Oklahoma City Thunder: Best candidates for 2018-19 NBA awards

Most Improved Player: Nerlens Noel

Nerlens Noel won’t have to improve a lot to be in consideration for this award. The 24-year-old has been a pretty big disappointment during his five years in the league. There was a lot of excitement around him after he was drafted sixth overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2013. Since then, however, he has been plagued by injuries and has put up unspectacular numbers during his limited time on the court

Why, then, is Noel a prime candidate to take home the Most Improved Player award this season? For two big reasons: potential and opportunity. The former is something Noel has a lot of, and the latter is something he has been given very little of. With the Oklahoma City Thunder, the conditions are just right for him to break out of his slump and resurrect his career.

Noel is a very talented player whose lack of production has a lot to do with variables that have been outside of his control. During his time in Philadelphia he was either hurt or part of a dysfunctional logjam at the center position. Then he was traded to Dallas, a team that had no use for a traditional big in its system and barely gave him 15 minutes a game.

But consider this: in just 15 minutes per game with the Mavericks, Noel averaged 4.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 0.7 blocks. He should get much more opportunity in OKC, and if he can improve on those numbers just a little bit, he will be providing some very valuable, multi-category production. With enough minutes Noel can be a double-double machine — and he’s a good defender as well. He has as good a chance as anyone to win the Most Improved award this season.