One on One: Who is the Lottery’s Most Improved Player?

James McNeill tackles this week’s one on one question: Who is the most improved player from a lottery team?

The award for Most Improved Player is a source of contention among NBA fans and pundits alike.  Each year, it is debated whether a player who went from bad to good rather than good to great should win.  That is why, to determine the NBA Lottery’s Most Improved Player (so far), I have compiled candidates from both ends of that spectrum for consideration.  Making a jump from solid to starter-worthy is a jump that not all players have been able to do, and Gordon Hayward appears to be doing so this year.  His scoring is up to 17.2 PPG while adding two rebounds and nearly a steal to his averages as well.  Only Trey Burke is averaging more assists for the Jazz than Hayward.  The squad out in Utah has been exciting, and Hayward has been their glue, scoring all over while adding something to nearly every category.

The next candidate has made a jump that many thought he would have made several years ago after Carmelo Anthony left Denver, but late is better than never.  Arron Afflalo has finally emerged as the number one option in Orlando, upping almost all of his statistical numbers while bearing the majority of the scoring responsibility.  His scoring is up from 16.5 PPG to 20 PPG, his rebounding is up from 3.7 to 4.3 per game, and his shooting percentages are currently at 47% and 42% from the field and three, respectively.  The player that was once regarded as a defensive specialist, and little more, has emerged as the kind of player who can score in a variety of ways.

Speaking of defensive specialists, we next move to a unibrow-sporting player who has made the jump from good to truly special this season.  Despite an arm fracture holding Anthony Davis out for seven games, the New Orleans Pelicans’ big man has led the team in points, rebounds and blocks, and each of those statistics is up significantly from last year.  The true difference has been on the offensive end for “the Brow,” as he is up from 13.5 PPG to 20.4 this season, while shooting 14% higher from 16 to 25 feet than last year.  This is a change that has made defenders respect him from anywhere inside the arc, leading to more open buckets. He has made this offensive jump while leading the league in blocks (3.3) by 0.8 more than the next best player (Roy Hibbert), and also stealing 1.5 steals per game.

I tend to lean toward the “from nowhere” guys when it comes to choosing my Most Improved Player, but this year I give the nod to Anthony Davis for making the jump from starter to star.  Davis has been the most important player on his team and has done well with the repercussions of that.  He has improved the worst aspects of his game while steadily improving even those that starred before.  Congratulations to the Brow.

By James McNeill
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