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Washington Wizards: Best candidates for 2018-19 NBA awards

By Matt H

NEW ORLEANS, LA - JANUARY 29: Marcin Gortat #13 of the Washington Wizards, John Wall #2, Markieff Morris #5, Otto Porter Jr. #22 and Bradley Beal #3 talk during the second half of a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center on January 29, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. 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. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - JANUARY 29: Marcin Gortat #13 of the Washington Wizards, John Wall #2, Markieff Morris #5, Otto Porter Jr. #22 and Bradley Beal #3 talk during the second half of a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center on January 29, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. 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. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images
Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images /

Most Improved Player: Otto Porter Jr.

The Most Improved Player of the Year award has a few key trends that help highlight what it takes to qualify. Since the 2010-11 season, the award has gone to a forward five times, so it’s not reserved for ball-dominant guards like Sixth Man of the Year. Also, in the case where a forward won the award, the player witnessed a spike in scoring of roughly 5-8 points per game, in addition to one other improvement of their overall game such as rebounds, 3-pointers, etc.

Lastly, each player that won the Most Improved award wasn’t necessarily on a top playoff contender, which makes the field of eligible players pretty wide open. Because of those fairly basic criteria, MIP is one of the hardest awards to predict.

However, since this is an assessment of the best award candidates on the current Wizards roster, Otto Porter stands out as the sole player that actually has a significant chance to be in the conversation.

In an earlier season preview article, the projections for Porter were admittedly on the conservative side with him averaging 15.5 points on 5.0 attempts from 3 and an overall average defensive rating as the Wizards’ prototypical 3-and-D wing.

So where is the path for Porter to qualify for MIP?

The answer lies in John Wall’s ability to get Porter the ball beyond the conservative projections. Last season, Porter’s shot 44.1 percent from 3 with an assisted shooting percentage of 94.6. Basically, if Wall can increase the feed to Porter from behind the arc, increasing his 5.0 projected 3-point shot attempts to 7.0 or even 8.0 for the season, it’s easy to see his scoring average spike from the projected15.5 points per game up to 18-20 points.

Add in an improved effort on the defensive side of the ball to add to his scoring increase and you have the makings of the NBA’s Most Improved Player.

Odds: Likely, with the added 3-point attempts

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