Hornets’ Devonte Graham doesn’t need a trophy to show how much he improved
The Charlotte Hornets have campaigned hard for Devonte Graham as the NBA’s Most Improved player.
They assembled a s’mores-themed packet of materials on Graham’s rise from playing mostly in the G-League last season to Hornets leading scorer this season. Coach James Borrego did a slew of interviews — locally and nationally — to say it’s obvious to him Graham deserves that award.
However, Graham isn’t going to win. The voting — by a panel of about 100 media members covering the NBA — closed Tuesday. I informally surveyed 10 voters. Graham got only one vote, and that was a third-place slot. What he did seemingly got lost, with the NBA on hiatus for three months and the Hornets not part of the restart.
Based on the feedback from those 10 voters, Miami’s Bam Adebayo or New Orleans’ Brandon Ingram will win.
Voters are asked to vote first, second and third places for this award. In my little survey, Adebayo got seven first-place votes and two seconds, while Ingram got two firsts and five seconds. Eight other players got votes in a random pattern, suggesting there is no clear third-best candidate in the voters’ minds.
Vastly improved
Graham doesn’t need some plaque to prove he improved vastly. His scoring rose from 4.7 points last season to 18.2 this one. His assists rose from 2.6 to 7.5. His 3-point percentage went from a shaky 28.1% to a strong 37.3%.
No one saw this coming: Graham didn’t start until 10 games into this season, and working him into the starters entailed shifting Terry Rozier over to mostly shooting guard.
But here’s what makes this understandable: Graham, an early-second round pick in the 2018 draft, was particularly mature and cerebral for an NBA rookie. He was also lucky to be playing behind an All-NBA point guard (Kemba Walker), who was backed up by a former NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (Tony Parker).
Graham became a sponge for the knowledge surrounding him. As a rookie, he’d spend a handful of games around Walker and Parker in Charlotte, then go to Greensboro to practice what he gleaned in G-League games.
It wasn’t a surprise that Graham, who grew up in Raleigh and played at Kansas, figured the NBA out; rather that he did so at such a quick rate.
Nebulous concept
The Most Improved Award typically draws the widest field of vote-getters. That’s because the term “most improved” is so subjective that it’s nebulous.
Is Player ‘X’ who comes out of nowhere to be a starter more improved than Player “Y” who ascends from starter to star? What about a star who crosses into All-NBA status? And how do you compare individual stats between players on good and bad teams?
Graham likely was hurt by circumstance. He got really hot from 3-point range in November and December, drawing the league’s attention. As defenses chased him off the 3-point line, he had to adjust, and that hurt his efficiency in January and February.
Then, the pandemic struck in March and the NBA went on hiatus for three months. The Hornets weren’t among the 22 teams included in the restart.
Out of sight, out of mind. National media covering the NBA probably didn’t watch a lot of Hornets games. It was far easier for the Pelicans’ Ingram or Heat’s Adebayo to be front-of-mind when those ballots were filled out this week.
Is Graham among the NBA’s most improved? Undoubtedly. Does it matter much whether he gets that trophy? Hardly.
He’s a keeper. He’s the Hornets’ keeper. That’s what counts.
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 2:41 PM.
