcel Jones, Taylor Britt & Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa
There was an ongoing MVP vote tallied after every game which Derone Ruakawa ran away with but that wasn’t the final tally, the coaches and a few other VIPs then took the top rankers and filtered them some more with Tom Vodanovich coming out of the wash with the award. So you can understand Derone if he’s a little confuddled by that process but nah Tommy Vods is definitely a deserving winner.
Vodanovich is a big man who pulled up on nine three point attempts per game, hitting them at a ridiculous 46.5%. As such he finished third in scoring with 21.9 ppg headlined by a magnificent 43-point night against the Bulls (and an earlier 38-pointer against the Huskies) plus the bloke also hauled in 10.4 rebounds per game to average a double-double. Chuck in 2.2 assists as well and remember that Hyrum Harris was out injured for a chunk of time and that the Jets still finished second on the ladder and there it is. Coming off his release by the Breakers this was an absolute statement from the fella and a little bit of a reinvention too as this emerging bomber from deep.
Elsewhere Derone Ruakawa won the post-game votes and his all round dynamic offensive approach for Taranaki meant his fingerprints were all over what that team achieved. If they’d come through stronger in a few of those big games (losing to the Jets and Huskies in week four especially) then he might well have had the stronger case. His buddy Marcel Jones was also excellent and reliable, second in scoring and first in total rebounds. Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa put up great numbers but missed a few too many games though his intense defence lifted him up into contention (led the league in steals per game!). Taylor Britt absolutely carried the Canterbury Rams for a lot of that season, doing a little of everything, albeit for a team that lost ten in a row at one stage. And Jordan Ngatai would’ve gotten more buzz if he wasn’t such an unselfish player – although his 37-pointer against the Jets showed what he had in the bank when he needed it. Another dude whose defence lifted his case, also another dude whose shared spotlight with a teammate (Jarrod Kenny in this case, with a little Jordan Hunt too) perhaps limited his MVP extravagance... though he sure showed up in the final votes so those who matter recognised what was up.
Here are some statties...
Tom Vodanovich: 21.9 PTS | 2.2 AST | 10.4 REB | 0.9 STL | 52.0 FG% | 46.5 3PT%
Derone Ruakawa: 22.8 PTS | 7.6 AST | 3.1 REB | 1.3 STL | 47.0 FG% | 41.3 3PT%
Jordan Ngatai: 18.9 PTS | 4.1 AST | 5.4 REB | 1.6 STL | 41.6 FG% | 28.8 3PT%
Marcel Jones: 22.1 PTS | 4.4 AST | 13.4 REB | 1.4 STL | 44.8 FG% | 32.1 3PT%
Taylor Britt: 20.7 PTS | 4.1 AST | 6.0 REB | 1.1 STL | 51.0 FG% | 30.0 3PT%
Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa: 19.2 PTS | 5.5 AST | 4.3 REB | 2.7 STL | 39.1 FG% | 37.6 3 PT%
On the official ballots Vodanovich came through with 101 votes, with Jordan Ngatai in second with 97 and Derone Ruakawa narrowly third with 96. The other players on the ten-player shortlist which haven’t been mentioned here are Isaac Davidson (Bulls), Jayden Bezzant (Jets), Dom Kelman-Poto (Bulls) & Tohi Smith-Milner (Huskies).
COACH OF THE YEAR
Winner: Brent Matahaere (Otago Nuggets)
Contenders: Doug Courtney (Taranaki Mountainairs) & Tim McTamney (Manawatu Jets)
It’s hard to parse what you’re looking for in a COY candidate in a season like this where the rosters are all pretty evenly matched courtesy of the draft... not to mention that there was only a minimal period of time to get anything schematic through. Lots of learning on the run. There’s the in-game coaching aspect to look at for sure but it’s a little bit of an abstract one compared to normal seasons.
The Nuggets though, they came through when it mattered. They lost their last game big by going easy with the starters but that’s because they’d already wrapped up first place with a five wins outta six streak that preceded it. The Nuggets had the top pick and Jordan Ngatai served up big value there, plus Jarrod Kenny was a thankful one falling to them in the second round... and behind those two and Jordan Hunt ol’ Brent Matahaere has set up a very formidable unit at both ends of the court. Ngatai and Kenny, that’s just a terrifying backcourt defence there. The Nuggets had comfortably the best points percentage, they weren’t a great rebounding team (a little undersized, to be fair) but gave up the equal fewest offensive boards, they utterly bossed things both ways in transition, and were tied with the Huskies for most steals too. Just a brilliantly organised team that got better as the season went along and you’ve gotta throw ‘em up for the coach in that situation.
You can also make a case for Doug Courtney for his Taranaki Mountainairs who played such a silky and fast-paced offence built around the skills of Ruakawa and Jones which was joyful to watch. The rapid pace meant heaps of possessions both ways and thus they had both the top points per game for but also the worst points per game against... but it came out as a net positive. Losing three of their last four will have cost Courtney in such a close competition. That’s the difference between an elimination final in fourth place and a non-elimination final in the top two. Tim McTamney’s Manawatu Jets get him into the mix as well, he’s helped bring out this version of Vodanovich, as well as helping Jayden Bezzant breakout, and has built a very strong team which came through in second place despite Hyrum Harris missing six games and in this league injuries have been immensely brutal to overcome. Which almost puts Mick Downer in the contest as well since the Canterbury Rams managed to stay mostly competitive despite not having two of their three top picks.
YOUTH PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Winner: Taane Samuel (Manawatu Jets)
Contenders: Taine Murray (Auckland Huskies) & Nate Wilson (Auckland Huskies)
In other words best: player aged 21 or younger... which does pretty significantly limit the ranks as that’s college age for most top kiwi ballers. Also I don’t have the list of eligible players so while looking at the prospects I had someone like Josh Aitcheson for example, who put up 11.1p/2.2a/4.5r in just 25 minutes a game while shooting 43.9% for the Nuggets... but it turns out he’s 22 so no deal. Which is fine because this award has long since come down to a toss of the coin. A quick shout out to Nate Wilson whose block-and-dunk-heavy cameos for the Huskies were always a wonder to behold, he’s probably third on the power rankings, but this was basically a two man race between Taane Samuel (Manawatu Jets) and Taine Murray (Auckland Huskies).
Taane Samuel won it and that’s fair enough. He played every game for the Jets, averaging 18.2 points and 6.0 rebounds a night and was a constant physical presence despite his age. At around 6’7 or 6’8 he’s not got extreme size but he’s powerful and he moves pretty well and next to a fellow big fella in Tom Vodanovich who was banging down three-pointers it freed up Samuel to boss the paint, such a nice fit there.
Meanwhile Taine Murray is a couple years younger and declined payment for his services with the Huskies to ensure he stayed eligible for the 2021 recruitment class in American college ball. Murray, who is already a Tall Blacks international, is one of a handful of premier prospects coming out of Aotearoa and so his presence here was always going to be exciting. Playing next to Mauriohooho-Le’afa, that was a slippery guard combo that the Huskies had with Murray bagging 17.5 points, 1.5 assists, and 3.3 rebounds per game. He shot an intense 43.5% from three-point range, 45.4% from the field... really good work from the teenager, highlighted by a 35-point effort against Manawatu in which he made seven triples. Only thing with Murray is that he missed four games along the way and wasn’t quite as essential to his team’s purposes as Samuel was.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Winner: Jarrod Kenny (Otago Nuggets) & Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa (Auckland Huskies)
Contenders: Hyrum Harris (Manawatu Jets), Jordan Ngatai (Otago Nuggets) & Sam Timmins (Franklin Bulls)
The coaches nominated two candidates from their own team making up the shortlist to vote from, which hasn’t been published anywhere, but we can sorta guess where things were heading. Jarrod Kenny and Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa ended up splitting the vote and sharing the award, two outstanding defenders so nothing to worry about there. Different kinds of defenders though. Kenny is a veteran, a guy who makes very few mistakes and gives up nothing easy. He’s also a leader who can dictate things around him and for that reason he might have edged it for me as you’re getting a larger influence there.
On the other hand Mauriohooho-Le’afa is this utterly irrepressible on-ball dude, a hassler and a hustler, who sparks nightmares in opposing guards and his 2.7 steals per game gave him a hefty lead over the field. Hyrum Harris was the only other player with more than two per game (2.4) and he missed 6/14 regular season games. In terms of total steals, Le’afa’s 32 (from 12 games) were six clear of Jayden Bezzant’s 26 and Bezzant played nearly sixty minutes more than Le’afa. Just depends on which aspect of defence you value more... or apparently it doesn’t depend because they’re both sharing it. Everybody wins.
Elsewhere Hyrum Harris can have a mention for his own steal tallies and that fella also averages 12.4 rebounds per game too and was second in average blocks per game. Jordan Ngatai has to be in and amongst it for his work next to Kenny while Sam Timmins was probably the best performing defensive big as he averaged 1.5 steals and 1.8 blocks, the latter a league-leading number.
ALL-STAR FIVE
Derone Raukawa (Taranaki Mountainiars)
Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa (Auckland Huskies)
Jordan Ngatai (Otago Nuggets)
Marcel Jones (Taranaki Mountainairs)
Tom Vodanovich (Manawatu Jets)
Finally we come to the All Star Starting Five and... I mean obviously it’s just the top fellas from the MVP voting. They were the best players after all and in a league which didn’t really have the major frontcourt size on offer that made the debate even simpler. The one bloke who can be most pissed about getting left out is undeniably Taylor Britt. His team wasn’t up to much around him but Britt was always a classy touch, it’s just that Ruakawa and Mauriohooho-Le’afa were slightly classier for those guard positions. Ruakawa was the bronze medallist in MVP voting and Le’afa was a DPOY winner so guts to Britty but that’s the way it goes.
S’pose where it gets interesting is if you start thinking on a second team there. Britt would walk into that one, Jarrod Kenny would also be in that conversation. Jayden Bezzant and Dom Kelman-Poto as well. Then into those forward positions and Isaac Davidson was great for Franklin and Jordan Hunt has to be somewhere close. YPOY Taane Samuel. It depends a bit on if Hyrum Harris played enough games to be in contention because what he did was definitely worthy, albeit in a smaller sample size. And bigger fellas like Tohi Smith-Milner and Sam Timmins are hovering. Mike Karena too perhaps. Let’s go with this... but honestly you can cut and slice it however you want.
Prospective Second Team: Taylor Britt, Jarrod Kenny, Isaac Davidson, Jordan Hunt, Tohi Smith-Milner
Prospective Third Team: Jayden Bezzant, Dom Kelman-Poto, Hyrum Harris, Taane Samuel, Sam Timmins
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