Sunday, August 16, 2020
It has been revealed that the top three candidates for Most Improved Player award are Brandon Ingram, Bam Adebayo, and Jayson Tatum. Before the season came to an abrupt end, these three players have shown that they have improved on the court. But, in my opinion, this award should go to Brandon Ingram and I’ll explain why in the following paragraphs.
Last season, Brandon Ingram was suiting up for the Los Angeles Lakers. During that season, which was his third season in the league, he averaged 18.3 points per game (950 points total). He also averaged 5.1 rebounds a game (267 rebounds total), 3.0 assists a game (154 assists total), 0.5 steals a game (28 steals total), and 0.6 blocks a game (31 blocks total). He shot 50% from the field while shooting 33% from behind the three-point line and 68% from the free-throw line. He finished with a true shooting percentage of 56% and 2.0 win shares.
This season, while playing with the New Orleans Pelicans, Ingram averaged 24.3 points per game (1,358 points total). He also averaged 6.3 rebounds per game (350 rebounds total), 4.3 assists per game (241 assists total), 1.0 steals per game (56 steals total), and 0.7 blocks per game (37 blocks total). He shot 47% from the field while shooting 39% from beyond the arc. He finished with a true shooting percentage of 59% and 4.9 win shares.
Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat is another player who has shown great improvement. Last season, which was his second season in the league, he averaged 8.9 points per game (729 points total), while averaging 7.3 rebounds a game (597 rebounds total), 2.2 assists a game (184 assists total), 0.9 steals a game (71 steals total), and 0.8 blocks a game (65 blocks total). He shot 58% from the field while shooting 20% from beyond the arc and 74% from the free-throw line. He finished with a true shooting percentage of 62% and 6.8 win shares.
During this season, Adebayo averaged 16.2 points per game (1,053 points total). He also averaged 10.5 rebounds a game (683 rebounds total), 5.1 assists a game (333 assists total), 1.2 steals a game (78 steals total), and 1.3 blocks a game (85 blocks total). He shot 57% from the field but only knocked down 8% of his three-pointers and 69% of his free-throws. He finished with a true shooting percentage of 61% and 8.1 win shares.
Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics is a player that, in my opinion, doesn’t get enough recognition. He came into the league showing great talent and has gotten better ever since. Last season, Tatum averaged 15.7 points per total (1,243 points total). He also averaged 6.0 rebounds a game (477 rebounds total), 2.1 assists a game (168 assists total), 1.1 steals a game (84 steals total), and 0.7 blocks a game (57 blocks total). He shot 45% from the field while shooting 37% from behind the three-point line and 86% from the charity stripe. He finished with a true shooting percentage of 55% and 5.0 win shares.
This season, Tatum averaged 23.6 points per game (1,390 points total). He also averaged 7.1 rebounds per game (418 rebounds total), 2.9 assists per game (174 assists total), 1.4 steals per game (83 steals total), and 0.9 blocks per game (53 blocks total). He ended up shooting 45% from the field (same as last season) while shooting 40% from downtown and 81% from the free-throw line. He finished the season with a true shooting percentage of 56% and 6.2 win shares.
In my opinion, all three of these talented individuals showed improvements in different areas of their game and I feel they can still get better as they grow. But for right now, I feel that the Most Improved Player award should go to Brandon Ingram.
AllBallTakes 