,

Raptors Republic 2017-18 Awards

How'd you guys vote?

You voted, we tallied, and it’s time to present the first annual Raptors Republic year-end awards.

Most Valuable Player – DeMar DeRozan

DeRozan was the closest thing to a unanimous selection we had in any of the awards. With his game taking another step further in this, his best all-around season, RR readers felt with near-uniformity that DeRozan has been the Most Valuable Raptor. The big question now becomes where he ends up ranking on NBA-wide ballots.

Also receiving a few votes were Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Jonas Valanciunas, the Bench Mob as a group, and James Harden, as I don’t think some people realized these were Raptor awards. Pascal Siakam received one note, as well.

Defensive Player of the Year – Pascal Siakam

The surprise of Siakam’s sophomore season has come on the offensive end, where his strides as a playmaker and attacker have really opened up the bench unit’s game. It’s at the defensive end where he’s provided his most value, though, standing as perhaps the team’s best perimeter defender. RR readers awarded him by giving him a little over half of the votes for DPOY.

His frontcourt mate and best buddy Jakob Poeltl placed second with 30 votes, OG Anunoby pulled in 17, Fred VanVleet received 12, and Delon Wright, Serge Ibaka, Jonas Valanciunas, and Kyle Lowry all received multiple votes. Even more people than for MVP voted for non-Raptors, too, while some decided to split their votes, and one person gave theirs to DeRozan.

Sixth Man of the Year – Fred VanVleet

I can only assume that when VanVleet has been betting on himself this whole time, it was to win an RR award. He did just that here, garnering almost 90 percent of the vote as the team’s best bench piece. It’s hard to argue – VanVleet has been a revelation helping lead the Second Unit Saints, has played so well he’s often closing with the starters, and owns the third-best net rating in the entire NBA.

The best response to this question was “How can I choose?” which, yeah. It’s tough to assign the credit for the bench’s success to just one player (which is probably why despite having the best bench in the league and a number of candidates, the best a Raptor can hope for in the NBA award is finishing second). Pascal Siakam and C.J. Miles also received multiple votes, a few voters opted to give theirs to the entire bench, and a handful voted for non-Raptors.

 

Most Improved Player – Pascal Siakam

Enormous strides as a ball-handler, play-maker, and decision-maker, a big jump in role after more than half a season spent playing in the G League, responsibility guarding the opposing team’s best players, initiating the second-unit offense at times, and even closing some games…it’s pretty remarkable how far Siakam’s come in terms of importance to the Raptors in just his second season in the league.

This was anything but unanimous, though, as Siakam received less than half the vote. That’s because there were votes all over the place, as a number of Raptors took gigantic step forwards to raise the team to their best regular season ever. Fred VanVleet placed second, while Jonas Valanciunas, Jakob Poeltl, and DeMar DeRozan all received double-digit votes. Delon Wright, Kyle Lowry, and a handful of non-Raptors also received votes.

 

Favorite Player – DeMar DeRozan

He got us, and RR readers got him, apparently. The franchise-record holder in a number of categories, DeRozan’s popularity hasn’t waned at all in his nine years with the team. Of course, all this award really showed is that the Raptors have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to lovable players – 11 different players received at least one vote, some voters split theirs across multiple players.

Two stray thoughts from the

 

Favorite Social Media – N/A

I did not define this question well enough, as answers were all over the place. The intention was to find out which player’s social media you enjoyed the most. That’s on me for being vague. Anyway, the most common answer was some variation of the individual Bench Mob pieces or how they interact with each other in the comments and captions.

Favorite Moment – DeRozan dunks on Pistons

There were a lot of good answers here, including “always the present,” DeRozan’s franchise-record 52-point game, the Raptors’ beating Houston at the ACC, and a number of others. But the overwhelming favorite was DeMar DeRozan driving coast-to-coast, Blake Griffin diving out of the way, and Anthony Tolliver valiantly getting dunked on in the clutch.