In the NBA’s awards voting for the 2019-20 regular season, some choices had a relatively clear consensus view. For example, out of the 100 global media members who formed the league’s panel, 89 voted Houston Rockets superstar James Harden to the All-NBA First Team.
Only one out of 100, however, had Harden on the All-Defensive First Team. (The names and affiliations of the 100 voters are available here.)
With all awards handed out, the NBA on Saturday released the specific ballots from each voter. Here’s a look at some unusual votes — i.e. those that were minority viewpoints — involving the Houston Rockets.
Some of these are better than the consensus, like Harden’s All-Defensive First Team vote. Others, however, are worse than the consensus — such as the 16 voters that didn’t have Harden in the top five of MVP voting.
James Harden MVP votes (finished third):
Second place: Chris Hine, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Fourth place: Kevin Arnovitz, ESPN; Ric Bucher, Bleacher Report; Nick Kosmider, The Athletic; Greg Logan, Newsday; Dave Pasch, ESPN; Shaun Powell, NBA.com; Jason Quick, The Athletic; Remi Reverchon, BeIN Sport (France); Sekou Smith, NBA.com; Joe Vardon, The Athletic
Fifth place: Antoine Bancharel, Canal + Afrique; Marc Berman, New York Post; Chris Broussard, Fox Sports; Joe Cowley, Chicago Sun-Times; Jared Greenberg, Turner; Zach Harper, The Athletic; Erik Horne; The Athletic; Mark Jones, ESPN; Duane Rankin, Arizona Republic; Doug Smith, The Toronto Star;
Not in top five: Greg Anthony, Turner; Steve Aschburner, NBA.com; Tim Bontemps, ESPN; Shams Charania, The Athletic/Stadium; Davide Chinellato, La Gazzetta dello Sport; Antoni Daimiel, Movistar+; Frank Isola, Sirius Radio; Coral Lu, ESPN-Tencent; Brian Mahoney, Associated Press; Keith Pompey, Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News; Bill Simmons, The Ringer; Seerat Sohi, Yahoo! Sports; Justin Termine, Sirius Radio; Brian Windhorst, ESPN; Royce Young, ESPN
James Harden All-NBA votes:
First Team: 89 voters
Second Team (9): Shams Charania, The Athletic; Antoni Daimiel, Movistar+; Frank Isola, Sirius Radio; Sekou Smith, NBA.com; Amin Elhassan, ESPN; Steve Aschburner, NBA.com; Justin Termine, Sirius Radio; Brian Windhorst, ESPN; Tim Bontemps, ESPN
Third Team (2): Davide Chinellato, La Gazzetta dello Sport; Seerat Sohi, Yahoo! Sports
Here’s who voted for James Harden and Russell Westbrook to the All-Defensive Team (each had one vote out of 100):
Harden All-Defensive First Team: Duane Rankin, Arizona Republic;
Westbrook All-Defensive Second Team: Greg Logan, Newsday
P.J. Tucker, who narrowly missed out on the All-Defensive Second Team, had 29 out of 100 media members vote for him. Here’s who they are:
All-Defensive Second Team: Sam Amick, The Athletic; Steve Aschburner, NBA.com; Howard Beck, Bleacher Report; Davide Chinellato, La Gazzetta dello Sport; Will Guillory, The Athletic; Kevin Harlan, Turner; Zach Harper, The Athletic; Kurt Helin, NBCsports.com; Adam Himmelsbach, Boston Globe; Erik Horne, The Athletic; Cassidy Hubbarth, ESPN; Kelly Iko, The Athletic; Mark Jones, ESPN; Andy Larsen, Salt Lake Tribune; Kristen Ledlow, Turner; Connor Letourneau, San Francisco Chronicle; Coral Lu, ESPN-Tencent; Jackie MacMullan, ESPN; Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News; Mark Medina, USA Today; Yoko Miyaji, Sports Graphic Number; Rachel Nichols, ESPN; Jason Quick, The Athletic; Steve Smith, Turner; Casey Stern, Turner; Justin Termine, Sirius Radio; Gary Washburn, Boston Globe; Brian Windhorst, ESPN; Matt Winer, Turner
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Though Russell Westbrook made the All-NBA Third Team at guard, ballots were largely split, with 62 out of 100 voters not including him on any All-NBA team. Among the 38 who did, 29 had him on the Third Team, while nine placed him on the Second Team. Here are his voters:
All-NBA Second Team (9): Davide Chinellato, La Gazzetta dello Sport; Adam Himmelsbach, Boston Globe; Mark Jackson, ESPN; Nick Kosmider, The Athletic; Greg Logan, Newsday; Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News; Keith Pompey, Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News; Tim Reynolds, Associated Press; Joe Vardon, The Athletic
All-NBA Third Team (29): Matt Winer, Turner; Michael Wilbon, ESPN; Gary Washburn, Boston Globe; Matt Velazquez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Brad Townsend, Dallas Morning News; Steve Smith, Turner; Stephen A. Smith, ESPN; Marv Albert, Turner; Sam Amick, The Athletic; Greg Anthony, Turner; Renjun Bao, Tencent; Mike Breen, ESPN; Chris Broussard, Fox Sports; Joe Cowley, Chicago Sun-Times; Will Guillory, The Athletic; Kevin Harlan, Turner; Zach Harper, The Athletic; Chris Haynes, Yahoo! Sports; Chris Hine, Minneapolis Star Tribune; Erik Horne, The Athletic; Kelly Iko, The Athletic; Ernie Johnson, Turner; Brian Mahoney, Associated Press; Dave McMenamin, ESPN; Yoko Miyaji, Sports Graphic Number; Rachel Nichols, ESPN; Jason Quick, The Athletic; Ramona Shelburne, ESPN; Remi Reverchon, BeIN Sport (France)
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No other Houston Rockets player or coach received votes. All votes were cast prior to the league’s late July restart of the 2019-20 regular season, as a means of being fair to the eight NBA teams who were not invited.
For the Rockets, this included only the 64-game portion of the schedule from the season’s launch in October 2019 until its March 11 suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rockets were 40-24 and the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference at the time of the awards voting.
The complete ballots for all voters can be accessed here.
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