Brand
NEW YORK, April 30 -- Elton Brand of the Los Angeles Clippers is the recipient of the Joe Dumars Trophy presented to the 2005-06 NBA Sportsmanship Award winner, the NBA announced today.

Originally presented following the 1995-96 season, the Sportsmanship Award honors a player who exemplifies the ideals of sportsmanship on the court -- ethical behavior, fair play and integrity. The trophy is named for former Detroit Pistons guard and Hall of Famer Joe Dumars, the award’s first recipient.

Brand, a 2006 NBA All-Star and the Clippers’ leading scorer, was one of six divisional winners which included Chicago’s Luol Deng, Houston’s Yao Ming, Miami’s Shaquille O'Neal, New Jersey’s Jacque Vaughn and Utah’s Andrei Kirilenko.

Elton Brand wins this season's Sportsmanship Award: Play

Brand received the honor by a vote of his on-court peers.
The NBA will donate $25,000 on behalf of Elton Brand to C.A.M.P. Inc., a resource and learning center in his hometown of Peekskill, NY that strives to increase the opportunities for disadvantaged or underachieving, at-risk students and their families. The NBA will donate another $10,000 each to the divisional winners’ charities of choice: Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) on behalf of Deng; Special Olympics Texas on Yao’s behalf; The Odessa Chambliss Foundation on behalf of O’Neal; Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Douglas County (Lawrence, KS) on behalf of Vaughn; and the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City on Kirilenko’s behalf.

For the second consecutive year, NBA players voted on this award, with eleven points given for each first-place vote, nine points for each second-place vote, seven points for third, five points for fourth, three points for fifth and one point for each sixth place vote received. Each team nominated one of its own players for this award, then former NBA players John Crotty, John Celestand, Eddie Johnson, Steve Mix and Kenny Smith selected the six divisional winners.

Following is a list of this year’s voting totals and all-time winners of the NBA Sportsmanship Award:

2005-06 NBA SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD VOTING TOTALS

Player1st2nd3rd4th5th6th Points
Elton Brand8384523828192326
Shaquille O'Neal7362583433442080
Yao Ming3441605661521678
Jacque Vaughn4841464456691676
Luol Deng3442426060661592
Andrei Kirilenko3234467266541592

ALL-TIME NBA SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD WINNERS

Inaugural:Joe Dumars (1996)2001-02:Steve Smith, San Antonio
1996-97:Terrell Brandon, Cleveland2002-03:Ray Allen, Seattle
1997-98:Avery Johnson, San Antonio2003-04:P.J. Brown, New Orleans
1998-99:Hersey Hawkins, Seattle2004-05:Grant Hill, Orlando
1999-2000:Eric Snow, Philadelphia2005-06:Elton Brand, L.A. Clippers
2000-2001:David Robinson, San Antonio