For the St. John’s Edge, it’s very flattering.
It also might be a tad unfortunate.
The team’s two leading scorers — Carl English and Charles Hinkle — are both among finalists for the National Basketball League of Canada’s most valuable player award.
That’s especially commendable for an expansion team that was put together on fairly short notice, but the concern with having two nominees is that they may end up splitting any Edge-focused vote.
Then again, how could they not both on the ballot?
English was the league’s second-leading scorer, averaging 23.9 points per game. He fearlessly tossed up three-pointers and hit, on average, 3.7 treys per contest, more than anyone else in the circuit. He was top-10 in the league in free-throws (84.8 per cent success rate), second on St. John’s in assists, and in a season that saw him turn 37 — and despite having mostly monitored minutes — he averaged better than 32 minutes of floor time per game, putting him in the league’s top 20 in that category.
Hinkle, who was fourth in scoring average (20.9), had more total points (819) than anyone else in the league. He played a team-leading 1,367 minutes, was second on the Edge in rebounding, was second in the league in free-throw shooting (88.4) and was another prolific three-point shooter, hitting 122 in total, fourth-most in the circuit.
English was named St. John’s MVP last weekend, while Hinkle got the nod as the team’s top newcomer to the league.
The two make for a scoring combination that contributes to St. John’s high hopes heading into the playoffs, which begin Friday (7 p.m.) at Mile One Centre, where the Edge host the Windsor Express in the opening game of a best-of-seven Central Division semifinal.
The inclusion of English and Hinkle as MVP candidates was revealed earlier this week in a story by Morris Dalla Costa of the London Free Press.
Reigning MVP and league scoring champion Royce White of the London Lightning, Terry Thomas of the Moncton Magic, Franklin Sessions of the Island Storm and Billy White of the Halifax Hurricanes are also identified as finalists in the Free Press story, although the ballot, which was sent to league teams and coaches and is being compiled this week, is said to have included eight names in total.
Dalla Costa’s initial story, which included observations from Moncton head coach Joe Salerno, set off a Twitter storm, with White at its eye.
If he topped the voting, the Lightning forward would become the first player named NBL Canada MVP twice, but apparently White doesn’t want to be considered for the award this time around.
“Hey Morris, tell them please remove my name from the ballot,” he said in a tweet directed at Dalla Costa. “I don’t need an award to validate my game or contribution. The league has transgressed so much this season, it honestly wouldn’t be an honor. Everybody knows who the MVP is. Who’s Salerno? #AllLeft #LightningvsEverybody”
It's unlikely White will get his wish as the voting process is well underway, might be even complete.
The last hashtag line in White's tweet might be explained in comments from White in a follow-up story in the Free Press.
“Behind the scenes, it’s been evident for a while that there’s a personal resentment towards me from other organizations,” he told Dalla Costa. “That comes with dominance, in all iterations of dominance in history.”
That seems to be in response to quotes from Salerno about how he viewed the MVP race.
“It’s the age-old question: Does MVP mean the best player in the league or what player did the most for his team?” Salerno told Dalla Costa. “To me, you are looking at the most valuable player on a team. I’m still a firm believer that the MVP needs to represent the league well and his team well.
“To me that’s a (component) as well; a well-rounded guy that did the most for his team.”
Salerno also believes games played should be a consideration for voters, an observation that comes from White having missed 11 games and English having sat out 10 of the Edge’s 40 contests,
“I don’t think it should disqualify (players), but it should knock them down a peg in my book,” he said. “You look at Royce and you look at Carl English … I look at Carl and he missed quite a few games; a lot of that was resting him. So, it wasn’t necessarily a guy who went through the trenches the entire season. Royce missed so many games for a lot of reasons.
“I think it does come into play, but it shouldn’t disqualify them.”
English missed one game due to suspension, while the remainder were for injury or rest/recovery purposes. White lost five games to suspension and was deactivated and away from the Lightning for three weeks for what the team described as personal/family reasons.
One last note, courtesy of Dalla Costa, as it relates to how White, who believes “he is categorically better than the other players” explains the other hashtag in his twee, and sort of compliments English in the process.
“With all due respect, none of the other players can even use their weak hand effectively, barring Carl. I just went and scored 30 points, all left-handed — hence the hashtag #AllLeft,” he said.
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Twitter: @telybrendan
