NBA Award Watch: Mike D’Antoni has Rockets on the rise
By John Buhler
Most Improved Player: Giannis Antetokounmpo
The NBA’s Most Improved Player had been one of the most interesting awards races in the NBA until very recently. While Charlotte Hornets point guard Kemba Walker and Utah Jazz point guard George Hill are solid second and third choices, this award belongs to Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Antetokounmpo and Walker will likely end up being first-time Eastern Conference All-Stars. Walker frankly could have been one last season for Charlotte, but Antetokounmpo is becoming a superstar for Jason Kidd’s Bucks this year.
His season averages are 22.3 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game in his fourth year in the NBA. Antetokounmpo is responsible for 3.5 Win Shares and has a PER of 23.6. While he’s not great from beyond the arc (23.6 percent on 3-pointers), Antetokounmpo is still shooting 52.4 percent from the field on a Bucks team that is probably playoff caliber in the East.
He just turned 22 years old. It seems that Kidd and the rest of the Milwaukee faithful have a budding superstar in the Greek Freak. Milwaukee is very close as a basketball team to bursting through into the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference. Antetokounmpo is the next great superstar in the NBA. He has ascended to that level in 2016-17.