Gaze speaks out on NBL voting controversy

Australian basketball icon Andrew Gaze believes it’s time for the NBL to make its award votes public.

The League’s voting system has come under scrutiny this week after Kendric Davis voiced his frustration at missing out on MVP honours by just two votes.

JaVale McGee has since added to the debate, the star big man overlooked for All-NBL First and Second Team honours despite posting an impressive statistical season.

While NBL CEO Dave Stevenson says the League has no intention of changing the system, Andrew Gaze weighed into the discussion on Thursday.

“I think if you are going to use the system the NBL has, then the voting for awards has to be public, because it provides more transparency,” Gaze told Code Sports.

“No system is perfect, but where the credibility is lost is when someone (voting) had him (Davis) in the All-NBL Second Team, because he was just two votes behind (Cotton).

“How anyone in their right mind would not have Kendric in the All-NBL First Team is clearly on another agenda and they are not being objective about it.”

Earlier in the week, Davis spoke strongly on the matter, even taking to Instagram following the count to voice his frustrations.

“When you give players votes, it can get tricky … but that’s just my opinion. It can go off who likes who, you can’t control that. But that’s how I feel,” he said on Tuesday.

“I missed two votes on first team. Humbly speaking, like come on now. Let’s be honest.

“I want to fix the system. I want everything right. We’ve just got to make it public.

"We want to know the votes, why you felt how you felt and just have it out there.

“We want to see the people that vote for certain people that you know shouldn’t win it, but you’re just doing it on purpose. That’s all I care about."

The MVP voting system sees the head coach and captain of each club, as well as a panel of experts, vote on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis.

The votes are weighted equally between the combined head coaches, combined captains and the panel of experts. Coaches and captains cannot vote for players from their own clubs.

The All-NBL First Team and All-NBL Second Team are only voted on by coaches and captains.

If two players are tied in the voting for an All-NBL team spot, a countback will first be conducted, with the position awarded to the player who received the most First-Team votes.

Only if the tie still cannot be separated will a panel of experts step in to determine which player receives the award.

Read the full story here >> NBL’s greatest player Andrew Gaze backs calls for awards voting to be made public