The #Magic and the #NBA will announce today that Ryan Anderson is the Most Improved Player of the Year. — Josh Robbins (@JoshuaBRobbins) May 4, 2012<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Anderson was consistently good all season. Lin was good for about 2 weeks. Not saying Lin won't be great next season, just in regards to the award.
Anderson did it longer, but Linsanity (month of February) was something that gripped the entire nation. I think going from 15th man on the roster to leading team to 8 wins in 9 games something hard to top. Anderson probably deserved it, but Linsanity had much more impact for the NBA and the average fan.
Lin doesn't deserve it, injured too quickly. Yes he had a much bigger impact on the sport, but that's not what MIP is for.
No love for Andrew Bynum? Dude catapulted from injury-prone prospect, to being in the conversation for the best C in the NBA.
He's been horrible in the playoffs... but it's not a playoff award. I think he's deserving of the award. On the whole it's a pretty hit or miss award wrt the player's ultimate future. look at the history of who has won the award. yes, you have TMac, KJ, Monta Ellis types, but it is more populated with Boris Diaw, Bobby Simmons of the world.
He's sort of always in the talk for best C, but what really surprised me this playoffs is that he actually shut his mouth, haven't done any boneheaded **** and played the game. The result? Triple doubles.
Well deserved award. Anderson has played great this season. He was really playing well those last few games before the playoffs when Dwight went down. I don't like giving it to someone (like Lin) that goes from nowhere to starting. It's hard to measure improvement when he barely played last year.
I'm pretty sure the injury saved Lin's legacy and his prospects for a fat contract. He was playing over his head and reaping an inordinate amount of credit for the team's success, and if he played out the whole season his stat-line would have returned to the mean. Now, GMs have to guess at what he's worth on a short body of work. If he dies now, we can talk about what-could-have-been forever.
