In the 2011-2012 season, Harden played 62 games, averaged 31.4 minutes per game, averaged 16.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1 steal, 0.2 blocks, and won the best sixth man award, but his performance in the Finals was very bad, coupled with the Thunder's many young talents at the time, the team finally traded Harden to the Rockets in order to save $5 million, which became a turning point in Harden's career.
In his first season with the Rockets, Harden played 78 games, averaging 38.3 minutes per game, averaging 25.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.5 blocks per game, leading the Rockets to an eighth record in the West with 45 wins and 37 losses. Compared to the previous season, Harden has improved in terms of points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, averaging 9.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.3 blocks per game, a very large increase, but he did not qualify for MIP (Fastest Improvement Award), who did he lose to at that time, and what was the other side's data?
The player who won the 2012-2013 Fastest Improvement Award of the Year was Paul George, who was very successful that season, not only winning MIP, but also being selected as an All-Star for the first time, the first time to the Best Team (three teams), the first time to the Best Defensive Team (second team), three times to player of the week, and one time to player of the month.
George played 79 games that season, averaging 37.6 minutes per game, averaging 17.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.6 blocks per game. His performance in the previous season was: he played 66 games, averaged 29.7 minutes per game, averaged 12.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.6 blocks per game.
Like Harden, George has improved significantly in points, rebounds, assists and steals, averaging 5.3 points, 2 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 0.2 steals per game, leading the Pacers to a third-place record in the East with 49 wins and 32 losses (the Pacers did not play their last game against the Celtics, so there were only 81 games).
Comparison can be found that Harden's progress in scoring is much higher than George's, George's progress in rebounds and assists is more than Harden's, but Harden's progress in steals and blocks is higher than George's, in general, Harden's progress is greater than George', why is it not him who finally won the award, but George, who has slightly lower data? I think there are three reasons:
First, the standards are not the same
Harden was a 2009 Tanhua, the sixth man on the Thunder for the first three years of his career, but played a very important role, he has been improving in the three seasons, there are many highlight moments in the regular season and playoffs, he won the best sixth man award in 2012, and also averaged 18.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game in the 2012 Western Conference Finals, shooting 61% from three-point range.
Harden has proven that he is a player with a lot of potential, and when he leaves the Thunder to become the first core, get more playing time, more shooting opportunities, higher tactical status, he will definitely play a beautiful stats, so when he came to the Rockets in his first season of progress, everyone will not be surprised, because he could have!
On the other hand, George was selected with the tenth pick in 2010, the first two seasons of his career were mediocre, his performance in the playoffs was very bad, his shooting percentage was less than 39% in two consecutive seasons, no season averaged double-doubles, everyone did not have too high expectations for him, when he grew into an All-Star, the best team third team, the best defensive team second team star in the third season, he brought a shock much higher than Harden, most people think he is the one who improves faster, Because everyone has different standards for Harden and george.
Second, the progress on the defensive end is easy to ignore
When it comes to a player's progress, everyone likes to compare the data of points, rebounds, assists, etc., and it is easy to ignore the performance of the player on the defensive end. Everyone knows that George is a player with good offensive and defensive skills, but before 2013, his performance on the defensive end was not eye-catching, George's defensive contribution value in 2012 was 4.3, and in 2013, his defensive contribution value suddenly increased to 6.2, ranking in the top five in the league, and his selection into the best defensive team was from 2013, which shows that he also improved a lot on the defensive end that year.
On the other hand, Harden, when he was in the Thunder, Harden had two major firepower points around Durant and Westbrook, Harden could put more energy into the defensive end, and his defense was also excellent, but after joining the Rockets, he needed to score and need to organize, which caused him to become loose on the defensive end, often criticized as "eye defense", he not only did not improve on the defensive end, but regressed.
Third, the advantage of the record
Harden became the first core after being traded to the Rockets, leading the Rockets to a record of 45 wins and 37 losses, ranking eighth in the West. George was killed that season, the Pacers' boss Granger was reimbursed for the injury season, and George was used as the first core, leading the Pacers to a record of 49 wins and 32 losses.
Both were leading the team for the first time as the team boss, and George led the Pacers to a better record than the Rockets despite playing one less game, winning four more games than Harden in terms of record and five places ahead of Harden in terms of record rankings.
Combining these three reasons, Harden lost to George in 2013, and it is not unjust to miss the MIP Trophy, what do you say?