Chuck Swirsky, the only person who didn't vote for Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy as Rookie of the Year, said he is receiving hate mail because of his decision to vote for Toronto's Andrea Bargnani.
Swirsky, the play-by-play television announcer for the Raptors, voted for Bargnani while listing Roy second on his ballot. Bargnani, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the June draft, finished second in the balloting by a panel of 128 sportswriters and broadcasters.
"This is not an anti-Brandon Roy thing, I hope people understand that," Swirsky said Wednesday from Toronto. "This was strictly a case of me seeing Bargnani day after day. He was a significant player on a playoff team."
Because of Swirsky's vote, Roy missed becoming the third unanimous winner of the award, which first was accomplished by Houston's Ralph Sampson (1983-84) and later by San Antonio's David Robinson (1989-90).
Swirsky has long revealed his vote, and reasoning, posting an entry on his blog on raptors.com, as well as rationalizing his pick earlier this week in an e-mail to The Oregonian. His e-mail was posted as a blog entry on OregonLive.com. Since then, Swirksky said he has received hundreds of e-mails from Blazers fans.
In fact, after Wednesday's voting was revealed, showing his as the only non-Roy vote, Swirsky said he received more than 300 e-mails in a four-hour span.
"I can understand why people are frustrated, but I don't understand why people are so hate-centered," Swirsky said. "It's been borderline disgusting."
Swirsky, who has worked for the Raptors for nine seasons, rationalized his vote by saying that Bargnani played a significant role on a team that won a franchise-record 47 games and made the playoffs. He also said Bargnani -- who averaged 11.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 0.8 assists -- didn't have more eye-popping statistics because he was the fourth option on a Toronto team with Chris Bosh, T.J. Ford and Anthony Parker.
"Had he played on a team that was rebuilding, and where he was the number one or two option, Bargnani would have easily averaged 17 points a game, no question in my mind," Swirsky said. "I know a lot of people think I did this because I work for the Raptors, but in my heart, I know I was doing it for the right reasons. In my heart, I know I voted for the right player."
Last season, New Orleans/Oklahoma City guard Chris Paul also was a near-unanimous selection. Only Utah television analyst Ron Boone didn't list him first. Like Swirsky, Boone chose a player from his team, Jazz guard Deron Williams.
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