NBA?s Most Improved Player?

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Gerald Wallace?s scoring average is nearly five points better than his previous career-best. His rebounding average is two better than his previous career-high. And if he maintains his current pace and finishes this season with averages of more than 2.0 blocks and steals per game, he?ll join only future Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson in NBA history for accomplishing such a diverse feat.

Is this the resume? of the 2005-06 NBA?s Most Improved Player?
Wallace?s Charlotte Bobcats coach Bernie Bickerstaff sure thinks so.

?I think, in every part of the game, he has improved,? Bickerstaff said of Wallace.

?I might be selfish or biased, but I think he?s a legitimate candidate.?

Wallace?s competition for the award will be stiff, as various media outlets and Web sites consider players like San Antonio?s Tony Parker, Phoenix?s Boris Diaw, Atlanta?s Joe Johnson, Detroit?s Tayshaun Prince, Portland?s Joel Pryzbilla, Toronto?s Chris Bosh and Denver?s Carmelo Anthony either favorites or top candidates (along with Wallace) for the award.

Whether Wallace wins or not, there?s little doubt he?s been the most versatile and valuable player for the Bobcats as their season begins winding to a close with tonight?s 7:30 home game against the Memphis Grizzlies.

And that?s in a season in which injuries have totally changed the coaching strategy of Bickerstaff and the playing style of the 6-foot-7, 215-pound Wallace.

Wallace had previously played with such reckless abandon he suffered a concussion running into a teammate during a practice scrimmage last season and this season, teammates playfully put a ?No Diving? sign in his locker after he suffered a wrist injury early in the year.

But it was a medial tibia bone bruise in his left knee in January that forced Wallace to reassess his playing style.

?When that happened, it put a little scare into me,? Wallace said. ?And I?ve changed some. But I?m still playing hard.?
Albeit differently.

Wallace suffered his knee injury after forwards Emeka Okafor (ankle) and Sean May (knee) were already out for the season with injuries of their own.

Without Okafor, Bickerstaff found that Wallace could be his team?s defensive stopper in the post as well as on the wing and that he also could be an offensive force in the post-up game.

?Sometimes, good things come out of bad things,? Bickerstaff said. ?The thing that?s been most important to me is the consistency in his performance. That is a barometer.?

Wallace is quick to say Okafor?s injury created an unexpected opportunity.

?With Emeka out, we don?t really have any other shot-blockers,? Wallace said. ?So they?ve given me the opportunity to protect the basket more.?

As good as he?s been defensively, he?s also shined on offense. Just two weeks ago against the Atlanta Hawks (on Gaston County Night), Wallace set a franchise record for single-game scoring with 41 points. His 17 field goals came on layups, follow shots or slam dunks.

?I think a lot of times, a lot of people have thought of me as one-dimensional,? Wallace said. ?Everybody thought I was going to gamble for steals and people thought I would just catch the ball and go to the basket. With those guys going out, I had to do a lot more to help this team. And I think it?s shown my versatility as an athlete with how I?ve played.?

It?s been the kind of production many foresaw for Wallace when the Bobcats chose him off the talented Sacramento Kings? roster in June 2004 after three seasons as a deep reserve.

?I think this has been the right place,? Wallace said. ?I?ve been improving every year and this is exactly where I want to be. It was a hard three years for me in Sacramento. Just because I love to play the game. I had to sit and watch. But I learned a lot sitting and watching.

?So my thing coming here was that I was going to take all that I?d learned in those three years on a championship-calibre team and try to put it out on the court for the Bobcats.?

Wallace is now considered one of the team?s most impressive building blocks for the future, along with Okafor, May, rookie Raymond Felton, veteran Brevin Knight and fellow expansion pick Primoz Brezec. </div>

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