My NBA Awards ballot: picking every NBA award for the 2023-24 season
By Ben Handler
Most Improved Player
This award always seems to be a Rorschach test of sorts for NBA fans and voters as there is a fundamental disagreement about what this award is intended for. Does it go to a player who was good, but made a leap to stardom? Or should it be for players who went from borderline obscurity to good players? Something in between? Something different?
There are no set criteria so it’s in the eye of the beholder. I like to go with overall improvement versus expectation. So apologies to guys like Tyrese Maxey, who took a great leap, but I already knew you were really good. With Harden out of the picture and another year of development, I expected Maxey to make a leap and he did that.
But to me, this award is for people who I expected very little of and became good NBA players on some level. Some players who come to mind are guys like Dante Exum, Sam Merrill, Jalen Suggs, Coby White, and Donte DiVincenzo. Those players had never really impressed - or even played much - in the NBA, and some were thought to be draft busts.
But they’ve all taken huge steps this year and carved out different levels of utility in NBA rotations. The biggest jump and surprise to me was Coby White, who became a borderline All-Star in the absence of Zach Lavine. He kept the Bulls afloat and became arguably their best and most efficient offensive player, which is something I never would have seen coming.