Paul Millsap was named to the NBA All-Defensive second team, the league announced Wednesday.
The Hawks’ power forward received 97 points, including 11 first-team and 75 second-team votes.
The NBA All-Defensive first team consisted of the Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard, the Defensive Player of the Year and a unanimous selection (260 points, 130 first-place votes), the Warriors’ Draymond Green (251 points, 123 first-team votes), the Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan (137 points, 47 first-team votes) and Chris Paul (148 points, 59 first-team votes) and the Celtics’ Avery Bradley (149 points, 62 first-team votes).
Joining Millsap on the second team were the Pacers’ Paul George (48 points, five first-team votes), the Heat’s Hassan Whiteside (126 points, 44 first-team votes), the Grizzlies’ Tony Allen (121 points, 44 first-team votes) and the Bulls’ Jimmy Butler (62 points, 18 first-team votes).
“It’s a great for Paul that everyone is appreciating and recognizing how much he does on an individual basis defensively and for our team defensively,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The thing that stands out the most about Paul is probably his defensive I.Q., his defensive anticipation and his hands. He just has a great feel for how to impact the game through his anticipation and seeing the game develop.”
Voting was done by a panel of 130 sportswriters and broadcasters. Players were awarded two points for each first-team vote and one point for each second-team vote. Voters selected two guards, two forwards and one center for each team, choosing players at the position they play regularly. Players who received votes at multiple positions were slotted at the position where they received the most votes. As of matter of newspaper policy, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution does not participate in voting for postseason awards.
Other Hawks players to receive votes were Al Horford (seven points, one first-team vote), Kent Bazemore (three points) and Mike Scott (one point).
Millsap made his third consecutive All-Star team this year, all with the Hawks. He led the team with 17.1 points and had 9.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 32.7 minutes in 81 games. He finished the regular season eighth in the NBA with 139 blocks (1.7) and 11th in the NBA with 147 steals (1.8).
The last Hawks player to make an NBA All-Defensive team was Josh Smith, who was voted to the second team following the 2009-10 season.
