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Who’s really the NBA’s Most Improved Player?

By Jonathan Roberts

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 21: D'Angelo Russell #1 of the Brooklyn Nets looks to pass the ball during the game against De'Aaron Fox #5 of the Sacramento Kings on January 21, 2019 at Barclays Center in New York, NY. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 21: D'Angelo Russell #1 of the Brooklyn Nets looks to pass the ball during the game against De'Aaron Fox #5 of the Sacramento Kings on January 21, 2019 at Barclays Center in New York, NY. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Unsurprisingly, Pascal Siakam won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award on Monday night, but was he the right choice?

Pascal Siakam is the 2018-19 NBA Most Improved Player after beating out D’Angelo Russell, and De’Aaron Fox for the honor. Voters, however, may have picked the wrong player.

By all accounts, Pascal Siakam had an incredible season and there’s few players more deserving but, Sacramento Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox improved far more from 2017-18 to 2018-19. Of course, there’s some strong arguments against Fox as MIP (more on that later), but it’s hard to say anyone in the NBA this season — or history — improved more than he did from last season to this one.

Still Siakam led the way with 86 out of 100 first place votes, garnering 469 total points in a landslide win that’s seemed like a foregone conclusion since the season ended. Russell finished second in voting with 12 first place votes and 255 total votes, while Fox finished a distant last place, receiving just one first place vote and 77 total votes (just 50 more than fourth place Buddy Hield).

Related Story. Was De’Aaron Fox deserving of All-Defensive Team vote?. light

Is that how they should’ve finished? And should it have been so lopsided?

The Numbers:

2018-19 Pascal Siakam (Third Season):

BBI Player Impact Plus-Minus: plus-3.80 (plus-2.61 improvement from ‘17-18)

ESPN Real Plus-Minus: plus-3.80 (plus-2.27)

NBA Math Total Points Added: 180.85 (plus-105.9)

2018-19 D’Angelo Russell (Fourth Season): 

Player Impact Plus-Minus: plus-0.2 (plus-2.18)

Real Plus-Minus: plus-1.53 (plus-3.95)

Total Points Added: 174.79 (plus-184.96)

2018-19 De’Aaron Fox (Second Season): 

Player Impact Plus-Minus: plus-1.90 (plus-5.93)

Real Plus-Minus: plus-1.82 (plus-6.09)

Total Points Added: 60.15 (plus-232.39)

All three players were certainly deserving of being a Most Improved Player finalist, but somebody certainly stands out above the rest. De’Aaron Fox paced the trio in every single category of improvement, and D’Angelo Russell topped Pascal Siakam in two of the three categories.

Siakam was already a good player last season, does that mean he should be punished for improving “less” than the other three? Absolutely not. Siakam was instrumental in getting the Toronto Raptors to the playoffs and, eventually, to the NBA Finals, though voting ends before the playoffs begin.

De’Aaron Fox, meanwhile, had a meteoric and historically great rise to NBA superstardom, improving in nearly area of his game — but isn’t that what he’s supposed to do?

Related Story. Breaking down De’Aaron Fox’s breakout season. light

That right there is the crux of the anti-Fox for MIP argument. Fox was drafted fifth overall in 2017, and took a year to get acclimated to the league. Once he did, he made a jump unlike many (or any) we’ve seen before, but as a second-year player, isn’t that what should be expected of him?

Only twice in history has a sophomore player won Most Improved, and both (Monta Ellis in 2007 and Gilbert Arenas In 2003) won it after being drafted in the second round. Fox was a highly regarding rookie who’s living up to his draft stock, which is what is expected of him.

Is Fox literally the Most Improved Player? Without a shred of doubt, he is. But that’s not how the award works. Historically, the award has been given to a player who’s been in the league for several seasons and made a leap from role-player to star.

This year’s race

could

should have been one to break the trend though. Fox was a second-year player, yes, but he was also the leader of his team. As was D’Angelo Russell, and though his improvement wasn’t as stratospheric as Fox’s, he is the only one of the three to make an All-Star game this season.

Siakam, however, wasn’t the best player on his team, and it could be argued he was third best behind Kyle Lowry. Again, this isn’t to denigrate Siakam’s season. He had a great year and was definitely deserving of his spot as a finalist. As the winner though? That’s not as clear-cut.

Next. Is passing on Nikola Vucevic a good thing?. dark

Maybe the fault lies less with voters, and more with how “most improved” is defined in the context of the award. Is it the voters’ fault for not picking the by-the-book “Most Improved Player”? Or is it the fault of the NBA for having an award that — similarly to the MVP — doesn’t necessarily recognize what it’s supposed to?

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