Matthew Dellavedova: NBA’s dirtiest player?
By John Buhler
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ Matthew Dellavedova, according to a coaches’ poll with the Los Angeles Times, is considered the dirtiest player in the NBA.
The Los Angeles Times conducted a poll with 24 NBA head coaches and assistants to figure out who they thought was the dirtiest player in the NBA. The results were that Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Matthew Dellavedova was deemed the dirtiest player in the NBA and it wasn’t particularly close.
Dellavedova received 13 of the 24 votes and the four next closest in NBA players were in order Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams, Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut, Memphis Grizzlies forward Matt Barnes, and Oklahoma City Thunder power forward Serge Ibaka.
It seems that these head coaches and assistants remember three instances involving Dellavedova during last year’s playoff run with the Cavaliers. He got into a skirmish under the basket in the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson.
Dellavedova dove at Atlanta Hawks shooting guard Kyle Korver’s ankle and ended up breaking it in the Eastern Conference Finals. Korver’s teammate center Al Horford responded with elbowing Dellavedova in the same series between the Hawks and the Cavaliers.
This list is interesting as the top three vote getters are all from Oceania. Dellavedova and Bogut are Australian and Adams hails from New Zealand. Perhaps it is style of play from that part of the country that seems heavily influenced by rugby that rubs those in the NBA the wrong way.
While the NBA is definitely in an era where defensive intensity matters more than ever, it seems that coaches and players see the overly aggressive playing style of Dellavedova and others as crossing the line. Dellavedova crafted out a role with the Cavaliers as a scrappy backup point guard to All-Star Kyrie Irving last season. While his play is worthy of being in an NBA rotation, his reputation as a dirty player isn’t going away any time soon.