My end-of-season awards poll (2): Fastest Improvement Award and Best Rookie

3. Fastest Progress Award

My understanding of the progress of players is that the improvement of players has a quantitative improvement and a qualitative improvement, and the importance of the latter is greater than the former.

The so-called qualitative improvement means that the player can raise his level by a notch.

There is no strict distinction between the grades of players. I personally think that it can be roughly divided into three gears: belonging to the NBA, that is, being able to have a fixed playing time and entering the rotation lineup; being able to be a starter, the level of the league's top 150, and being in the league's top 30 level in its own position; being a star, as the core of the team, can lead the team to win, which is about the level of the top 50 in the league.

Of course, each grade can be subdivided into many smaller grades. Taking the star as an example, the standard of being the boss of the team is stricter than being the core of the team; being able to lead the team to win the regular season, and leading the team to win a series, and winning the championship, which can be divided into three grades. As for the regular season, winning and playing MVP performance are two levels. We only consider the regular season results for this award, so we don't consider the performance of the playoffs. In the past, people often took the letter brother to the crotch of the playoffs, saying that he was not worthy of the name of the regular season MVP, which are two concepts.

According to the above distinction, I think it is often the most difficult for a player to improve a notch, and this is not only reflected in the improvement of the data.

Students can be divided into many grades: students who study well in the class, students who study well in the school, and students who study well in the city. From the poor student in the class to the good student in the class, this span is very large, for example, each course increased from an average of 50 points to an average of 70; from a good student in the school to a good student in the city, it may be the difference between 88 points and 96 points, only 8 points, but do you think, which one is more difficult to improve?

Players are also a truth, you are a role player in the team, and be the boss, the responsibility you bear, the other side's defensive strategy against you, are completely different. As a role player, the opponent will not prepare a defensive strategy against you in advance, and the occasional outbreak does not explain anything. The most typical example, the Pelicans' Graham, averaged from 4 to 18 points per game the following year, and that year's Fastest Improvement Award was given to his current teammate Ingram. Although Ingram's score went from 18 to 23, improving by less absolute value than Graham, Ingram's position on the team changed. Looking back now, Graham is still in the rotational gear, while Ingram has risen from starting to star status.

This year's Fastest Improvement Award mainly includes the following candidates: Morant of the Grizzlies, Bain of the Grizzlies, Jackson of the Grizzlies, Garant of the Cavaliers, Murray of the Spurs, Williams of the Celtics, Poole of the Warriors, Bridges of the Suns, Maxi of the 76ers, etc.

Williams went from starting 13 games last year to the league's top defensive interior this season, and Jackson went from starting to the best defensive player, these are obvious improvements, but the general fastest improvement award, will not give this kind of biased players, the same as Bridges. His role is better than the previous two, and the team has better results, but it is still almost interesting. Maxi said the same.

Bain's progress this year has been so pronounced that he can even be said to be at the heart, averaging from 8 to 19 points per game. In a few games in Morant's absence, he became the Grizzlies' number one choice. But there are not many such games.

Poole's progress is also evident, he was the one I eliminated in the top three. Poole has improved all of his shooting percentages, especially the league's first free throw shooting percentage, in addition to scoring points. But how many players is Poole of the Warriors?

I was left with my top three options: Morant, Garant, and Murray, all of whom were the bosses of the team.

Murray is the spurs' well-deserved boss, scoring, assisting, stealing are the first in the team, rebounding is second, of which steals are still the first in the league. Spurs still entered the playoffs after trading with White, and Murray's lead as the boss is qualified, knowing that this is a team ready to rot.

And Murray's improvement is also obvious, almost all the data have improved.

Garrant's scoring this season is not that big compared to last season. But the rise of the Cavaliers is closely related to the rise of Garland and young players such as Mobley and Allen. Garant, as the boss of the team, also led the Cavaliers into the playoffs. He, like Murray, has proven himself to be able to win as the boss of the team after this season.

From proving to lead the team to winning, to being able to play at the MVP level, that's another matter, so I gave the fastest improvement award to Morant. Morant's weakness is that he has played few games this season, 57 games, and the Grizzlies have done very well in the games he has not played. But don't deny that when Morant came on, he was like an MVP this season.

My last choice: Morant (5 points), Garrant (3 points), Murray (1 point).

4. Best Rookie

The best rookie, in the past, basically gave the average score per game, after all, most of the rookies with high picks were in the bad team. Everyone doesn't care about the team's results, then it depends on the score.

The best rookie of the year, most of the time, is a battle between two people: The Cavaliers' Mobley and the Raptors' Barnes. The Pistons' Cunningham played very well in the final stages, but after all, the selection was the best rookie, not simply watching for a month or two. And from the team's results, Both Mobley and Barnes are ahead.

Most of the time, Mobley was ahead. Mobley was later injured for a period of time, and the team's performance dropped, while the Raptors' performance went up. Mobley played 69 games and Barnes 74 games, and the difference is not very different.

The data of these two people can also be described as strikingly similar:

From scoring to shooting percentage, it's very close, with Mobley rebounding slightly dominant and Barnes slightly dominant in three-point shooting and assists.

However, in terms of defense and rim protection, Mobley is better.

However, in terms of defense and rim protection, Mobley is better. If you set the game to at least 50 games, defending at least 5 opposing shots per game, Mobley's defensive ability under the basket (less than 6 feet) ranks first among rookies and fifth in the league:

My best rookie picks in the end: Mobley (5 points), Barnes (3 points), Cunningham (1 point).

5. Best Rookie Lineup

When it comes to the best team, it's often the most troublesome. Compared to the best lineup and the best defensive lineup, the characteristic of the best rookie lineup is that there is no need to consider the position, just find the best 10 rookies and put them in the first and second teams.

Of the five people in a burst, four are very easy to choose from, except for the above-mentioned Mobley, Barnes, Corningham, and the Magic Wagner, which is a candidate without suspense. The fifth person, which I've been thinking about for a long time, includes Gidy of the Thunder, Green of the Rockets, and Jones of the Pelicans.

Jones will be considered for the second team in the best defensive team, which is invaluable for rookies. Green scored high marks in a few games, and Gidy showed a control ability that is rare for a rookie. I'm inclined to pick one of Green and Gidey and then simply compare their data:

Green scored 5 points and Gidey rebounded 5 more. Green has many games and has a deliberate sense of scoring, and as a rookie, Although there are many mistakes, his coordination ability in the field is stronger than Green. So I gave the last spot in the round to Gidey.

The second team will definitely have green, Jones, and then the remaining three, from the Pacers' Dort, the Warriors' Cuminga, the Bulls' Doxam, the Rockets' ShinKin, and the Kings' Mitchell.

Without going into the details, the last person to be cut off is a choice between Mitchell and Cumminga:

Cumming plus has less time per game, but is more efficient than Mitchell, but Mitchell has a certain advantage in defense. If you set your playing time to at least 50 games and defend the opponent's no less than 5 shots per game, Mitchell is the best among the rookies:

Finally my best rookie lineup is

One squad (2 points): Mobley, Barnes, Cunningham, Wagner, Gidey

Second team (1 point): Green, Jones, Shinkin, Mitchell, Dort