OG Anunoby’s All-Defense case caught in ridiculous NBA minutes played rule
Mike Brown apologizes for his French, ladies and gentlemen — particularly the children watching the MSG Networks’ Knicks postgame broadcast at home — but OG Anunoby has only been named to an NBA All-Defensive Team once in his career. “He has one Second Team [honor] — oh, in his career? That’s bulls–t,” Brown said after the Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls by 40 on Friday.
“I can say that with a straight face because he’s a great defender, and he does a lot of different things that people don’t see on that end of the floor for us and for other teams [the Raptors] that he played for. ” It’s not the only piece of BS at play. Because the NBA has implemented a policy requiring players to reach a specific workload threshold to qualify for end-of-season awards.
And Anunoby, the Daily News has learned, has not yet reached that benchmark — even though he’s played the minimum 65 games in an NBA season. The star Knicks wing suffered a hamstring injury five minutes into a Nov. 14 matchup against the Miami Heat.
As a result, the game does not count toward the 65 needed to qualify for awards like MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA or All-Defensive Teams. The NBA’s games-played policy requires a player to log 20 or more minutes in 65 games, with an exception allowing two games between 15 and 20 minutes. Anunoby has appeared in 65 games when you include the NBA Cup Final victory over the San Antonio Spurs, but he must play one more game for at least 15 minutes to officially qualify for All-Defensive Team consideration.
That’s just to qualify. Then, he’ll have to earn the votes. And even though his defensive impact has spoken for itself over the course of his career, Anunoby has just one All-Defensive nod in nine seasons.
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