2008-09 All-Euroleague, MVP announced

The best Euroleague Basketball players of the 2008-09 season were honored at the Euroleague Basketball Awards Ceremony at the majestic o2 World in Berlin, on the same court where the 2009 Euroleague Basketball champion will be crowned on Sunday night. The court was set up in a matter of minutes to welcome the VIPs from the world basketball elite who are present at the Final Four. Each of the award winners received his trophy in the special ceremony. The event was highlighted by the selection of Regal FC Barcelona guard Juan Carlos Navarro as MVP for the season. Navarro, previously an All-Euroleague first team selection in 2006 and 2007, received his first Euroleague MVP trophy. In addition to Navarro, the All-Euroleague First Team also included point guard Terrell McIntyre of Montepaschi Siena, 2009 Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy winner Igor Rakocevic of Tau Ceramica at shooting guard/small forward and at power forward/center, Ioannis Bourousis of Olympiacos and Nikola Pekovic of Panathinaikos. Rakocevic, Pekovic and Bourousis made it to the All-Euroleague first team for the first team in their career. Rakocevic and Pekovic had previously been All-Euroleague second team selections in 2007 and 2008, respectively. McIntyre is the only repeat selection on the first team. All the honorees received their awards from Euroleague CEO Jordi Bertomeu.

The All-Euroleague Second Team features point guard Theo Papaloukas of Olympiacos, shooting guard Vassilis Spanouls from Panathinaikos, small forward Ramunas Siskauskas of CSKA and big men Tiago Splitter from Tau Ceramica and Erazem Lorbek of CSKA. Papaloukas and Siskauskas were Euroleague MVPs in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy was presented to Rakocevic. Novica Velickovic of Partizan, the Rising Star Trophy winner, was unable to attend the ceremony. Partizan General Manager Mladen Silobad took the trophy in his honor. Dimitris Diamantidis was handed the Best Defender Trophy for the fifth straight season. All awards were based on a combination of fan and media voting except the top scorer, which was based on the most average points scored during a minimum of games this season.