Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Players-only poll shows league respects Bucks

Originally posted on WI Sports Heroics | By Robin Adams | Last updated 4/18/23

In a recent players-only poll conducted by The Athletic , Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday emerged as “winners” in several categories. Additionally, the Bucks were voted as the team most likely to win the championship this season, and Joe Ingles got some votes in a very interesting category.

Giannis Is the Player Others Would Pick to Build a Team Around

Antetokounmpo was voted as the one other NBA players would choose to build a team around if given the chance. He received an incredible 52.4% of the vote. The next closest vote-getter was two-time MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, who had 8.7% of the vote. Joel Embiid, who was voted by the players to win MVP this season, received 5.8% of votes. This was tied with Steph Curry and Jayson Tatum for the fourth most.

Holiday Voted Best Defender and Most Underrated Player

Holiday has long been overlooked by the media. Players, however, understand his value. The two-time All-Star was voted as the best defender in the NBA, receiving 28.7% of votes. It was not a very close vote either. Luguentz Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder was second with 11.4%.

Two other Bucks players received votes in this section of the poll. Brook Lopez received 8.4% of the votes, and Giannis received 4%. Jaren Jackson Jr., who won Defensive Player of the Year over Lopez, received 4% of the votes as well.

In addition to best defender, Holiday was also voted as the most underrated player in the NBA. In this poll, the option “Other” received 34% of the vote. Holiday received the most votes of any individual player with 17.5% of the votes. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander came in second with 11.3%.

Apparently Ingles Talks Some Trash

Not surprisingly, Draymond Green and Patrick Beverley were the top-two trash talkers in the NBA. Interestingly, Ingles also received 4% of the votes in this category. He received more votes than Luca Doncic, Embiid, Chris Paul and what voters termed “the Memphis kids.”

Other Notable Results

Fiserv Forum received 2.9% of votes for stadium with the best fans
Many NBA players (25.3%) would like to play for San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich while 43.6% of players said New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau is the coach they would never want to play for
Most NBA players regard Michael Jordan as the greatest player of all time
25.8% of players voted officiating as the biggest issue facing the league; the second-most voted issue was load management (21.4%)

This article first appeared on WI Sports Heroics and was syndicated with permission.

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