NBA Roundtable: Who Should Be This Year's Most Improved Player?

It's been a while, but the NBA Roundtable has returned. Though Olympic basketball is the only hoops action on TV right now, three other writers and I decided to talk NBA this week.

Last season, Hedo Turkoglu had an outstanding year with the Orlando Magic and won the Most Improved Player award. But the question is now: Who will be this year's Hedo Turkoglu?

If you're an NBA junky, then at least five worthy candidates should come to mind in discussion for this year's MIP. Then again, it's not always easy because Turkoglu didn't even cross my mind this time last year as an MIP candidate.

Instead of going solo this year for my MIP predictions, three more of Bleacher Report's NBA junkies will join the conversation: Erick Blasco, Joe Willet, and TJ Zwarych.

But enough of the small talk, let's get this thing rolling...

Michael Whittenberg

As I mentioned before, Turkoglu didn't cross my mind as an MIP candidate last year, so I'm going to throw a surprise name out there this year.

5. Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics

After the Celtics acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett last summer, the only question mark heading into the season was the play of their young point guard. Rondo turned out to be better than expected, and I think he will improve even more next season.

Rondo doesn't have to score a lot for the C's, but I expect his point production to go up a bit from last season.

4. Francisco Garcia, Sacramento Kings

Garcia has always been an exceptional scorer from his days at Louisville, but now with Ron Artest out of the picture he's almost guaranteed a starting role for this upcoming season. Someone will have to take the load off Kevin Martin this year, but the only problem is his team might not be good enough for him to take the MIP award.

3. David Lee, New York Knicks

Laugh if you will, but if Lee can flourish under Mike D'Antoni's system he could have a breakout year next season. Problem is, he must earn a role as a starter.

Lee only started 10 games last season, but if he doesn't win MIP he'll definitely take home the Sixth Man of the Year trophy. And if you didn't know by now, this is my surprise name I'm throwing out there.

2. Devin Harris, New Jersey Nets

Now that Richard Jefferson is gone, Harris will have to fill the void on the offensive end. Harris has the potential to become a top-five point guard in the NBA some day, and I have the feeling that next season will be his breakout year.

And if they already haven't, the Dallas Mavericks will regret the day they traded Harris for Jason Kidd.

1. LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland Trailblazers

Though it failed to make the playoffs last season, Portland had a pretty good season. And no disrespect to Hedo, but Aldridge should have won the award last season.

No doubt Portland will be better this year, and, if his game continues to gain polish this upcoming season, he has the chance to run away with the MIP.

Erick Blasco

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