DJ Augustin: Most Improved Player?

captaincrunk · Post #1 » by **captaincrunk** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:46 pm

Under Larry Brown, DJ was on track to have the most improved PER of any player in the league. Even Kevin Love hasn't had the same statistical improvement. He was definitely in the talks for most improved.

How do you think this will be affected by the coaching change? Do you think he has a shot?

Post #2 » by **fatlever** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:54 pm

i definitely think dj will be in the discussion for MIP at season end, but i doubt he will get it.

who are some others in consideration?

kevin love? 14 to 21ppg
wesley matthews? 9.5 to 16ppg
russell westbrook? 16 to 22.5ppg
derrick rose? 20 to 25ppg
lemarcus aldridge? 18 to 21ppg
michael beasley? 15 to 20.5ppg
raymond felton? 12 to 17ppg
nick young? 8 to 16ppg
jrue holiday? 8 to 14.5ppg

captaincrunk · Post #3 » by **captaincrunk** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:59 pm

fatlever wrote:i definitely think dj will be in the discussion for MIP at season end, but i doubt he will get it.

who are some others in consideration?

kevin love? 14 to 21ppg
wesley matthews? 9.5 to 16ppg
russell westbrook? 16 to 22.5ppg
derrick rose? 20 to 25ppg
lemarcus aldridge? 18 to 21ppg
michael beasley? 15 to 20.5ppg
raymond felton? 12 to 17ppg
nick young? 8 to 16ppg
jrue holiday? 8 to 14.5ppg

Klove seems like the frontrunner, it's true. I won't knock him. But Westbrooke and Rose really haven't improved that much. Yeah Rose can shoot the three, but eh was already a 20+ppg scorer. LMA with a 3 point boost isn't impressive when you're already at 18 and BROY goes down.

Beasley though, is another good candidate. He's just gone off the handle. Nick Young doesn't seem like much of a threat.

Jrue does, he is much improved too. So basically my top 5, in no particular order, are Klove, Beas, DJ, Jrue, and Mathews. The others were already fantastic players. These 5 here went from either bench scrub or last option on the starting lineup to pushing their team. Klove and Beas aren't winning games, though that often doesn't stop you from winning the award.

doc.end · Post #4 » by **doc.end** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:09 pm

I wonder how much love could Tyrus get for 6th man of the year. Someone claimed he has the highest PER among non-starters around the league, but I'm no Paydro to back it up.

captaincrunk · Post #5 » by **captaincrunk** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:21 pm

doc.end wrote:I wonder how much love could Tyrus get for 6th man of the year. Someone claimed he has the highest PER among non-starters around the league, but I'm no Paydro to back it up.

He most definitely did. I think he was in the top like, 15 at one point. He's making a good case for it.

hhvo · Post #6 » by **hhvo** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:49 pm

Espn has the MIP and 6th Man awards as follow:

Most Improved Player Of The Year Watch

Love
1. Kevin Love, Wolves: I keep reading that Love shouldn't be eligible for this award because he was already a good player, but how can you overlook what he has done? He is averaging seven more points and almost five more rebounds per game compared to last season.

2. Raymond Felton, Knicks: If he doesn't make the All-Star Game, it'll be a shame. He just posted a triple-double against Steve Nash and the Suns and is averaging career highs across the board.

3. Michael Beasley, Wolves: Minnesota's leading scorer (21.3 points per game) aggravated his ankle this past weekend and may miss some time this week.

4. Eric Gordon, Clippers: Normally, huge spikes in production are attached to a big increase in minutes. With EG, that is not the case. The shooting guard is averaging just two more minutes per game.

5. Jrue Holiday, Sixers: Philly has been playing better ball lately, and it starts and stops with the play of the Sixers' young point guard.

Sixth Man Of The Year Watch

Crawford
1. Jamal Crawford, Hawks: After a slow start to the season, nobody is playing better off the pine right now than Crawford, who is averaging 25.4 points and 4.4 assists in his past five games.

2. Jason Terry, Mavericks: Kobe Bryant is known as the closer, but this season few players have heated up in the fourth quarter like Terry, who seems to save his best for last.

3. Glen Davis, Celtics: A case can be made that Big Baby should be the leading candidate for this award. He fills in the gaps for the oft-injured Celtics, brings intangibles like hustle and energy to the table and is averaging 12.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.

4. Leandro Barbosa, Raptors: According to my colleague John Hollinger, the Barbosa-led bench is tops in the league.

5. Thaddeus Young, Sixers: Even though he is inconsistent, on most nights he provides a much-needed spark to the Sixers. He is averaging 11.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per contest.

Thomas should at least been up there with the top 5 for 6th man, looking at that list.

doc.end · Post #7 » by **doc.end** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:57 pm

Well if Thad Young is in TOP 5...

captaincrunk · Post #8 » by **captaincrunk** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:02 pm

Yeah ESPN doesn't know what they're talking about.

LamarMatic7 · Post #9 » by **LamarMatic7** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:10 pm

I don't think that the NBA will hand out this award to DJ, simply because Charlotte isn't a big market team. Giving it to Love just makes more sense for them. He's more known to the general public as a player for the national team, he had a 30+30 game and is averaging simply ridicolous stats. It would be a more popular decision.

Post #10 » by **BigSlam** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:11 pm

Because Minni is such a big market team?

captaincrunk · Post #11 » by **captaincrunk** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:14 pm

LamarMatic7 wrote:I don't think that the NBA will hand out this award to DJ, simply because Charlotte isn't a big market team. Giving it to Love just makes more sense for them. He's more known to the general public as a player for the national team, he had a 30+30 game and is averaging simply ridicolous stats. It would be a more popular decision.

Yeah but we already knew he could rebound and score last year. I'll admit he's more likely to get it but that doesn't mean he's the most improved player.

LamarMatic7 · Post #12 » by **LamarMatic7** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:16 pm

BigSlam wrote:Because Minni is such a big market team?

As I said he's more known because he played for the national team during the summer, because he got the media coveraged on the 30+30 game and people simply are talking about him as a potential allstar because he's putting up crazy numbers.

captaincrunk · Post #13 » by **captaincrunk** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:18 pm

LamarMatic7 wrote:
BigSlam wrote:Because Minni is such a big market team?

As I said he's more known because he played for the national team during the summer, because he got the media coveraged on the 30+30 game and people simply are talking about him as a potential allstar because he's putting up crazy numbers.

He wasn't exactly a bench scrub last year.

LamarMatic7 · Post #14 » by **LamarMatic7** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:20 pm

captaincrunk wrote:
LamarMatic7 wrote:
BigSlam wrote:Because Minni is such a big market team?

As I said he's more known because he played for the national team during the summer, because he got the media coveraged on the 30+30 game and people simply are talking about him as a potential allstar because he's putting up crazy numbers.

He wasn't exactly a bench scrub last year.

I didn't say that he was. And still 7.2 points and 4.7 rebounds is a nice improvement.

captaincrunk · Post #15 » by **captaincrunk** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:23 pm

LamarMatic7 wrote:
captaincrunk wrote:
LamarMatic7 wrote:As I said he's more known because he played for the national team during the summer, because he got the media coveraged on the 30+30 game and people simply are talking about him as a potential allstar because he's putting up crazy numbers.

He wasn't exactly a bench scrub last year.

I didn't say that he was. And still 7.2 points and 4.7 rebounds is a nice improvement.

DJ has improved from 6 points to 14, that's over 7 as well. His assists have gone up by around 3.5, and turnovers might actually be down, even with the much increased minutes. I'm not saying he's better than Kevin Love, I'm saying he was a lot worse than him last year. DJ's advantage in this is that he looked really bad last year. MY hope is that with Silas he'll get even more points and assists, which seems to be the case so far!

And I still think Klove will win it at this point.

LamarMatic7 · Post #16 » by **LamarMatic7** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:27 pm

captaincrunk wrote:DJ has improved from 6 points to 14, that's over 7 as well. His assists have gone up by around 3.5, and turnovers might actually be down, even with the much increased minutes. I'm not saying he's better than Kevin Love, I'm saying he was a lot worse than him last year. DJ's advantage in this is that he looked really bad last year. MY hope is that with Silas he'll get even more points and assists, which seems to be the case so far!

And I still think Klove will win it at this point.

I agree with you, I didn't say that Love deserves to be the MIP. I'm just saying that I think the league will make the decision of awarding it to him.

captaincrunk · Post #17 » by **captaincrunk** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:28 pm

Still half a season to go. If he still averages 14 ppg at that point then I doubt he has much of a chance. Hopefully he'll get a few more 25+ point performances.

Post #18 » by **Paydro70** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 9:57 pm

There's no way DJ wins this. Last year's debacle makes his season-to-season stat jump look more exaggerated than his actual improvement as a player. Compared to his rookie season it's just not that huge of a leap.

Regardless, a leap from "bad" to "decent" is just nowhere near as impressive as the leap from "good" to "awesome," which is what Kevin Love has done. If I had a vote, however, it'd be for Westbrook. Jumping to superstar-level usage rate AND improving his efficiency is crazy.

Tyrus is #2 now in non-starter PER, behind Ryan Anderson. I don't see any way either one wins though, they don't play enough minutes to measure up with Crawford or Terry.

freakon0mics · Post #19 » by **freakon0mics** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 10:01 pm

For him to get it, it needs to be a drastic stat jump and also the team's record should be at or around .500. I just don't see them getting the award to someone putting up crazy stat numbers on a bad team. His average should spike up more to around 16 or 17 ppg and around 7 or 8 apg for him to get it.

captaincrunk · Post #20 » by **captaincrunk** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 11:37 pm

freakon0mics wrote:For him to get it, it needs to be a drastic stat jump and also the team's record should be at or around .500. I just don't see them getting the award to someone putting up crazy stat numbers on a bad team. His average should spike up more to around 16 or 17 ppg and around 7 or 8 apg for him to get it.

Kevin Love's team sucks balls, and I'm saying he might get the chance to increase his stats. IF nothing else, more possessions a game will help.