Tag: mip

Do the Boston Celtics have a serious candidate to win the NBA’s 2023 Most Improved Player award?

“Malcolm Brogdon earned his Sixth Man of the Year award last season, but playing for a winner obviously helps,” writes B/R.

Do the Boston Celtics have a serious candidate to win the NBA’s 2023 Most Improved Player award this season?

According to one Bleacher Report analyst, they very well could. Per B/R’s Greg Swartz, newly minted starting Celtics floor general Derrick White has the right tells to his game and new role to put him in position to take home that particular piece of end-of-season hardware.

“White is … going to be faced with increased playmaking, scoring and defensive duties now that … Smart has been traded, as he becomes the full-time starting point guard,” writes Swartz. “In his 70 starts last season, White averaged 12.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists and shot 39.4% from 3.”

“His chances of winning the award could be assisted by the Celtics’ success, especially if Boston leads the NBA in wins and secures the No. 1 seed,” suggests the B/R analyst.

“Malcolm Brogdon earned his Sixth Man of the Year award last season, but playing for a winner obviously helps,” relates Swartz.

“A part-time starter for the majority of his career, White should have his best year as the starting point guard for a loaded Celtics team with championship aspirations.”

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NBA Twitter reacts to Jordan Poole’s Most Improved Player of the Year finalist snub

After Jordan Poole was snubbed from the league’s Most Improved Player of the Year finalists list, NBA Twitter exploded with different reactions.

The rise of Jordan Poole during his third season has played a vital role in pushing the Golden State Warriors to the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.

On Saturday, Poole put an exclamation point on his breakout campaign with a 30-point performance in his playoff debut to lead the Warriors to a game one win over the Nuggets, 123-107.

In his third season since being drafted with the No. 28 overall pick in the NBA draft, Poole jumped his average from 12 points in 19.4 minutes per game to 18.5 points in 30 minutes per contest. Poole exploded from a stint in the G League during his second season to a pillar of Golden State’s playoff rotation in 2022.

Along with the numbers, Poole’s impact has made him a clear candidate for the NBA’s Most Improved Player of the Year award. However, when the list of finalists for the award was announced on Sunday, the Warriors’ 22-year-old guard didn’t make the cut.

Instead of Poole, the three finalists were led by a group of All-Stars, including Grizzlies guard Ja Morant, Cavs guard Darius Garland and Spurs guard Dejounte Murray.

Following Poole’s snub from the MIP award, the NBA community on Twitter weighed in with different reactions. Here’s a look at what fans and analysts were saying on Sunday evening.

This post originally appeared on Warriors Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Warriors’ Jordan Poole left off Most Improved Player of the Year finalist list

Despite a breakout campaign, Warriors guard Jordan Poole was left off the list of finalists for the NBA’s Most Improved Player of the Year.

On Saturday, Jordan Poole continued his explosive campaign with a red-hot 30 points to lead the Golden State Warriors to a game one win over the Denver Nuggets to start the postseason.

Despite his fiery performance in his playoff debut highlighting his breakout year during the 2021-22 season, the third-year Warriors guard was left off the list of finalists for the league’s Most Improved Player of the Year award.

Instead of Poole, three All-Stars headlined the list of finalists for the MIP award, including Memphis guard Ja Morant, Cleveland guard Darius Garland and Spurs guard Dejounte Murray.

Via @NBA on Twitter:

This post originally appeared on Warriors Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

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Warriors’ Jordan Poole receives one second place vote for NBA’s Most Improved Player award

While New York’s Julius Randle was named the NBA’s 2020-21 Most Improved Player, Golden State’s Jordan Poole received a second-place vote for the award.

On Tuesday, the NBA began to announce the first set of awards for the 2020-21 season with the voting results for the league’s Most Improved Player award.

With 98 first-place votes, New York Knicks forward Julius Randle earned the Most Improved Player award for the 2020-21 season. While leading the Knicks to the playoffs, Randle averaged a career-best 24.1 points on 45.6% shooting from the field with 10.2 rebounds and six assists per contest.

Via @NBAPR on Twitter:

Following Randle, Golden State Warriors guard Jordan Poole earned one second-place vote for the award, finishing 12th overall in the standings.

After a rough start to his second season out of Michigan that resulted in a stint in the G League bubble, the 2019 first-round pick exploded during Golden State’s run to the play-in tournament.

Following his return from the G League bubble, Poole averaged 14.7 points on 43.3% shooting from the field and 35.4% shooting from long distance in 23.5 minutes off the bench.

During that span, Poole tallied 20 or more points nine different times, including a career-high 38 points on 12-of-22 shooting from the field in a spot start with Steph Curry out against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Along with a significant bump in production, Poole’s confidence and decision-making have taken a significant step forward from his rookie season. During crucial moments down the stretch, Steve Kerr relied on Poole in the closing lineup as a scorer alongside Curry in the backcourt.

Heading into his third season at 22-years-old, Poole will have the opportunity to play a key role in the second unit behind Curry and a healthy Klay Thompson.

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Celtics star swingman Jayson Tatum 4th in Most Improved Player voting

Boston Celtics All-Star swingman Jayson Tatum came in fourth in the Most Improved Player race; teammate Jaylen Brown was 11th in voting as well.

Evidently, making a jump from All-Star reserve to bonafide superstar production is good for fourth place in the NBA’s Kia Most Improved Player (MIP) race.

Or so it played out for Boston Celtic swingman Jayson Tatum, who garnered fourth place in MIP voting according to NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg.

Tatum wasn’t without recognition for nearly doubling his offensive output from his second year in the month of February and March before the hiatus (awards only accounted for pre-hiatus play this season), but it is a whole season award.

The Duke product garnered 57 total points (including three first-place and seven second-place votes), trailing only winner Brandon Ingram of the New Orleans Pelicans, Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat and Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks.

In his sophomore season in the league, Tatum put up 15.7 points, 6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game; after being named an All-Star reserve at the end of January, the St. Louis native logged 29.2 points, 7.6 boards and 3.3 assists per game.

Teammate Jaylen Brown made a showing as well, tied for a distant 11th place with Washington Wizards swingman Davis Bertans with three total points, all third-place votes.

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Boston Celtics snubbed for all 2019-20 NBA end of season awards

Brad Stevens, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum all found themselves snubbed for the NBA’s 2019-20 end of season awards, with zero Celtics among the finalists.

The Boston Celtics have gotten no love from voters for the NBA’s end of season awards, snubbed in several categories their players were reasonably in the running for a nomination.

The league announced the finalists for its end of season awards on Saturday, with Celtics players conspicuously absent from the Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY), NBA Coach of the Year (COTY) and Kia NBA Most Improved Player (MIP) award races.

Veteran defensive specialist Marcus Smart has made many analysts’ short lists for DPOY, head coach Brad Stevens a frequent mention for COTY, and both Boston wings Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in the running for MIP.

While it is always an uphill battle for guards in the DPOY contest given the award is nearly always granted to big men, and the COTY race a tight one with a half-dozen viable candidates this season, it is truly surprising neither of the Celtics young wings made the final trio of candidates for MIP.

The candidates who did make the cut for those awards are as follows:

DPOY: 1) Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks; 2) Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers; 3) Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz.

COTY: 1) Mike Budenholzer, Milwaukee Bucks; 2) Billy Donovan, Oklahoma City Thunder; 3) Nick Nurse, Toronto Raptors.

MIP: 1) Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat; 2) Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks; 3) Brandon Ingram, New Orleans Pelicans.

The final award winners will be announced during the playoffs — not that Celtics fans will care as much after having been eliminated from contention for the 2019-20 award cycle.

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