For the 17th straight year, the NBA has done a GM survey asking the league’s GMs to answer a multitude of questions in anticipation of the upcoming season.
NBA.com posted the results of the survey on Wednesday. Here are the results for some of the more important categories such as NBA Finals winner, MVP, Rookie of the Year, best defensive player, and best head coach.
NBA Finals winner
- Golden State Warriors, 87%
- Boston Celtics, 7%
- Houston Rockets, 7%
In what should be a surprise to nobody, the Warriors nearly received every vote as to who will be the 2018-19 NBA Champions.
They have won three of the last four titles, and the one they didn’t, they set a new NBA record with 73 wins. Dominant center DeMarcus Cousins has now been added to the fold and should feel no need to rush back from the torn Achilles he suffered last season.
MVP
- LeBron James, 30%
- Kevin Durant, 27%
- Anthony Davis, 17%
- James Harden, 10%
- Also received votes: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook
For a decade-plus now, James has entered each season as the MVP favorite. He has won the award four times but not since the 2012-13 season. He finished as the runner-up to Harden last season and has been in the top four of voting in each of the last 11 seasons. Whether he could continue to put up ridiculous stat lines in his first season with the Lakers remains to be seen.
According to ESPN, James received 50 percent of the votes last season in the survey.
Rookie of the Year
- Luka Doncic, 43%
- Marvin Bagley III, 17%
- Wendell Carter, 17%
- DeAndre Ayton, 13%
- Also received votes: Jaren Jackson Jr., Kevin Knox, Collin Sexton
Selected third overall by the Hawks (and acquired by the Mavericks in a draft-day deal), Doncic was named the EuroLeague MVP last season as a 19-year-old.
He helped Real Madrid win the EuroLeague championship as well in a season where he averaged 14.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.6 assists.
Best defensive player
- Rudy Gobert, 37%
- Kawhi Leonard, 37%
- Draymond Green, 17%
- Anthony Davis, 7%
- Kevin Durant, 3%
Gobert was named the Defensive Player of the Year for the first time last season despite missing 26 games.
The 26-year-old finished with averages of 2.3 blocks and 7.8 defensive rebounds.
General managers around the league have not forgotten how excellent of a perimeter defender Leonard is even after he appeared in just nine games last season. He won Defensive Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons (2014-15 and 2015-16).
Best head coach
- Brad Stevens, 47%
- Gregg Popovich, 30%
- Mike D'Antoni, 7%
- Steve Kerr, 7%
- Also received votes: Rick Carlisle, Quin Snyder, Terry Stotts
Stevens has not won Coach of the Year yet in his five seasons with the Celtics, something that seems long overdue. He has taken Boston to the Eastern Conference Finals in each of the last two seasons and was able to do so last season even without the services of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward.