NBA awards: Doncic top rookie, Siakam most improved

3 overall selection who was traded to the Dallas
Mavericks on draft day in 2018, won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award on Monday
night at the league's awards show in Santa Monica, Calif.

Doncic received 98 of the 100 votes, with Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks
getting the other two. The third finalist was the top pick in last season's
draft, Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton.

Named Most Improved Player was power forward Pascal Siakam of the NBA champion
Toronto Raptors, who won the award over fellow finalists De'Aaron Fox of the
Sacramento Kings and D'Angelo Russell of the Brooklyn Nets. Like Doncic,
Siakam ran away with the award, receiving 86 out of 100 votes.

Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams was chosen the Sixth Man of the Year
for the third time, matching Jamal Crawford for the most times winning the
award. The only other two-time winners of the Sixth Man award were Kevin
McHale, Ricky Pierce and Detlef Schrempf.

The other finalists for the Sixth Man award were Williams' teammate Montrezl
Harrell and the Indiana Pacers' Domantas Sabonis.

Coach of the Year went to the Milwaukee Bucks' Mike Budenholzer, who beat out
fellow finalists Doc Rivers of the Los Angeles Clippers and Michael Malone of
the Denver Nuggets.

Milwaukee general manager Jon Horst won Executive of the Year, becoming the
second Bucks executive to claim the honor. John Hammond won after the 2009-10
season.

Doncic, a 20-year-old guard who averaged 21.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 6.0
assists in 32.2 minutes per game, is Dallas' second Rookie of the Year winner,
joining Jason Kidd, a co-winner with Grant Hill in the 1994-95 season. Doncic
played in 72 games last season.

Young, a point guard, averaged 19.1 points, 8.1 assists and 3.7 rebounds in
30.9 minutes per game last season. He played in 81 of the team's 82 contests.
A year ago, Young, the No. 5 overall draft pick in 2018, was dealt from Dallas
to Atlanta along with a 2019 first-round pick in exchange for Doncic.

Siakam averaged 16.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists over 31.9 minutes
and played in 80 games. ESPN noted that Siakam, a third-year player whom the
Raptors drafted with the 27th overall pick in 2016, increased his point total
by 9.6 points per game over the 2017-18 season, the biggest gain by any player
to have played in 40 games in the consecutive seasons.

Williams, 32, put up 20 points, 5.4 assists and three rebounds per game in 75
appearances in 2018-19, starting just once.

Budenholzer, 49, led the Bucks to a 60-22 record, their best record since
going 60-22 in the 1980-81 season. The 16-win improvement over the previous
season was the best mark in the NBA this season and earned the Bucks the No. 1
seed in the Eastern Conference. They lost to the eventual NBA champion Raptors
in six games in the conference finals.

In his first season in Milwaukee, Budenholzer also won Coach of the Year in
Atlanta in 2015 after leading the Hawks to a 60-22 record in his second of
five seasons with the team.

--Field Level Media