What players look poised to make a run at the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award in the 2017-18 season?
The NBA’s Most Improved Player Award is usually a very interesting race to decipher. Measuring a player’s improvement is a tricky thing to do, and, of course, voters have different preferences and ways to view the criteria for this honor.
Some people want to see a player’s usage and minutes dramatically increase without seeing their efficiency plunge. Others want to vote for a player that makes the legitimate leap into stardom, however one wants to define stardom. Some want to award a young player that takes a major step in his development.
Kevin Love won MIP in 2010-11 when he went from a 14 and 11 guy to a 20 and 15 guy. His playing time increased by more than seven minutes per game, yet his efficiency improved across the board. That’s a great MIP candidate because he checks a lot of the boxes that we look for.
Giannis Antetokounmpo won the award last season when he went from a player oozing potential to a must-watch athletic marvel that consistently boggles the mind. This was another easy choice.
It’s not always so simple to choose the MIP. Ryan Anderson won the award in 2011-12, but his per-36 numbers were nearly identical to the previous season. How much better did Anderson get? Was he simply a player that got more playing time and didn’t really improve all that much?
Bobby Simmons won the award in 2004-05 for basically going from a guy we’d never heard of to a guy playing solid basketball. So what’s the best way to evaluate this award?
As is usually the case, it’s probably best to take a little bit from everyone’s criteria to form the scale on which to measure a player’s improvement. Here are five players that could contend for the Most Improved Player Award in 2017-18.