On April 18, Beijing time, the NBA officially announced the candidates for major awards this season. Among them, Poole's failure to win the Fastest Progress Award has caused great controversy.
Let's take a look at the major award candidates:
The final three candidates for the regular season MVP: Jokic, Embiid, and Alphabet Brother
The final three candidates for the best rookie: Cavaliers Detective Evan Mobley, Raptors No. 4 Scotty Barnes and Pistons Champion Cade Cunningham
The final three candidates for best coach: Suns coach Monty Williams, Grizzlies coach Jenkins and Heat coach Spollstra
The ultimate three candidates for Defensive Player of the Year: Mikael Bridges, Gobert and Smart
The final three candidates for the Fastest Progress Award: Morant, Garland and Murray
That means The Warriors Poole missed the Fastest Improving Player Award in advance. Morant averaged 19.1 points, 4 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 0.9 steals last season, and he averaged 27.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.2 steals this season. Garland averaged 17.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.2 steals last season, 21.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 8.6 assists and 1.3 steals this season, Spurs Murray averaged 15.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.5 steals last season, and 21.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 9.2 assists and 2 steals this season.
Poole, however, is more inspirational. In his last playoff debut, Poole scored 30 points, becoming the Warriors' number one contributor to winning. He was still playing in the development league last season, and stats website StatMuse questioned, "Jordan Poole was not selected as the candidate for the fastest improving player? ”
Marc Stein said, "There is no respect for Morant, but Jordan Poole should obviously be on this shortlist." Grant Liffmann also said, "Jordan Poole can use this as a motivation." In the final month and a half of the regular season, this guy averaged 26 points per game.
Teammate Green even said, "If Jordan Poole is not a MIP (fastest improving player), then the NBA really needs to revisit their process, because you can't find a person on the roster who has made more progress." If he's not the most improved player, then let's rename the award and I'll start the petition online. "
Last season, Poole played in 51 games, only 7 starts, averaging 12 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game, and this season, he played in 76 games, 51 starts, averaged 18.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4 assists per game, shooting 44.8% from the field and 36.4% from three-point range, all of which are career highs.