The frontman of Openjobmetis Nico Mannion is the only one representative of Varese Basketball included in the lists of candidates for the end-of-year awards established by Legabasket, the so-called LBA Awards. The red and white playmaker, who won the title of top scorer of the championship, is in fact in the running for the recognition of Overall MVP both for that of best Italian player, the “Best Italy”.
The prize of MVP named after Dino Meneghin it was won last year by Mannion’s predecessor in the Varese jersey, Colbey Ross. The “Red Mamba”, 23 years old, is one of the ten nominated: the others are Marco Belinelli and Toko Shengelia (Virtus Segafredo Bologna), Miro Bilan (Germani Brescia), Langston Galloway (Unahotels Reggio Emilia), Nicolò Melli and Shavon Shields (EA7 Emporio Armani Milano), Charlie Moore and Payton Willis (Estra Pistoia), Rayjon Tucker (Human Venice).
Melli and Belinelli they are Mannion’s “rivals” also for the prize of best Italian of the season and curiously they are all players with NBA experience behind them. In this case the “five” is completed by the Germani Brescia guard, Amedeo Of the valley, and from the revelation David Denegri of Vanoli Cremona.
In all other categories however, other members of Openjobmetis are not included: a clear reversal of trend compared to 2023 (after all, it was to be expected) when instead – in addition to Ross – Michael Arcieri was elected “manager of the year” while Matt Base came close to winning “coach of the year” went to Ramondino. The then assistant coach Paolo was part of that team Galbiati who this year (with Trento) is included in the nominations for the “Sandro Gamba Trophy” together with Luca Desks (Bologna), Nicola Brienza (Pistoia), Alessandro Skinny (Brescia) and to the Greek Dimitris Priftis (Reggio Emilia).
THE OTHER CATEGORIES
Top player under 22 (born from 1 January 2002 onwards): Davide Casarin (Venice), Quinn Ellis, Saliou Niang (Trento), Leonardo Faggian (Treviso), Mouhamed Faye (Reggio Emilia).
Best defender: Isaia Cordinier, Alesandro Pajola (Bologna), Nicolò Melli (Milan), John Petrucelli (Brescia), Briante Weber (Reggio Emilia)
Sixth man (at least 50% of games started from the bench): Ousmane Diop (Sassari), Gabriel Lundberg (Bologna), CJ Massinburg (Brescia), Jamar Smith (Reggio Emilia), Kyle Wiltjer (Venice)
Player most improved: Abass Awudu Abass, Gabriel Lundberg (Bologna), Andrejs Grazulis (Trento), CJ Massinburg (Brescia), Leonardo Totè (Pesaro)
OFF TO THE VOTING
From the 7 to 12 May fans and enthusiasts will be able to express their preferences, after registering on the LBA website and app (at this link), to award the Lega Basket Serie A prizes dedicated to the protagonists of the UnipolSai Serie A regular season 2023-2024. The May 14th the placings from 10th to 4th for the MVP award will be revealed and the names of the players who will make up the podium, indicated in random order, before the announcement scheduled for the May 15th, the date on which the winners of all the other prizes will also be revealed. In the first phase, a specialized panel made up of the media and community and, for the first time, all the players of the 16 Serie A clubs participated in the voting for the various individual awards.
Varese Basketball greets the fans: aperitif in the center on Tuesday 7 May
