Kyle Hines Wins Defensive Player Of The Year

CSKA center Kyle Hines has been named the 2015-16 VTB United League Defensive Player of the Year. He received his award today in Moscow prior to Game 2 of the CSKA - Khimki semifinal series. VTB United League president Sergey Kushchenko was at the game to present Hines with his trophy.

The league's expert panel, featuring 12 basketball legends from across Eastern Europe--Gundars Vetra (Latvia), Ivan Edeshko (Russia), Sergei Elevich (Russia), Jiri Zidek (Czech Republic), Andrei Kirilenko (Russia), Ilona Korstin (Russia), Nikita Morgunov (Russia), Hanno Mottola (Finland), Martin Muursepp (Estonia), Egor Meshcheryakov (Belarus), Sergei Tarakanov (Russia) and Valery Tikhonenko (Kazakhstan/Russia)--made the final selection.

CSKA's Kyle Hines earned the most votes (6) in a poll of the league's expert panel. The American center beat out Nizhny Novgorod forward Semyon Antonov and Lokomotiv-Kuban guard Dontaye Draper (2 votes each), CSKA forward Nikita Kurbanov and Nymburk forward Howard Sant-Roos (1 vote each).

Kyle Hines played 29 games in the VTB United League regular season, averaging 7.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 0.8 steals, 0.6 blocks and a 10.0 efficiency rating.

Despite his diminutive size for the position, Hines is an indispensable piece of the CSKA defense. The American big man specializes in help defense, blocks and shutting down the opposition's most dangerous big men.

This is the 3rd year that the VTB United League has given out the Defensive Player of the Year award. CSKA teammate Alexander Kaun picked up the award in 2013-14, while teammate Andrey Vorontsevich was honored in 2014-15.

- Thank you the league for this attention, - said Hines. - It's a big honor and I'm happy to share the award with my teammates and coaching staff.