There’s still more than a month left in the NBA’s 2018/19 regular season, but D’Angelo Russell already has a prediction for the 2019 Most Improved Player award.
“I’m gonna win that s–t,” Russell recently told Anthony Puccio of SNY.tv. “Watch. Put it on record. I’m gonna win it.”
Russell is a legit candidate for the Most Improved Player award, having emerged as perhaps the Nets‘ most valuable player this season after a so-so first year in Brooklyn. He has drastically improved his shooting efficiency and earned his first All-Star nod last month.
Still, Russell isn’t the leading candidate for the Most Improved Player award. That honor might belong to Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, who has more than doubled his scoring average and become the third-most important player on the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed.
Kings guard De’Aaron Fox is another strong contender. After an inconsistent rookie season, the 21-year-old is putting up big numbers (17.2 PPG, 7.2 APG, 1.7 SPG) for one of the league’s most surprising teams.
Domantas Sabonis and John Collins are among the other youngsters who have taken major steps forward this season, while established veterans like Paul George, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Nikola Vucevic have taken their games to another level — George and Antetokounmpo are legit MVP candidates for the first time and Vucevic is in the All-NBA conversation. They’re just a few of the players who could have a case to be included in the MIP conversation.
Most Improved Player is one of the most difficult NBA awards to define. Should a player like Fox receive serious consideration even though second-year players (and former top-five picks) are expected to improve significantly from year one to two? Should Siakam’s contributions to one of the NBA’s top teams be weighted far more heavily than they would if he were on a lottery team, as is the case for the MVP award?
How about cases like George’s and Antetokounmpo’s? Is the leap from star to superstar more or less worthy of Most Improved Player consideration than a third- or fourth-year player making the jump from rotation player to borderline All-Star?
With no clear guidelines to follow, it’s often to left to a voter’s discretion how best to define what it means to be the NBA’s most improved player. In tonight’s Community Shootaround discussion, we want to know which factors you consider most heavily, and which player you’d pick to win in 2018/19 as a result.
What do you think? Who is your current pick for 2019’s Most Improved Player? What sort of players do you believe should receive the most serious consideration? Are there certain criteria you believe should be weighted more heavily than others?
Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
What about Derrick rose?
He’s been an MVP before so it’s not like he was a bad or mediocre player before this season. I think he comes in 2nd for 6th Man behind Lou Will.
Uh, hard to improve over what he was before the injury. He is more like Comeback Player of the Year.
Russell wins it because he’s gotten that nets team to the next level of being a playoff team. I also really like what Collins has done in Atlanta, even though he’s gotten no love in the media
People like Zach Lowe and Brian Windhorst have mentioned him a number of times.
Agree. Russell should win especially if Dipo is the standard. Which is making all-star team for 1st time and getting your team to the playoffs. I could see Vucevic get some love there too but his numbers haven’t jumped up a ton it’s just the all-star/playoff thing. Siakam prob comes in 2nd unless he wins it over Dlo. Bojan Bogdanovic on the Pacers should be in top 5 as well with Buddy Buckets.
Dlo
Siakam
Vuc
Bogdanovic
Hield
That is a good link to Russell making a case.
But Russell has never looked in over his head, just disengaged… kind of still does actually… there is still room to improve.
His improvement was regular but reached a crucial level. He is now worth building around instead of just potentially worth it with the shortage in the present being frankly annoying. His free agency comes at just the right time. Hopefully he does not backslide with the new “bag” and after maybe losing the MIP… perhaps to…
Pascal Siakam looked overwhelmed vs the Cavs last year in the playoffs, like guy, come back when you’re ready. Now he is at a near allstar level. Offensively though, he relies on the corner 3, nothing exciting or crucial.
Paul George 3rd, since he routinely hits 3s vs tight coverage without giving ground or putting on a show for the refs.
I like the looks of Giannis, PG13 & Vuc for the award.
A 2nd tier with Collins, Sabonis, Randle, Ingram & D’Lo.
Finally the 3rd tier with Fox, Siakam, Murray, Beasley, Kuzma & Hield.
D’Angelo Russell. It shouldn’t be close.
Man, the Bulls should duct tape the Reinsdorfs and open up the bank account for Russell this summer. Dunn would be an ideal backup for him and he would be a perfect fit on the Bulls.
It would also give Marks some of his own treatment back, he would have to decide how to keep both Russell and Jefferson without locking their cap up for years.
Bulls projected to have $39 mil available, what is the max offer at Russell’s term of service?
4/~$109mil but BasRef says CHI will only be about $18mil under the cap.
Maybe the number was before Otto Porter trade.
Yes Parker at $20 was likely coming off with a team option. Porter is not.