Grizzlies guard Ja Morant has been named the NBA’s Most Improved Player, according to a league press release.
Morant is the first Memphis player to win the award. He received 221 points (38 first-place votes) from a panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. Spurs guard Dejounte Murray finished in second place with 183 points (20 first-place votes).
Cavaliers guard Darius Garland wound up in third place with 11 first-place votes and 178 points, followed by the Warriors‘ Jordan Poole (15 first-place votes, 131 points) in fourth.
There were a wide range of legitimate MIP candidates this season, with no less than seven players receiving at least three first-place votes. Morant’s teammate Desmond Bane, Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey, and Hornets forward Miles Bridges rounded out the top seven vote-getters.
A first-time All-Star, Morant averaged 27.4 PPG, 6.7 APG and 5.7 RPG in 33.1 MPG in 57 games to lead Memphis to the Western Conference’s second-best record. He had an 8.3-point increase in scoring and 4.3 percent improvement in field goal percentage from last season. Morant was the Rookie of the Year two seasons ago.
Anfernee Simons, Robert Williams, Jaren Jackson, Jalen Brunson, and Max Strus also each received at least one second- and/or third-place vote. The full results can be found here.
Not really sure why he was voted for MIP when he should’ve been in the MVP discussion this year instead.
My thoughts exactly !!!
there’s usually a year delay for proper award recognition.
Agree. And he’s likely to be in the top 10 MVP.
Y’know… I live in Memphis and I’m always happy to see our guys get some hardware (we’re a small market, so it doesn’t happen often)…
That said, I’m not sure giving Ja the award is in line with what I always thought the spirit of the award is. I always felt it should go to a guy who was perhaps a serviceable player who made great strides towards being a really good to great player. Ja worked hard and improved a lot, no doubt, but he still started from “REALLY really good.”
If Embiid goes off the charts next year and averages 40 a game and all his other significant numbers go up, I’m still not sure I’d give him votes for “Most Improved…”
That said… Well done, Ja! It IS nice to see hard work rewarded.
That’s exactly what it used to be back in the day, an award for a guy who came up, not for one already there.
Another wrong winner in the MIP joining the DPOY & ROY… this one was clearly for Murray!
Poole party
No way Murray deserved it any more than Ja did.
I personally prefer it going to someone who was a bench/sixth man/rotational type guy the previous season that has now progressed to a starter. So for me it would’ve been up for grabs between Bane, Maxey, & Poole. Probably would’ve eliminated Poole since the others I believe had better %s and half the TOs of Poole. Literally could flip a coin between Maxey & Bane and I would’ve been fine with either. If I were pressed to choose between them, I’d probably lean towards Bane since their numbers are fairly similar with equal give & take on certain stats but Bane got to those numbers in ~5 minutes less per game so he’d get the nod.
These awards are a joke
Travesty.
Morant did NOT improve.
Due to gunning and focus on entertaining, he is less of a distributor, and should play with a truer PG.
He does the same things in the same ways as last year.
MIPs should be for players who rose a level in status.
He missed 23 games in two stretches with injuries and did not finish the year healthy.
Grizz did fine in his absence.
Below average 3pt% and assist ratio; minus onoff.
The HC experimented with wing Bane as the PG.
There were numerous good ROY candidates.
True, his team did exceed expectations and it’s not his job to Not score.
But IMO his Iverson-type style is not sustainable… Iverson had miraculous healing powers, Morant is more normal.
Silly. He was absolutely outstanding this year but it was expected. This isn’t what the award should be for.
He upped his scoring average from 19.1 to 27.4. His true shooting% and 3pt% both went up, yet he was taking both regular field goals and 3s at a higher volume. His rpg went up 1.7. His turnovers we’re mostly a wash and his assists went down by .7.
Sure there’s other deserving candidates like his own teammate Bane, Poole, Garland, Maxey and Murray but he improved immensely and there’s nothing inherently wrong with him winning MIP.
So going from g league to starter in the playoffs is not a MIP. Who would have thought that.
For the 83rd time, Poole was G-League starting material 2 years ago; not in 2020-2021. Additionally, Morant’s efficiency and shooting percentages improved at a greater rate than did Poole’s. There’s certainly an argument to be made that others were deserving of MIP consideration as well, but let’s not act like Poole was far and away the best candidate; on the contrary, it was a very difficult year to distribute such an award due to the abundance of worthy players
Maxey
If you don’t get why he got this award you don’t understand basketball.
Less than 1 more minute played per game but 8.3 point per game increase.
Everyone else had a significant minute increase to improve their stats.
His job is more than just ppg, especially for a PG. Don’t you get that about basketball. He took more shots, then missed games, propping his average… and making his team more dependent.
It’s not something I would complain about, but voters should be smarter.
I don’t understand why people are u happy with him winning the award.
He improved the most this year.
He went from borderline all star to just outside the MVP debate. In the past this award often went to a bench player/role player type dude who had a fantastic season and become a key starter and as borderline all star. CJ McCollum for example.
But isn’t it more impressive for an already established starter to improve as much as he did and be just outside the MVP conversion.
That to me is just as big a jump and definitely a harder jump to make.
Happy for Ja and glad he got it over the other guys cause he deserves it the most
People aren’t unhappy with Ja winning. People are unhappy with how the criteria for winning has changed.
Thank you. It’s not that Ja won at all. At least with me.
There isn’t any criteria besides improving…
You’re showing you haven’t been watching hoops all that long dude.
He improved his pints per games by 8.3, improved his rebounds, blocks, steals, FG%, 3P%, FT% all of that while only playing 30 seconds longer per game than he did last season.
Murray improved his points per game by 5.4, while getting better at every other stat just like Ja but those stats are helped by the fact he played 3 mins per game longer too.
Garland, improved his pints by 4.3, didn’t improve his blocks, and only just improved his steals, and shot worse in 3P% this year than last while playing 2.5 minutes longer per game on average.
Poole, plain and simple improved his points per game by 6.5 or so but that’s because his minutes increased by like 12 minutes per game. Ofcourse his stats will be better if he gets way more minutes.
The fact Ja managed to improve so much while already having played at such a high level is even more amazing and it shouldn’t be a disadvantage when getting the award for improving the most.
@Simmons>Russ
Totally agree with you man. If you look at improvement in efficiency, Morant and Murray lead the pack. I get that fans like it when MIP goes to someone who worked their way up from scrub to starter, but if we’re giving the award to the player who literally improved the most, Morant makes sense to me.
Ignore the trolls claiming you “don’t know basketball.” People around here just say that because they don’t know how to respectfully disagree
Cheers mate. Never care for criticism, just love to talk ball. But I do appreciate some people on here more than others. The OGs and the usuals such as yourself
I am not saying “he does not know basketball.”
I am saying he doesn’t know the history of the award. and he doesn’t.
By the way I am an OG too, I just changed my name, just like Simmons>Russ did.
If you require an ask, I ask. Changed from what?
I was Curtis Rowe. Lost my login and started afresh.
Morant is not in the MVP race. Why would you think that. Gianni, Jokic, Embiid.
His game management did not improve. Right now he’s just the guy that gets to bring the ball upcourt so gets first shot. Why reward him for that?
I hate criticizing him… I recall being one of the first to say he would be a better #1 pick than ZionW.
But incremental success at his level should be beyond MIP status. In lower levels of sports, that award goes to the player the coach started noticing enough to give him something. For Morant, it is slumming. Anyway, he is overexerting, or trying to.