Hoops Habit
Fansided

Luka Doncic, Brandon Ingram headline NBA Most Improved Player Ladder

By Phil Watson

NBA Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic Minnesota Timberwolves Andrew Wiggins. Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)
NBA Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic Minnesota Timberwolves Andrew Wiggins. Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 8
Next
NBA Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic Minnesota Timberwolves Andrew Wiggins
NBA Dallas Mavericks Luka Doncic Minnesota Timberwolves Andrew Wiggins. Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Despite a track record for not supporting 2nd-year players for NBA Most Improved Player, what Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks is doing is eye-popping.

With most teams at or near the quarter-pole in the NBA schedule, some clear contenders for Most Improved Player honors are emerging.

More from Hoops Habit

The only problem is that the definition of “improvement” has been somewhat amorphous over the years since the award was first introduced in 1985-86. For several years, the award could have just as easily been dubbed “Guy Who Got His Minutes Jacked Up Award,” as dramatic increases in the counting stats received a lot of weight from voters.

More recently, however, the trend has been to really look for players who made a significant leap forward not just in raw numbers, but also in efficiency and contributing to their team’s success.

Last year’s MIP, Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors, was a prime example of that philosophy. Looking at his raw per-game averages, Siakam went from 7.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 2017-18 to last year’s figures of 16.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists.

But those large increases came with a large increase in playing time, from 20.7 minutes per game in 2017-18 to 31.9 last season — an increase of more than 11 minutes a night.

However, when looking at Siakam’s production from a normalized perspective — in this case per-36 minutes — the improvement in Siakam’s game starts to stand out. His scoring increased from 12.1 points per 36 to 19.1, while his rebounding and assist numbers remained mostly static.

His shooting, though, also dramatically improved, from a slash line of .508/.220/.621 to last year’s marks of .549/.369/.785.

In our initial edition of the MIP Ladder for this season, there were some criteria taken into account. Players had to have (a) played in more than half of their team’s games and (b) averaged at least 25 minutes per game. Only one Most Improved Player winner has logged less than 25 minutes per game, Isaac Austin of the Miami Heat in 1996-97, and only three others averaged less than 30.

Through roughly seven weeks of play in the books for the 2019-20 NBA season, there are some solid contenders for the honor … although one player is far ahead of the pack. The ladder will include seven players (the average number of players receiving first-place votes for MIP over the previous five seasons is 7.2). So let’s dive in.