For many players, in addition to the pursuit of the championship, the personal honors such as the MVP and the best defensive player in the regular season are also the goals they chase, after all, like the championship, these awards are only one per year, which can be said to be precious. The NBA also seems to recognize that the MVP is still a little difficult for many players to get involved, so at the beginning of the 85-86 season, the fastest improving player award was specially set up.
Awarding each season's outstanding ball is a bit like a "small" MVP trophy, and stars including Maddy, George, Alphabet Brother and others have all lifted this trophy.
However, the winner of this trophy, compared to the MVP, is in a very unstable state, and even after winning it that year, the next year won a big contract, and it directly began to rot, which was a big surprise. Below, let's take stock of the five winners of the "Parallel Cargo" Fastest Progressive Player Award.
1. Julius Randall
In fact, compared to others, Randall's performance is still good, but his personal ability and contribution to the team are unacceptable. Last season, he averaged 24.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and six assists per game, not only winning the Fastest Improving Player Award, entering the All-Star, but also being selected for the second team and helping the Knicks re-enter the playoffs after many years. Even if the playoff performance is indeed "hot", the good guys are also fourth in the East in the regular season, which is enough to show their success last season.
As a result, the Knicks also completed a four-year, $117 million early contract extension with him, while Randle's report card this season is 19.7 points, 10.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists, and the three shooting rates are all reduced, and the number of turnovers has reached a career high of 3.6. In addition, don't be "deceived" by the data sheets he can see, his performance on the field is very inefficient, unnecessary mistakes and constant iron, so that the team suffered deeply. Just last month, he also clashed with the assistant coach, causing the team's management to consider sending him away. The most unacceptable thing for the team is that they are now 25 wins and 35 losses, and most likely they will not make it to the playoffs.
2. Ryan Anderson
Can you believe that Anderson today is actually just a 33-year-old veteran? However, this is already his second season away from the NBA, and with only 27 games in his last two seasons, he has gradually disappeared from the mainstream media after 2018. People familiar with him must know that in the early years of his debut at the Nets, his outstanding performance once squeezed Yi Jianlian out of the starting lineup. Then came the Magic, where his projection ability was finally amplified the most around Howard.
In the 11-12 season, he won the Most Improved Player Award with an average of 16.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and 39.3% three-point shooting per game. In the Pelicans' three years, he once came up with a statistic of 19.8 points per game, setting a benchmark for a large pitcher. However, due to injuries and weak performance in the playoffs, he gradually lost confidence, coupled with his own offensive and defensive characteristics, he has completely unsuitable for this era, so he eventually lost his former style, until he was eliminated from the NBA.
3. Aaron Brooks
As an older generation of Rockets players, "Little Black Bean" Aaron Brooks is one of yao ming teammates that fans appreciate very much. In the 08-09 Western Conference Semifinals, it was Brooks who took over the offensive end of the fire after Yao Ming was injured, helping the Rockets drag the Lakers to the seven-time game, so that the media and fans could see the rocket's tenacity. It was also the following season that Yao Ming's absence allowed him to get a lot of shooting rights.
That year, he played 82 games, averaging 19.6 points, 5.3 assists per game, and shooting 39.8% from three-point range, knowing that with only 1.83 meters, it was not easy for him to do this, and although the Rockets did not enter the playoffs, the winning rate also reached more than 50%, so Xiaobu also won the Fastest Improving Player Award. However, the next season, he suffered a serious injury, the stats shrank sharply, and was quickly abandoned by the Rockets, after which he had a brief recovery in the Bulls, but only a return to the light, such a short height is indeed too disadvantageous. After wandering many teams, he even came to the CBA, but still could not play the corresponding performance, and finally disappeared from the crowd.
4. Hiddow Turkgru
The 07-08 season was definitely a memorable year for the Orlando Magic at the time, with Howard becoming the NBA's number one center and beginning to cash in on his strong talent, while the team finished third in the East after the Celtics and Pistons. And the magic can complete the counterattack, in addition to Howard's dominance, it is also inseparable from Turkgru.
The little-known Turk, who averaged 19.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and five assists per game that season, was uncontroversially voted the fastest improving player. As a rare "organizational striker" of that era, Turkgru's role on the offensive end was very important, he completely liberated Nelson and Lewis, allowing them to project at will, and could efficiently execute the internal and external connections with Howard, and the super high ball quotient was the magic weapon on which he relied for survival. However, with the trip to the Raptors, his career began to encounter Waterloo, and even if he returned to the Magic, he could not regain his former style. After 2015, he left the NBA and is now the president of Turkey's Basketball Association.
5. Bobby Simmons
The player is a model of big contract playing, and perhaps many fans are not familiar with him, although his career has as many as 11 seasons, he has only played 466 games in total, averaging only 9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. However, in the 04-05 season, he seemed to have "opened up" the year, becoming a stable scorer for the Team at the Clippers, averaging 16.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game, shooting and shooting 46.6% and 43.5% from three-point range.
After the Bucks saw his outstanding performance, they directly threw out a large contract of 47 million yuan and won the player with a heavy money. However, after coming to Milwaukee, he was "exposed" in addition to his first year of fair performance. Year-on-year declines in scoring ability and poor performances eventually led the team to eventually abandon him, and it wasn't long before the NBA gave up on him.