The results of the 2016-17 NBA general manager’s survey are in, via NBA.com’s John Schuhmann. Unsurprisingly, every GM in the league thinks either the Golden State Warriors or Cleveland Cavaliers will win the championship, with 69 percent picking the Warriors and 31 percent picking the Cavs.
The most interesting stuff: LeBron James is the favorite to win the Most Valuable Player award, receiving 46.7 percent of the votes. Karl-Anthony Towns is the player most GMs would select to start a franchise with, receiving 48.3 percent of the votes. Towns’ teammate, Kris Dunn, is seen as most likely to win Rookie of the Year, receiving 46.7 percent of the votes.
GMs either forgot about Marc Gasol or think he’s going to take a while to return to form. Last year, he received the vast majority of the votes for best center and best international player. This year, both categories were much closer — DeAndre Jordan was named best center with 33.3 percent of the votes, and Giannis Antetokounmpo was named best international player with 27.6 percent of the votes.
As Anthony Davis’ hype train has stalled, GMs have really cooled on him. He got 86.2 percent of the votes for the “if you were starting a franchise today and could sign any player in the NBA, who would it be?” question last year, and didn’t even finish in the top 3 this time. Davis did maintain his position as the best power forward in the NBA, but he won the category with 29 percent of the votes, as opposed to 82.1 percent last year.
Devin Booker got 31 percent of the votes for player most likely to break out. Somehow, Kevin Durant got at least one vote in this category.
Courtesy: CBS Sports
