The NBA held its first ever award show on Monday, and while no Toronto Raptors were finalists for any award, the global ambassador did a pretty solid job hosting.
And hey, as the voting results filtered out, it was revealed that the Raptors ended up with some love further down ballots.
- DeMar DeRozan received one fifth-place vote for Most Valuable Player, finishing 11th overall. (Chris Bosh finished seventh one year, the highest a Raptor has ever ranked.)
- DeMar DeRozan also received one third-place vote for Most Improved Player.
- Kyle Lowry placed eight in Teammate of the Year voting.
- Jakob Poeltl and Fred VanVleet each got one vote for All-Rookie Second Team.
- P.J. Tucker received three votes for All-Defensive Second Team. Serge Ibaka received one.
- DeMarre Carroll placed sixth in voting for the Sportsmanship Award (he was the Atlantic Division nominee).
- Masai Ujiri received two third-place votes for Executive of the Year.
- Dwane Casey received one second-place vote and two third-place votes for Coach of the Year, placing ninth overall.
- No Raptors received votes for Sixth Man of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year.
Prior to Monday night, DeMar DeRozan had been named to the All-NBA Third-Team, Jerry Stackhouse had been named the D-League Coach of the Year, Edy Tavares had been named D-League Defensive Player of the Year, and Tavares and Axel Toupane had been named to All-D-League Teams.
There was also this tonight:
The handshake game is strong with @Drake & Will Ferrell 👊
If you’re seeing this, it’s far from too late. The #NBAAwards are on TNT NOW! pic.twitter.com/yCJYGrC4hX
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) June 27, 2017
