This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who watched last year’s NBA playoffs, but Cleveland Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova has been voted the dirtiest player in the Association by his peers and their coaches.
This is according to the Los Angeles Times, which conducted the poll. Per the report by Broderick Turner, 24 gave their top picks anonymously, and the results were as follows:
“Dellavedova received 13 votes. Oklahoma City center Steven Adams was next with seven votes. Golden State center Andrew Bogut (5), Memphis forward Matt Barnes (4) and Oklahoma City forward Serge Ibaka (2) rounded out the top five.”
Some of the comments further illustrated what they thought about “Delly,” as he’s called.
“He’s as dirty as they come,” a Western Conference coach said. “When you’re hurting people, that is not OK.”
“He was kind of dirty in the playoffs, for sure,” an East coach said. “He broke Kyle Korver’s leg. He held Taj Gibson with his legs and Al Horford’s legs and got them kicked out the games because they retaliated against him.”
Of course, none of his teammates share these opinions. In their minds, Dellavedova just plays hard and gets himself into these situations because he’s hustling so darn hard. LeBron James said during the playoffs last season that his guy was just getting “a bad rap.”
Fast forward a half year, though, and it certainly seems like people haven’t been swayed by James’ argument.
When you’re getting twice as many votes as your “competitors” in a poll like this, it’s clear folks have some strong opinions about your play and conduct on the floor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FirzS-AORa4