NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 NBA general managers overwhelmingly expect the Oklahoma City Thunder to be the league\u2019s first repeat champion in nearly a decade, while Denver\u2019s Nikola Jokic is their pick to reclaim the MVP award and Miami\u2019s Erik Spoelstra was once again the pick as best coach.<\/p>\n
Those were among the findings of the league\u2019s annual preseason polling of general managers, the results of which were released Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Thunder got 80% of the vote \u2014 teams could not vote for themselves or their own personnel in the survey \u2014 in response to the question of which team would win this season\u2019s title. No team has gone back-to-back since Golden State in 2016-17 and 2017-18.<\/p>\n
Cleveland and Denver each got 7% of the vote, while Houston and New York each 3%.<\/p>\n
The GMs were clear: They expect another international player to be MVP \u2014 players born outside the U.S. have won each of the last seven MVP trophies \u2014 and Jokic is the overwhelming pick to win what would be his fourth in a span of six seasons.<\/p>\n
He got 67% of the vote, followed by Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers (10%), reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma City (8%), and Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs (7%).<\/p>\n
If the GMs are to be believed, the top four playoff seeds in the Eastern Conference will be, in order, Cleveland, New York, Orlando and Atlanta.<\/p>\n
In the West, Oklahoma City was followed by Denver, Houston and Minnesota.<\/p>\n
Gilgeous-Alexander (73%) was the runaway pick as best point guard, with Minnesota\u2019s Anthony Edwards (70%) the top pick at shooting guard, Doncic (40%) the best small forward, Milwaukee\u2019s Giannis Antetokounmpo (93%) the top votegetter at power forward and Jokic (97%) was the pick of almost everyone at center.<\/p>\n
The Nuggets couldn\u2019t vote for Jokic; by process of elimination, that means Denver\u2019s vote for best center likely went to Wembanyama, since he was the only other player to receive a vote as the best center.<\/p>\n
And the best pure shooter was nearly unanimous: Golden State\u2019s Stephen Curry (93%) got almost all votes, with his former Warriors teammate Klay Thompson \u2014 now with Dallas \u2014 getting the other 7%.<\/p>\n
Curry was also the pick as best leader, and the player GMs would want taking the shot with the outcome of a game hanging in the balance.<\/p>\n
The GMs expect to see big jumps from Orlando (47%) and Atlanta (20%), making those clubs two of the top three votegetters when asked which team will be improved the most this season.<\/p>\n
San Antonio tied Atlanta, getting 20% of the voting.<\/p>\n
To no surprise, No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg of Dallas was the pick to win rookie of the year. Flagg got 97% of the vote, likely meaning 29 of the 30 if all teams submitted an answer.<\/p>\n
The only other player to get a vote was Philadelphia\u2019s VJ Edgecombe (3%).<\/p>\n
Again, no surprise: Wembanyama got 80% of the vote, with Minnesota\u2019s Rudy Gobert and Cleveland\u2019s Evan Mobley (7%) a distant second.<\/p>\n
Wembanyama was widely picked as the favorite to win defensive player of the year last season before he was shut down in February following a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis.<\/p>\n
Spoelstra once again was picked as the best coach in the league, getting 52% of the vote. Oklahoma City\u2019s Mark Daigneault (34%) was second.<\/p>\n
Spoelstra was the narrow choice as best manager or motivator of people as well, his 28% of the vote there barely edging Houston\u2019s Ime Udoka (24%), Golden State\u2019s Steve Kerr (14%) and Boston\u2019s Joe Mazzulla (14%).<\/p>\n
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