By DAVE CAMPBELL | AP
MINNEAPOLIS: Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns is the unanimous winner of the NBA Rookie of the Year award.
The league made the announcement Monday, giving the Wolves back-to-back honorees after forward Andrew Wiggins took the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy last season.
The 7-foot Towns received all 130 first-place votes from a panel of sports writers and broadcasters in the United States and Canada, joining Damian Lillard (2013), Blake Griffin (2011), David Robinson (1990) and Ralph Sampson (1984) as recent unanimous winners.
New York’s Kristaps Porzingis finished second, and Denver’s Nikola Jokic was third.
The first pick in the 2015 draft, Towns ranked eighth in the NBA in rebounds and field-goal percentage and was one of only six players in the league to start all 82 games.
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Indiana Pacers promote Nate McMillan to head coach
By MICHAEL MAROT | AP
INDIANAPOLIS: The Indiana Pacers have promoted assistant Nate McMillan to head coach, ending the search for Frank Vogel’s replacement after less than two weeks.
McMillan spent 12 seasons as the head coach in Seattle and Portland, going 478-452 in the regular season and 14-20 in the playoffs.
He was hired by Vogel in 2013 and spent the past three seasons with the Pacers, where he developed relationships with the players and president of basketball operations Larry Bird.
McMillan already had a bond with Pacers general manager Kevin Pritchard from their days in Portland.
Bird announced May 5 that Vogel would not be retained after his contract expired and that he believed the Pacers needed to hear a different voice in the locker room.
MINNEAPOLIS: Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns is the unanimous winner of the NBA Rookie of the Year award.
The league made the announcement Monday, giving the Wolves back-to-back honorees after forward Andrew Wiggins took the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy last season.
The 7-foot Towns received all 130 first-place votes from a panel of sports writers and broadcasters in the United States and Canada, joining Damian Lillard (2013), Blake Griffin (2011), David Robinson (1990) and Ralph Sampson (1984) as recent unanimous winners.
New York’s Kristaps Porzingis finished second, and Denver’s Nikola Jokic was third.
The first pick in the 2015 draft, Towns ranked eighth in the NBA in rebounds and field-goal percentage and was one of only six players in the league to start all 82 games.
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Indiana Pacers promote Nate McMillan to head coach
By MICHAEL MAROT | AP
INDIANAPOLIS: The Indiana Pacers have promoted assistant Nate McMillan to head coach, ending the search for Frank Vogel’s replacement after less than two weeks.
McMillan spent 12 seasons as the head coach in Seattle and Portland, going 478-452 in the regular season and 14-20 in the playoffs.
He was hired by Vogel in 2013 and spent the past three seasons with the Pacers, where he developed relationships with the players and president of basketball operations Larry Bird.
McMillan already had a bond with Pacers general manager Kevin Pritchard from their days in Portland.
Bird announced May 5 that Vogel would not be retained after his contract expired and that he believed the Pacers needed to hear a different voice in the locker room.
