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Bruce Brown played 82 games this season.
But as far as the NBA's 65-game rule for awards eligibility is concerned, the Denver Nuggets' guard didn't qualify.
Now to be fair, as many fans on social media are saying, Brown probably wouldn't have contended for any awards (although he is a high-quality defender and bench contributor).
But still, it's confusing. The NBA says it wants players to play at least 65 of the 82 possible regular season games to win an award.
Brown doesn't miss a night at the office all season, and yet he doesn't count. What gives?
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Why don't Bruce Brown's 82 games count as 65 games?
The NBA also throws a minutes clause into its award setup.
Brown played fewer than 20 minutes on too many occasions -- those games don't get counted the same as those in which a player exceeds 20 minutes.
Usually, any player that's going to win an award will play well more than 20 minutes in a game (often between 30-40) unless an injury occurs early.
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Brown, though, was just a bench rotation piece. His minutes fluctuated, and they often weren't that high.
So he played 82 games, for real, but didn't play the 65 games that would count in the NBA's eyes.
Confusing? Yep.
But that's just the way it is.
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