<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Nuggets once had one of their own honored with the NBA's Most Improved Player award. Not that it ended up meaning much. Guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf won the award in 1992-93, when he averaged 19.2 points during his third season at age 24. But it mostly was downhill after that. Abdul-Rauf never put up a better average. He was washed up before his 30th birthday. Other players have won the Most Improved Player award, then pretty much stopped improving. They include Kevin Duckworth, Skiles, Pervis Ellison, Don MacLean, Dana Barros, Gheorghe Muresan, Isaac Austin and Alan Henderson. The past two winners, Bobby Simmons and Boris Diaw, haven't exactly continued soaring after being handed the hardware. Simmons' scoring average dropped by three points last season and Diaw's is down 4.3 this season. Now that we've established the award doesn't mean a heck a lot for a player's future, it should be noted Nuggets third-year guard J.R. Smith really wants to win it. "It'd definitely be an honor," Smith said. "It's a great award to be up for." Smith, who has increased his scoring average from 7.7 points with the Hornets last season to 16.9, has a chance. But the field of contenders is crowded. The leading candidate is Sacramento's Kevin Martin, a third-year guard. After averaging 10.8 points last season, he's averaging 23.2. A pair of second-year players also are looking good. Warrick has increased his average from 4.1 to 15.7, and Golden State guard Monta Ellis has gone from 6.8 to 18.3. Second- and third-year players have had the most success in the balloting. Of the 21 times the trophy has been handed out, it has gone six times each to such players. Whoever wins it, though, might want to think twice about playing it up big on the r?sum?. </div> Source
JR Smith shouldn't even finish top 3; Monta Ellis, Kevin Martin, and Hakim Warrick should all finish ahead of him. IMO the most improved player is Andris Biedrins but an award like this would most likely always go to a guard because people are so obsessed with the stats.
<div class="quote_poster">SkiptoMyLue11 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yea, Kevin Martin because he is a 3rd year guard averaging 23 ppg.</div> Well Monta Ellis is a 21 year old second year guard and a 2nd round pick averaging 18.3 ppg, 4.4 apg. Martin has improved his scoring by 12.4 ppg from last year to this year while Monta has improved 11.5 ppg from last year to this year. Of course alot of people knew Martin was a stud last year when he got extended minutes, Monta was a better kept secret although Warrior fans have realized his greatness since hes been getting playing time. Obviously the season is still young but right now they're the top candidates to win the award. But like I said before IMO Andris Biedrins is the most improved. He went from a raw, backup big man that no one had ever heard of to a flat out stud and a top C in the league at only 20 years old. Hes literally getting better by the game; for the season he averages 11.1 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 2.8 bpg but in the last 10 games hes averaging 13.4 ppg, 11.9 rpg, 3.1 bpg, and in the last 5 games hes averaging 15.8 ppg, 11.0 rpg, and 4.2 bpg. Did I mention he averaged 3.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, and 0.7 bpg last year? In 16 games hes had 4 15+ rebound games, 4 5+ block games, and hes shooting 65% from the floor. All he needs to do is have a couple more huge games on national TV so the retards at TNT and ESPN will realize how studly he is and tell the world as if it was their own cunning and genius that discovered him.
