Nominees Revealed For 2015-16 Individual Awards

The VTB United League will reveal the 2015-16 regular season individual award winners throughout the playoffs.

Five individual awards will be handed out this season: MVP, Young Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year and Coach of the Year. UNICS guard Keith Langford has already been named

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The VTB United League Panel, featuring 12 famous basketball personalities from across Eastern Europe, will cast the deciding vote for each of the individual awards.

League Panel members:

Gundars Vetra (Latvia). First Latvian to play in the NBA. Won silver at the world championships, bronze at the European championships and was a four-time Russian league champion. Won the Russian league three times as a women's basketball coach in addition to the FIBA EuroChallenge. Worked as head coach of the Dynamo Kursk women's team this season until parting ways in March.

Ivan Edeshko (Russia). Olympic, world and two-time European champion. Won the European Champions Cup. Coached CSKA to a Russian championship in 1992.

Sergei Elevich (Russia). Former Khimki and Russian national team head coach. Won silver and bronze medals in the Russian league. Currently serving as director of the basketball coaches academy at Lesgaft National University.

Jiri Zidek (Czech Republic). First Czech to play in the NBA. Zidek won championships in the Euroleague, NCAA Division I, Lithuania and Czech Republic. Currently serves as the VTB United League's official representative to the Euroleague, FIBA and other international organizations.

Andrei Kirilenko (Russia). European champion, bronze medalist at the Olympic Games, EuroBasket bronze medalist, 4-time Russian champion, 2-time VTB United League champion. Currently serving as president of the Russian Basketball Federation (RFB).

Ilona Korstin (Russia). Won three European and three Euroleague championships. Twice earned silver medals at the Olympic Games and world championships. Currently serving as VTB United League deputy general director.

Nikita Morgunov (Russia). European champion, world championships silver medalist, 4-time Russian champion. Retired after the 2014-15 season at the age of 40. Currently working as a basketball commentator.

Hanno Mottola (Finland). First Finn to play in the NBA. ULEB Cup champion, Euroleague finalist, Lithuanian champion. Currently coaching at the Helsinki basketball academy.

Martin Muursepp (Estonia). First Estonian to play in the NBA. Saporta Cup, FIBA EuroChallenge and Russian champion. Two-time Estonian champion. Currently coaching at Kalev (Estonia).

Egor Meshcheryakov (Belarus). 2-time Belarusian champion, Ukrainian champion, Russian league runner-up. Currently serving as sports director at Tsmoki-Minsk.

Sergei Tarakanov (Russia). Olympic Games and world champion. Three-time European champion. 2007 European champion (as Russian national team general manager). Currently serves as a basketball functionary and agent.

Valery Tikhonenko (Kazakhstan/Russia). Olympic Games and European champion. Three-time world championships silver medalist. Silver medalist at the European women's championship as coach for the Russian national team. Currently serves as Astana (Kazakhstan) general director.

The Panel will decide the winners in three categories: Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year and Coach of the Year. Several factors will be used to decide the regular season MVP and Young Player of the Year, including input from the Panel.

Prior to announcing the 2015-16 award winners, VTB-League.com is releasing the list of nominees (listed in alphabetical order), selected after polling the Panel.

Nominees for individual awards:

MVP
Nando De Colo (CSKA)
Keith Langford (UNICS)
Ryan Toolson (Zenit)

Young Player of the Year
Janis Berzins (VEF)
Artem Klimenko (Avtodor)
Denis Zakharov (Enisey)

Defensive Player of the Year
Semyon Antonov (Nizhny Novgorod)
Dontaye Draper (Lokomotiv-Kuban)
Kyle Hines (CSKA)

Sixth Man of the Year
Quino Colom (UNICS)
Petteri Koponen (Khimki)
Milos Teodosic (CSKA)

Coach of the Year
Ainars Bagatskis (Nizhny Novgorod)
Dimitris Itoudis (CSKA)
Vasily Karasev (Zenit)
Georgios Bartzokas (Lokomotiv-Kuban)
Evgeny Pashutin (UNICS)

The awards will be handed out throughout the postseason. Stay tuned!