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Fantasy Basketball Awards: Most Improved Player And Sixth Man Award

By Dave Fuqua

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Fantasy Basketball Awards: Most Improved Player and Sixth Man Award

In just a few days the 2014-2015 NBA fantasy basketball season will be all but a memory. This season has been one filled with many surprises and many different bumps in the road. In case you have missed them here are the links for the first two articles in this series.

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First Team Fantasy All-NBA Team

Second Team Fantasy All-NBA Team & Fantasy Defensive Player of the Year Award

There have been several different players who have come out of nowhere and seem to qualify for the Most Improved player award. This is easily the hardest award that I had to choose from. I felt like I could actually give this award to any number of five different players. At the end of the day I decided to give the Most Improved Fantasy Player of the Year award to: Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Mar 28, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) dunks a basket against Golden State Warriors center Festus Ezeli (31) in the second quarter at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

I decided to go with Antetokounmpo because of the fact that it was so satisfying to see a player that has his hype could show such serious improvement from last season. It is not often that we fantasy players bill a player with such hype as we did the ‘Greek Freak’ and then see them live up to the billing. Over the last month we have seen averages of 15.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.4 blocks. He has certainly lived up to his hype and is only 20 years old.

Now we move on and look to give out the Fantasy Sixth Man of the Year award. For this award I have decided that it would be given to the best sixth man in the regular NBA as a fantasy player. This was a tough award to dole out as most guys who are not regular starters are not real fantasy worthy in standard leagues. When it came down to it I decided that there was only one person that I really thought should take this award home. I have decided to give the Fantasy Sixth Man of the Year award to: Taj Gibson. 

Apr 8, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson (22) passes the ball between Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic (9) and forward Aaron Gordon (00) during the first quarter at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Taj Gibson has been an integral part of the Bulls success and has found himself as the sixth man after expecting to become the starter once the Bulls waived Carlos Boozer last year. Gibson took an exceptional level of maturity this season in accepting this role. I am sure he is happy now that Pau Gasol joined the Bulls and is seeming to make them worthy of a deep playoff run, but at first I am sure he was upset he lost out on his starting role.

Next: Second Team Fantasy All-NBA Team

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