CSKA Moscow forward Andrei Kirilenko has been voted the Euroleague's top defensive player of the season, the club said Thursday.
After a decade with Utah Jazz, Kirilenko returned to his old team CSKA in October due to the NBA lockout.
In his first season back, the 29-year-old led the Euroleague stats in rebounds, with 7.2 per game, and blocks with 1.8 per game, all the way through to, but not including, the Final Four, which begins next month.
"Kirilenko, our leader, became the key figure of our defensive line," the club said in a website statement.
"He creates huge problems for the opposing attack due to his height and constant readiness to help his partners in the three-second zone."
The vote was conducted among the head coaches of the Euroleague's 38 teams.
Panathinaikos' Dimitrios Diamantidis has been awarded the best defender prize six times out of the last eight, while the 2010 award was given to CSKA's Viktor Khryapa.
CSKA meets the Greek club in the Final Four semifinal on May 11 in Istanbul.
Olympiakos and Barcelona play in the other semifinal, with the final on May 13.
