Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum among NBA’s most improved in 2019-20

The Boston Celtics have a pair of wings who figure among the NBA’s most improved players in Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

Boston Celtics wing tandem Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are in the running for Most Improved Player (MIP) of the 2019-20 NBA season, at least in Nate Duncan and Danny Leroux’s estimation.

Hosts of the popular basketball podcast “Dunc’d On”, Duncan and Leroux recently surveyed the league for potential MIP candidates, and both Brown and Tatum were worthy of consideration by the pair.

Tatum, of course took a huge step forward, nearly doubling his previous season’s scoring average in the month of February after being elected to his first All-Star game.

But Brown has made great strides as well, kicking sand in the face of those who believed his ceiling was a high-end role player and quickly turning the debate over whether he’d be worth his recent contract extension into one over just how much of a value it had quickly become.

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“Jaylen Brown had his most efficient season in terms of true shooting,” related Leroux, noting his usage and assist rate  had gone up as well, with him having “the lowest proportion of his shots being assisted in his career.”

Brown’s ability to create for himself, even still in limited fashion this early in his career, is especially intriguing for Leroux. And it hasn’t just been on one side of the ball that the Georgian has improved.

“I thought that Brown has been an important part of Boston’s defense, really since his rookie year,” added Leroux.

Co-host Duncan believed Brown was playing at a near All-Star level in the lead up to the annual February friendly; “At the time that the teams were selected. I actually thought that he had a better case than Jayson Tatum.”

“I thought just watching him [he] is so much more of a patient, mature player able to make more passes,” noted the podcast host, “not just some unbelievable passer, but he started being able to make reads.”

“He slowed down, he wasn’t running headlong towards the rim and that enabled him to finish at the rim  … now, he’s not taking as many difficult shots at the basket. And when his path is blocked, he’s under control. He’s able to read the floor instead of being out of control, and contributed his usual defense and his shooting bounced back as well.”

Noting his free throw percentage had jumped into the 74 % range after being in the mid-60s, Duncan described Brown’s year four growth as “a massive improvement … across the board at age 23.”

Tatum was also on their radar for the award, which Leroux described as “weird” because “this wasn’t like the best true shooting year of his career,” instead directing out attention to the context he’d prepared to argue his case.

“His assist percentage has steadily increased over the years. He’s usage rate popped all the way way up to a 28.6 this year, which is huge,” he suggested. “He’s taking harder shots and making more of them and doing more creation for his teammates.”

For Duncan, it was the 3-point shooting in particular that really sets Tatum apart, especially off-the-dribble step-backs.

“His ability from the mid range — he’s just been an absolute assassin shooting well over 50% from both short mid-range and longer mid-range beyond 16 feet,” related Duncan, who doubted a bit the sustainability of such lofty numbers.

Overall, while neither had made quite a big enough leap to be at the top of the list for either host, the pair of wings have made a considerable impression on Duncan and Leroux with their growth in 2019-20 to date.

And the fact that neither has truly hit their prime yet can’t be helping opposing general managers sleep better at night.

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