The latest regular season award to get handed out has officially been announced, and it’s the NBA’s Most Improved Player award. The winner was Portland’s C.J. McCollum.
Draymond Green finished second in Defensive Player of the Year and Andre Iguodala finished in second for Sixth Man of the Year. As for the Golden State Warriors in this category, Stephen Curry and Green finished in the top seven during the voting process.
From Staff Report from CSN Bay Area.com:
Curry garnered seven first-place votes, 13 second-place votes and nine third-place votes for a total of 83 points. Draymond Green finished in seventh place with two first-place votes, 10 second-place votes and three third-place votes.
The seven first-place votes for Curry came from Bob Rathbun, Brian Scalabrine, David Aldridge, Jim Petersen, Michael Smith, Royce Young, and Tim Reynolds. The two for Green came from Brian Mahoney and John Denton. As you can see, there were a wide assortment of media who voted for them.
Besides McCollum winning it, the other players in the top ten were, in order, Kemba Walker, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Curry, Will Barton, Jae Crowder, Green, Isaiah Thomas, Hassan Whiteside, and Kawhi Leonard. Twelve different players received first place votes this year.
Curry is the odds-on favorite to win his second straight league Most Valuable Player award, and its pretty amazing to see the reigning MVP in the conversation for most improved the following season. Draymond Green is also coming off of his second consecutive second-place finish in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. Both Warriors stars were magnificent during the 2015-16 NBA season.