Charlotte Hornets: Devonte’ Graham is making an early case for Most Improved Player

The former Kansas Jayhawk is putting up impressive numbers in his sophomore season with the Charlotte Hornets

When Kemba Walker left the Charlotte Hornets for Boston in the offseason, Terry Rozier came back in exchange and has been quite productive as one of their primary guards. He’s not putting up the type of numbers that Kemba did during his time in Charlotte, but Rozier is still scoring at a relatively high rate.

With 16.4 points per contest, Rozier isn’t even the Hornets leading bucket-getter this year. Surprisingly, it’s actually been sophomore guard Devonte’ Graham, who currently leads the team with 19.4 points per game. The former second-round pick has exceeded expectations this season, taking a huge leap in his production across all categories after an average rookie campaign last year.

To put it into perspective, Graham played just 14.7 minutes per game last season, scoring just 4.7 points per night. He also started just three of the 46 games he played in during the 2018-19 campaign while splitting time with Charlotte’s G-League affiliate.

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This season, however, it’s been a whole different story. The 6-foot-1 guard is playing 34.2 minutes per contest, which is the most on the Hornets. Along with his impressive scoring numbers, he also leads the team with 7.4 assists. In 31 games, he’s been in the starting lineup 21 times.

Very efficient from downtown

Graham has become a very effective shooter from 3-point range, draining 3.7 3’s on 9.1 attempts per contest for a 41.1 percent clip. He was a solid shooter from long range during his four years at the University of Kansas, sinking 3’s at a 40 percent rate through his college career. But he never took this many 3’s per game.

He’s found a groove from beyond the arc, whether it’s in catch-and-shoot situations or simply just pulling up and hitting a 3. Graham is currently second in the entire NBA behind only James Harden with 108 3’s made this season, while the bearded one has sunk 131. But something important to note is that Harden has attempted 100 more 3-point shots than Graham, so it stands to reason why he’s converted slightly more shots from long-range than the Charlotte guard. From a numbers standpoint, Graham has actually been the most efficient shooter in the league from downtown.

Charlotte’s best player

No one could have predicted that Graham would be James Borrego’s best player on a nightly basis this year after barely playing substantial minutes at the NBA level last season. But he’s risen to the occasion and is proving to be the ultimate offensive threat for Charlotte. Although most of his scoring happens from outside of the perimeter, he is also a very quick and athletic player who can drive to the hoop and finish amongst bigger defenders.

Graham does a very good job of creating space on the floor and drawing oppositions towards him to open up lanes for his teammates, where he then consistently dishes out assists. He’s also just fourth in the league this year with 216 assists already, sitting behind the likes of Trae Young, LeBron James, and Luka Doncic.

The video below is a great example of his fantastic court vision, making a no-look bounce pass to PJ Washington as he cuts to the hoop:

https://twitter.com/hornets/status/1205669840457011200

He’s put up 20-plus points on ten different occasions this year, including a lights out 40-point performance on December 11th in a comeback win over the Brooklyn Nets on the road. Graham was 12-21 from the field while sinking 7-12 attempts from beyond the arc in a career game, including two daggers in the last moments of the fourth quarter.

Solidifying his case for MIP

There are many players in the league this season who have taken huge strides this year, such as Pascal Siakam and Andrew Wiggins. But they weren’t in the position Graham was at this point last year. He was the third-choice guard behind Kemba Walker and Tony Parker, eating up meaningless minutes from time-to-time at the end of games.

But he watched Walker and Parker, two very top-class professionals and clearly, he learned a lot. Combine his tireless work ethic to get better and the knowledge he gained from veteran presences like Walker and Parker and now Graham is turning into a star himself.

He isn’t just a candidate for Most Improved Player right now, he’s the clear-cut favorite. His rise to stardom this season has been inspiring and very fun to watch, giving the Hornets a small array of hope that they could possibly sneak into a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Along with Terry Rozier, the Hornets backcourt is in very reliable hands. If Graham continues his torrid start, the second-year guard will also be seeing his name on an All-Star team by the time February rolls around.