Most Improved Player: Brandon Ingram
2nd: Julius Randle 3rd: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
This award could be shared by Julius Randle, but since he was given the MVP, we will give the Most Improved Player of the Year award to Brandon Ingram. Ingram did some work in the 2017 offseason, and it showed.
He went from a 9.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game in his 2016-17 rookie season to 16.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists in his second year. Ingram also improved his Defensive Rating, going from 112.6 in the 2016-17 season to 106.0 this year. He even became more efficient from the 3 point line, raising his 3-point shooting percentage from 29.4 to 39.0.
Ingram meticulously works hard on his offensive skills and it’s showing. It’s also nice to see the improvement on the defensive end, where Ingram can cause a lot of problems for opponents with his insane length.
Randle comes in second by increasing his points per game from 13.2 in 2016-17 to 16.1 this year. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope gets 2nd for increasing his 3-point shooting percentage from 35.0 percent in 2016-17 to 38.3 percent this year. He also increased his rebounds per game from 3.3 in 2016-17 to 5.2 this year.