By Matthew Sekeres
Talked with Raptors play-by-play man Chuck Swirsky Tuesday night. You know, The Swirsk, the one guy who didn't vote Portland's Brandon Roy as rookie of the year last season. Roy got 127 out of 128 first-place votes, but Swirsky chose Toronto's Andrea Bargnani because he felt the big Italian was a major contributor on a playoff team, whereas Roy produced for a bad team that was going to get offence from somewhere.
Anyways, Swirsky said he has received a few ominous e-mails in the week leading up to Wednesday night's game. A couple of I'll-be-waiting-for-you-at-the-arena notes, which he felt were just false bravado and empty threats. He was really lambasted at vote-time last year, and he told me that Roy even mentioned that they are both from Seattle and that the two-guard was disappointed in his hometown boy.
But Swirsky stood by his decision, even though Roy is playing terrific ball and Bargnani is struggling this season. And in an honest moment, Swirsky owned up to his homerism and said if the NBA wanted to prevent such ballots, all it has to do is create a rule where you can't vote for players you cover.
