Tag: All-Defensive Team

Two former Kentucky Wildcats were given NBA All-Defensive team honors

Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo have been named to the NBA All-Defensive team.

The NBA has a number of former Kentucky basketball players on teams around the league, and about to add a few more. Many of those players are top-level NBA stars as well. Recently, Tyrese Maxey received the Most Improved Player award as well as the NBA Sportsmanship award. Now, two more former Wildcats were named as NBA All-Defensive teamers.

Current Los Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis was an all-time great star for Kentucky. He averaged 12.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game this season, and was named to the first-team All-Defensive team for the third time.

Related: One NBA analyst has Antonio Reeves in the top 40

Bam Adebayo was all named to the first-team All-Defensive team. The Miami Heat star posted 10.4 rebounds and more than a steal per game. It’s his first appearance on the first-team after being second-team four times.

Kentucky players have found a great deal of success in the NBA, particularly those from the John Calipari era. Davis and Adebayo join Maxey as award winners so far. Meanwhile, there are some former players who could win an even bigger prize this year: an NBA championship. Big Blue Nation is proud of all of them.

3 Thunder players receive votes for 2023-24 All-Defensive Teams

3 Thunder players receive votes for 2023-24 All-Defensive teams.

The NBA announced its two All-Defensive teams on Tuesday. While the Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t have a representative among the 10 slots, three players received votes.

Lu Dort finished just shy of making an All-Defensive team for the first time in his career. He tallied 34 points: six first-place votes (two points each) and 22 second-place votes (one point each).

Chet Holmgren also received a decent number of votes as a rookie: 21 — all on second-place votes. He finished second behind Victor Wembanyama this season for total blocks.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the league in steals, also garnered votes. The MVP runner-up had 19 from four first-place votes and 11 second-place votes.

The Thunder finished the season as one of the best defensive squads in the league. They were fourth in defensive rating in the regular season and second in the playoffs.

The All-Defensive first team consists of Herb Jones, Wembanyama, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo and Rudy Gobert.

The All-Defensive second team consists of Jrue Holiday, Alex Caruso, Derrick White, Jalen Suggs and Jaden McDaniels.

The full voting results can be read below:

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Lu Dort, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander receive votes for 2022-23 All-Defensive Teams

Full voting results can be viewed here:

The NBA announced its All-Defensive teams on Tuesday. While the Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t have anybody make either team, a pair received votes.

Lu Dort finished with nine points — seven second-team votes and one first-team vote. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with three points — one first-team vote and one second-team vote.

During his end-of-season press conference, Thunder general manager Sam Presti vouched for Dort to make an All-Defensive team, noting how seldom he campaigns for individual awards.

“There are some people not watching the games if he’s not an all-defensive player because if you talk to the coaches, he’s the one keeping them up at night,” Presti said, “and he does it in a way that’s so consistent and not flamboyant.”

The All-Defensive teams:

First Team

  • Bucks guard Jrue Holiday
  • Bulls guard Alex Caruso
  • Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr.
  • Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley
  • Bucks center Brook Lopez

Second Team —

  • Celtics guard Derrick White
  • Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks
  • Raptors forward O.G. Anunoby
  • Warriors forward Draymond Green
  • Heat center Bam Adebayo

The full voting results can be viewed here:

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Which NBA media members voted for Rockets’ players in 2020-21 awards

With the NBA’s regular-season awards for 2020-21 all handed out, the league published the exact ballots cast by all media members.

With the NBA’s awards for the 2020-21 regular season all handed out, the league has now published the votes cast by all media members. Each honor was voted on by a panel of roughly 100 professionals, and votes were tabulated by independent accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP.

It was a lighter year than usual for the Rockets and awards, which makes sense since Houston finished the season with the league’s worst record (17-55). However, the year wasn’t entirely devoid of highlights — as shown in Jae’Sean Tate’s spot on the All-Rookie First Team and Christian Wood finishing fourth in the Most Improved Player vote.

Here’s a look at some media votes that stood out, as it pertains to the Rockets and players including Wood, Tate, and KJ Martin.

Christian Wood

  • 1 vote for All-Defensive Second Team: DPA’s Max Haupt
  • 10 second-place votes for Most Improved Player (MIP): NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner and Shaun Powell; ESPN’s Doris Burke; Mauricio Codocea of Clarin (Argentina); Turner’s Kevin Harlan; The Athletic’s Zach Harper and Kelly Iko; Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News; The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor; Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks
  • 14 third-place votes for Most Improved Player: The Athletic’s Sam Amick; ESPN’s Jon Barry and Jackie MacMullan; Sports Illustrated’s Howard Beck and Chris Mannix; Rogers Sportsnet’s Michael Grange;, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s James Owczarski; Gazzetta.it’s Simone Sandri; Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press; Guillermo Schutz of Televisa (TUDN); The Ringer’s Seerat Sohi; Mirjam Swanson of the Southern California News Group; Olgun Uluc of ESPN Australia; and Turner’s Matt Winer
  • Approximately 75% of voters did not have Wood on their MIP ballot, which only included a spot for three names

Jae’Sean Tate

  • 57 votes to All-Rookie First Team, 40 to All-Rookie Second Team
  • Two voters (out of 99 total) left Tate off their ballot entirely: ESPN’s Jon Barry and the Arizona Republic’s Duane Rankin

KJ Martin

  • Three votes (out of 99 total) to All-Rookie Second Team: Reforma’s Diego Martinez; The Ringer’s Bill Simmons; ESPN’s Michael Wilbon

No other Houston player or coach received votes. Results for all of the 2020-21 awards, along with individual ballots, are available at NBA.com.

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NBA awards ballots: Unusual votes involving the Houston Rockets

James Harden finishing on the All-NBA First Team was a consensus view among voters. Harden on the All-Defensive First Team? Not as much.

In the NBA’s awards voting for the 2019-20 regular season, some choices had a relatively clear consensus view. For example, out of the 100 global media members who formed the league’s panel, 89 voted Houston Rockets superstar James Harden to the All-NBA First Team.

Only one out of 100, however, had Harden on the All-Defensive First Team. (The names and affiliations of the 100 voters are available here.)

With all awards handed out, the NBA on Saturday released the specific ballots from each voter. Here’s a look at some unusual votes — i.e. those that were minority viewpoints — involving the Houston Rockets.

Some of these are better than the consensus, like Harden’s All-Defensive First Team vote. Others, however, are worse than the consensus — such as the 16 voters that didn’t have Harden in the top five of MVP voting.

James Harden MVP votes (finished third):

Second place: Chris Hine, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Fourth place: Kevin Arnovitz, ESPN; Ric Bucher, Bleacher Report; Nick Kosmider, The Athletic; Greg Logan, Newsday; Dave Pasch, ESPN; Shaun Powell, NBA.com; Jason Quick, The Athletic; Remi Reverchon, BeIN Sport (France); Sekou Smith, NBA.com; Joe Vardon, The Athletic

Fifth place: Antoine Bancharel, Canal + Afrique; Marc Berman, New York Post; Chris Broussard, Fox Sports; Joe Cowley, Chicago Sun-Times; Jared Greenberg, Turner; Zach Harper, The Athletic; Erik Horne; The Athletic; Mark Jones, ESPN; Duane Rankin, Arizona Republic; Doug Smith, The Toronto Star;

Not in top five: Greg Anthony, Turner; Steve Aschburner, NBA.com; Tim Bontemps, ESPN; Shams Charania, The Athletic/Stadium; Davide Chinellato, La Gazzetta dello Sport; Antoni Daimiel, Movistar+; Frank Isola, Sirius Radio; Coral Lu, ESPN-Tencent; Brian Mahoney, Associated Press; Keith Pompey, Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News; Bill Simmons, The Ringer; Seerat Sohi, Yahoo! Sports; Justin Termine, Sirius Radio; Brian Windhorst, ESPN; Royce Young, ESPN

James Harden All-NBA votes:

First Team: 89 voters

Second Team (9): Shams Charania, The Athletic; Antoni Daimiel, Movistar+; Frank Isola, Sirius Radio; Sekou Smith, NBA.com; Amin Elhassan, ESPN; Steve Aschburner, NBA.com; Justin Termine, Sirius Radio; Brian Windhorst, ESPN; Tim Bontemps, ESPN

Third Team (2): Davide Chinellato, La Gazzetta dello Sport; Seerat Sohi, Yahoo! Sports

Here’s who voted for James Harden and Russell Westbrook to the All-Defensive Team (each had one vote out of 100):

Harden All-Defensive First Team: Duane Rankin, Arizona Republic;
Westbrook All-Defensive Second Team: Greg Logan, Newsday

P.J. Tucker, who narrowly missed out on the All-Defensive Second Team, had 29 out of 100 media members vote for him. Here’s who they are:

All-Defensive Second Team: Sam Amick, The Athletic; Steve Aschburner, NBA.com; Howard Beck, Bleacher Report; Davide Chinellato, La Gazzetta dello Sport; Will Guillory, The Athletic; Kevin Harlan, Turner; Zach Harper, The Athletic; Kurt Helin, NBCsports.com; Adam Himmelsbach, Boston Globe; Erik Horne, The Athletic; Cassidy Hubbarth, ESPN; Kelly Iko, The Athletic; Mark Jones, ESPN; Andy Larsen, Salt Lake Tribune; Kristen Ledlow, Turner; Connor Letourneau, San Francisco Chronicle; Coral Lu, ESPN-Tencent; Jackie MacMullan, ESPN; Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News; Mark Medina, USA Today; Yoko Miyaji, Sports Graphic Number; Rachel Nichols, ESPN; Jason Quick, The Athletic; Steve Smith, Turner; Casey Stern, Turner; Justin Termine, Sirius Radio; Gary Washburn, Boston Globe; Brian Windhorst, ESPN; Matt Winer, Turner

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Though Russell Westbrook made the All-NBA Third Team at guard, ballots were largely split, with 62 out of 100 voters not including him on any All-NBA team. Among the 38 who did, 29 had him on the Third Team, while nine placed him on the Second Team. Here are his voters:

All-NBA Second Team (9): Davide Chinellato, La Gazzetta dello Sport; Adam Himmelsbach, Boston Globe; Mark Jackson, ESPN; Nick Kosmider, The Athletic; Greg Logan, Newsday; Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News; Keith Pompey, Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News; Tim Reynolds, Associated Press; Joe Vardon, The Athletic

All-NBA Third Team (29): Matt Winer, Turner; Michael Wilbon, ESPN; Gary Washburn, Boston Globe; Matt Velazquez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Brad Townsend, Dallas Morning News; Steve Smith, Turner; Stephen A. Smith, ESPN; Marv Albert, Turner; Sam Amick, The Athletic; Greg Anthony, Turner; Renjun Bao, Tencent; Mike Breen, ESPN; Chris Broussard, Fox Sports; Joe Cowley, Chicago Sun-Times; Will Guillory, The Athletic; Kevin Harlan, Turner; Zach Harper, The Athletic; Chris Haynes, Yahoo! Sports; Chris Hine, Minneapolis Star Tribune; Erik Horne, The Athletic; Kelly Iko, The Athletic; Ernie Johnson, Turner; Brian Mahoney, Associated Press; Dave McMenamin, ESPN; Yoko Miyaji, Sports Graphic Number; Rachel Nichols, ESPN; Jason Quick, The Athletic; Ramona Shelburne, ESPN; Remi Reverchon, BeIN Sport (France)

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No other Houston Rockets player or coach received votes. All votes were cast prior to the league’s late July restart of the 2019-20 regular season, as a means of being fair to the eight NBA teams who were not invited.

For the Rockets, this included only the 64-game portion of the schedule from the season’s launch in October 2019 until its March 11 suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rockets were 40-24 and the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference at the time of the awards voting.

The complete ballots for all voters can be accessed here.

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P.J. Tucker narrowly misses out on NBA’s 2020 All-Defensive Teams

With 29 votes out of 100, Tucker had the most votes among all NBA forwards who weren’t selected to either the First Team or Second Team.

Houston Rockets forward P.J. Tucker was not named to either the All-Defensive First Team or Second Team for the 2019-20 season, as per Tuesday’s NBA announcement. The 35-year-old veteran has still yet to be named to an All-Defensive Team during his distinguished career.

Out of a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters, Tucker received 29 Second-Team votes. Forwards who ranked ahead of Tucker included Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Davis on the First Team, and Kawhi Leonard and Bam Adebayo on the Second Team.

Tucker had the most votes among all other NBA forwards. Among guards, Houston teammate James Harden had one vote to the First Team, while co-star Russell Westbrook had one vote to the Second Team.

In 2019, Tucker missed out on the Second Team by just one point. The Rockets had hoped that Tucker’s unique status in 2020 as a 6-foot-5 starting center in their “small ball” scheme might bring him more attention and accolades, but that was not the case here.

Tucker averaged 6.9 points (35.8% on 3-pointers) and 6.6 rebounds in a career-high 34.3 minutes per game this season.

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In addition to defensive talent and versatility, Tucker is also respected for his leadership, toughness, and durability. He’s yet to miss a single regular-season or postseason game since signing with Houston in July 2017, and he’s played the most games of any NBA player since the 2012-13 season.

Tucker will face off with All-Star big man and First Team member Anthony Davis in Tuesday night’s Game 3 of the second-round playoff series between the Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. Central in a national TV broadcast on TNT.

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