The award for the Most Improved Player of the season is very open, already surpassed the equator of the regular season. Several players have presented their firm candidacy after completing a remarkable development compared to last year. Not long ago we already dedicated two articles to analyze several of them (here the first note and here the second).
Among them has emerged a Desmond Bane who has only needed two seasons to settle into the starting lineup of the Memphis Grizzlies and become a luxury squire for Ja Morant in the outside game. However the sophomore He believes that this award is not usually aimed at players like him, whose game is more oriented towards very specific roles.
“A lot of times they don’t want to give it to guys like me or like Jerami Grant,” Bane said on journalist Chris Haynes’ podcast. “But your role changes as you improve. You get more freedom of action and more opportunities. This is how the game works. They’re not going to give a guy a chance who’s not cut out for it.” Still, Bane thinks he’s a legitimate contender for the prize. “Yeah, I definitely think it should be in the conversation.”
The truth is that the forward’s numbers have increased from 14.8 points (in 36 minutes) last year to 21.3 today. However, the NBA does not usually give this award to second-year players. To find cases in which this was the case, we have to go back to Gilbert Arenas (2003) or Monta Ellis (2007).
In addition, Bane took advantage of his appearance on the program to propose his name as one of the participants in the triple contest in the All-Star Weekend. “If they invite me, I plan to accept and win it,” he stated.
(Cover photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)