The Whiteboard: On the hunt for NBA Most Improved Player candidates

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The NBA Most Improved Player Award is one of the hardest to project before the season starts. Surprising improvement isn’t necessarily part of the criteria but it’s often baked into the evaluation — players who we didn’t expect to improve can grab a bit more attention than ones we all saw coming.

In addition, improvement takes different forms. Sometimes it’s a player adding new skills to their game. Sometimes it’s a player simply taking advantage of increased opportunities, replicating efficient production in a larger role. And team success is often factored in as well, a player’s individual statistical improvement can seem more meaningful when it’s translating to team success.

You can already find betting odds for this award (Make your pick now on WynnBET) but I think there are a few interesting candidates who were way down the list. Here are five players who I think could make a strong case if things break right for them this season.

The Zion Williamson case for NBA Most Improved Player

Williamson put up monster numbers last season but between his first two seasons, he’s now totaled just 85 games, just a hair of what he normally would have played in a normal, healthy rookie season. All that is to say even though he’s been incredibly productive there is still plenty of room for growth.

Williamson improved significantly as last season went on and really took off late in the year when the Pelicans made an effort to put the ball in his hands more often. Over his final 17 games, starting at the beginning of April, he averaged 28.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, shooting 58.5 percent from the field. With Devonte’ Graham, an excellent spot-up shooter, taking over as point guard Williamson should still have plenty of opportunities to work as a primary creator and there are obvious areas where a little improvement could really capture the attention of voters. If he started making some 3-pointers, bumped his free-throw percentage over 70 and/or averaged a double-double, along with a surprisingly strong season from the Pelicans as a whole, he would be hard to ignore.

The Michael Porter Jr. case for NBA Most Improved Player

Porter Jr. is already an elite shooter and a real threat for a 50/40/90 season. He averaged 19.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game last season, shooting 54.2 percent from the field, 44.5 percent from beyond the arc and 79.1 percent from the free-throw line. Over his final 17 games after Jamal Murray suffered a season-ending injury, those averages jumped to 23.5 points on 56/49/85 shooting splits.

Murray likely will not be back for the beginning of the season and even if he returns later on, there is plenty of time for Porter Jr. to firmly entrench himself as the Nuggets’ second option on offense. The Nuggets made some meaningful roster improvements this offseason but nothing that is likely to cut into Porter Jr.’s scoring primacy. If the Nuggets continue to hang around the top of the Western Conference with Porter Jr. bumping up his scoring average and keeping up his insane efficiency, he’d have a very strong case even if it was about making the most of additional opportunities more than actual improvement.

The OG Anunoby case for NBA Most Improved Player

For most of his four-season career, Anunoby has been known for his defensive prowess. He’s a big, quick, versatile defender who has already proven he can hold up against the league’s best. But on offense, he’s been primarily a role player — over his first three seasons, he averaged just 7.8 points per game with nearly two-thirds and essentially all of his 3-pointers assisted on. But last year, in a season shortened by injury and in which he appeared in just 43 games, Anunoby appeared to take a big step forward on that end of the floor.

Anunoby averaged 15.6 points per game last season, shooting 48.0 percent from the floor, 39.8 percent on 3-pointers and 78.4 percent from the free-throw line. Over his final 15 games last year, those averages leaped to 22.5 points on 51/43/88 shooting splits. And he accomplished those improvements while creating a much larger share of his own offense. The Raptors are bringing back largely the same roster but injuries, quarantines and the Norman Powell trade mean they’re still figuring out their post-Kawhi offensive hierarchy. If Anunoby can play like he did down the stretch last season, featuring on an improved Raptors’ team, he should absolutely be in the conversation.

The Kevin Porter Jr. case for NBA Most Improved Player

Porter Jr. is a bit of a dark horse, given that the Rockets are incredibly young and likely to be one of the worst teams in the league this season. In addition, he’ll be sharing scoring and creation responsibilities (and the spotlight) with Jalen Green who will be making a push for Rookie of the Year.

That being said, Porter Jr. is a legitimate candidate who has both made the most of increased opportunities and demonstrated actual improvement. Chemistry issues had him out of the lineup for Cleveland until January when they traded him to the Houston Rockets. Over 26 games in Houston, Porter Jr. averaged 16.6 points, 6.3 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game. His shooting percentages trended towards inefficient and he shot a disappointing 31.1 percent from beyond the arc. But he will put up some serious scoring totals this season and if he can bump up his shooting percentages he could be an interesting dark horse candidate.

The Ja Morant case for NBA Most Improved Player

Morant is already one of the most explosive point guards in the league with solid box score averages — 19.1 points, 7.4 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game last season. It’s hard to imagine that just bumping that up a bit, say putting up a 20-10 season, would be enough on its own to have him leap any of these candidates or some of the others who are likely to come up.

But the Grizzlies, as a team, are kind of a wild card. They were 21-15 over the second half of last season, outscoring opponents by an average of 2.1 points per 100 possessions. Replicated across an entire season, that kind of performance should be enough to get them firmly into the playoffs, even in a deep Western Conference. If Morant is putting up similar, or even improved individual numbers, while the Grizzlies are fighting for the No. 5 or No. 6 seed in the West he’d be making a very strong argument for this award.

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