Milwaukee Bucks: Who Deserves the Most Improved Player Award?
Current Leaderboard
- Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
- Harrison Barnes, Dallas Mavericks
- Jabari Parker, Milwaukee Bucks
- Avery Bradley, Boston Celtics
- Zach LaVine, Minnesota Timberwolves
- Kristaps Porzingis, New York Knicks
- Myles Turner, Indiana Pacers
- Otto Porter, Washington Wizards
Here’s an early estimation of some players and how they currently contend for MIP. As you can see, we do in fact have Giannis Antetokounmpo leading the current race for the MIP award, although Jabari Parker is quite close at the #3 spot.
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Settling in at the #2 spot is Harrison Barnes, who is excelling in his new role with the Dallas Mavericks. Barnes have seen a dramatic increase in his scoring from 11.7 to 20.8 points per game, which is in large part due to the volume of shots that he is allowed to take with his new team. This is by far and away the best year of his career and is looking to add a piece of hardware to go with his championship ring.
Just behind Jabari is Avery Bradley, a player mainly regarded as a lockdown defender. This year, however, Bradley is showing everybody he is much more than that. First, he is averaging a career-high of 18.0 points per game, but is also jumped his rebounding from 2.9 per game last season to a whopping 7.0 this year, an increase worth noting. A career-high in three-point shooting at 41.7% is another nice bonus.
Checking in next is Zach LaVine, the highflying guard from Minnesota. Not just the main event of All-Star Weekend anymore, LaVine is a 20.4 points per game scorer now. On top of that, in his third season, he is now shooting over 40% from deep, a standard of great shooting. Along with Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, the Timberwolves have found a very talented young trio.
It should come as no surprise to see Kristaps on this list, as the Porzingod continues to play great basketball. Standing at 7’3″ and shooting over 40% from three is almost not fair, and he is showing why. The Unicorn is just under 20 points per game on the season, but due to the idea that his improvement has mainly come just in scoring the ball, he finds himself at #6 on our leaderboard.
In what has been a very interesting year for the Indiana Pacers, Myles Turner has been excellent, showing significant improvement in a lot of categories. His scoring has gone 10.3 –> 15.6 and his blocks have increased by a full block per game. His rebounding has also shot up from 5.5 to 7.6 per game.
Although a lot of attention gets put on John Wall and Bradley Beal, it is Otto Porter that has been their most improved player this season, posting very solid contributions. Porter is under 15 points per game on the year, which is usually not worthy of winning this award, but Porter is hitting career-highs in every statistical category except for turnovers. In addition, his shooting numbers (54.2 percent from the field, 43.5 percent from three) are incredible.
Next: Jabari Producing Without Giannis Is A Good Sign
With all of this being said, it is quite clear that Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker of the Milwaukee Bucks are great candidates to win the Most Improved Player Award this season in the NBA. Will they? Tune in to the rest of the season to find out.