Voting doesn't always produce a clear election victor

So the votes are in. And there’s a convincing winner.

Fabulous Flournoy, living up to the name, is the Coach of the Year in the eyes of both the Basketball Journalists Association and among the New Yorker’s peers, who vote in the BBL’s international awards.

I confess that I put Worthing’s Dave Titmuss one place ahead of Flournoy on my ballot but there is no disputing the job that he has done on Tyneside over the past seven year.

Being a player-coach is no easy ride. Flournoy’s legendary drive, 7am practices, and general intolerance of anything less than the fabled 100 per cent, would have taken Newcastle into a position of strength even if their budget were not among the highest in the league.

“Hiring him initially was a risky decision in some ways but I saw something in Fab the year before that made me think this guys could be the next Chris Finch or Nick Nurse,” said Eagles owner Blake in tribute. “It was clear he had that character but we didn’t know if he understood the Xs and Os. But eight years later, it’s clear he has an absolute command of it.

“The only reason we’ve not seen the full scope of his abilities is that I keep putting him in the difficult position of continuing to be a player as well. “But I’m keen to get to a position where Fab can retire and focus exclusively on coaching.”

The award also reflects Flournoy’s backroom staff, from former assistant Billy Spragg (whose mid-season departure has not yet been explained), recruitment supremo and one-man brains trust Dave Forrester, and team statistics-cruncher Jeff King.

By contrast, there was no unanimity when it came to determining the best player in the league.

The journalists went for Joe Chapman. The coaches for Mike Cook.

The Eagles guard, I admit, came second on my ballot (to Rob Yanders, if you’re interested) for the manner in which he adjusted to coming off the bench to provide spectacular consistency for the league champions. In many ways, the greatest compliment comes from Flournoy himself – in the way, he handed over that sparkplug role to Chapman, allowing the coach to spend more time, um, coaching.

For me, Cook is a baffling choice from the men who call the plays. He’s had some terrific offensive performances and dominated at times. But he doesn’t defend (much) and he has gone AWOL more than once in big games. Arguably, Ryan Patton has proven more valuable to Sheffield, judging on how his injury almost certainly cost the Sharks the title.

I’ve had more than one Tweet/email/text on Luol Deng winning the BJAUK International Player of the Year, ahead of Joel Freeland and Matt Bryan-Amaning. “What has he done other than play in the NBA?” I was asked.

True. But that’s democracy in action, as we’ll witness again on Thursday.

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Newcastle's Chapman, Flournoy head awards list

Newcastle Eagles duo Joe Chapman and Fabulous Flournoy have been named, respectively, as the Player and Coach of the Year.

The awards from the Basketball Journalists Association come at the end of the 2009-10 season in which the Tyneside outfit secured the double of winning the British Basketball League and BBL Trophy.

Sheffield Sharks centre Tafari Toney has won the Pete Jacques Trophy for Best British Player in the BBL.

While Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng has been named International Player of the Year for the Great Britain star’s performances in the NBA.

Chapman claims the Player of the Year prize despite being Newcastle’s sixth man for much of the campaign. The American edged out Sheffield’s Mike Cook (second) and Glasgow’s Rob Yanders (third) in a poll of media who regularly cover the domestic league.

Flournoy picks up Coach of the Year for guiding the Eagles to a fourth league title in five years, beating out Sheffield’s Atiba Lyons (second) and Cheshire’s Paul Smith (third).

Toney averaged 16.3 points and 9.7 rebounds to help Sheffield lift the BBL Cup in January before the Sharks missed out on the league crown on the final weekend of the season. The Great Britain cap narrowly beat out Newcastle’s Darius Defoe for the Pete Jacques Trophy for the leading British Player in the BBL. The award has been newly named in honour of much-respected basketball journalist Pete Jacques who died last month.

“Pete was a good guy so I’m honoured to get this,” said Toney. “It’s been a great season even if I’m disappointed that we’re not in the playoff final."

Luol Deng takes the International Player of the Year award after helping the Chicago Bulls reach the first round of the NBA play-offs. The Londoner, who is expected to feature for Great Britain in this summer’s Eurobasket qualifiers, finished just ahead of Unicaja Malaga’s Joel Freeland in the voting with the University of Washington’s Matthew Bryan-Amaning in third following his impressive performances Stateside in March’s NCAA Tournament.

BJAUK Awards Winners 2009-10
Player of the Year: 1. Joe Chapman, 2. Mike Cook, 3. Rob Yanders
(Others receiving votes, in order, were: Charles Smith, EJ Harrison, Jason Johnson, Reggie Bratton, Jessie Sapp, Shawn Myers)
Coach of the Year: 1. Fab Flournoy, 2. Atiba Lyons, 3. Paul Smith
(Others: Dave Titmuss, Rob Paternostro, Sterling Davis, Tony Garbelotto)
Pete Jacques Award for Best British Player in the BBL: 1. Tafari Toney, 2. Darius Defoe, 3. Olu Babalola
(Others: Anthony Martin, Sam Cricelli, James Jones, Mike Martin, Perry Lawson, Ibrahim Gariba, Andrew Bridge, Drew Sullivan)
International Player of the Year: 1. Luol Deng, 2. Joel Freeland, 3. Matthew Bryan-Amaning
(Others: Andrew Betts, Justin Robinson, Nate Reinking, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Robert Archibald)

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