Alec Peters confronts voters who picked Tavares as EuroLeague DPOY / News - Basketnews.com

Alec Peters wrote on Instagram that the voters need to explain their reasoning behind giving the Best Defender award to Tavares instead of Walkup. He said that just looking at the box scores is lazy, and whoever does that, that person's right to vote should be revoked.

Credit: IPA MilestoneMedia/PA Images Credit IPA MilestoneMedia/PA Images

Real Madrid's big man Edy Tavares was awarded the EuroLeague's Best Defender trophy. However, the selection raised some eyebrows as multiple people believed Olympiacos Piraeus guard Thomas Walkup should have received the recognition.

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First, Kostas Sloukas took to Twitter to advocate for his teammate, to which Tavares responded, saying that the stats don't lie.

Alec Peters, on the other hand, questioned the entire premise that the stats on the box score should determine the winner.

"The voters need to explain their reasoning for this one.. if all they do is add up a few box score categories then take their voting rights away because that’s lazy," he commented on Instagram under EuroLeague's post. "Tom Walkup impacted the most important position on the floor for Euroleague basketball."

The winner was selected by 18 EuroLeague coaches, the league notes.

Credit Instagram/euroleague

Tavares broke the EuroLeague single-season blocks record during the regular season. During the 2022-23 regular season, Tavares blocked 77 shots to become the first EuroLeague player to surpass 70 in the entire year. Tavares' average of 2.3 blocks per game during the regular season was the third highest in EuroLeague history.

Tavares was named the Best Defender for the third time in his EuroLeague career, tying his career mark with Kyle Hines (3) and trailing only Dimitris Diamantidis, who has six such trophies.

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