The NBA's All-Improved Team Heading into the 2015 All-Star Break
One of the most encouraging elements of the 2014-15 NBA regular season has been the tremendous improvement displayed by hungry youngsters across the board.
Whether it's been floor generals finding their offensive footing, shooting guards emerging as explosive scorers or centers bursting onto the scene by swatting shots and grabbing boards at historic rates, there are plenty of positive developments to examine with the All-Star break approaching.
Using the All-Star Game's positional template, there are two backcourt nominees and three frontcourt appointments, with a little wrinkle coming in the form of a sixth man.
Furthermore, the scope of the most improved race was limited to players still on rookie contracts, with one exception coming in the form of a career journeyman who was recently inked to a veteran-minimum pact.
Backcourt: Brandon Knight
1 of 6
Team: Milwaukee Bucks
Age: 23
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 17.7 points, 5.4 assists, 4.2 rebounds, 1.6 steals, 0.2 blocks, 18.4 PER
Go ahead and get paid, Brandon Knight.
After Knight and the Milwaukee Bucks failed to agree to terms on a contract extension prior to the Oct. 31 deadline for fourth-year players, Knight has flourished under the tutelage of head coach Jason Kidd.
Most notably, Knight is knocking down a career-high 40.7 percent of this threes—an 8 percent improvement from last season. Also dropping better than 17 points and five dimes a night, Knight has joined some exclusive company thanks to a mighty conversion rate from distance.
Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving and Mike Conley are the only other players averaging at least 15 points and five assists while shooting better than 40 percent from three.
Knight recently explained to ESPN Insider's Bradford Doolittle how he's evolved as a long-range assassin:
"I've always been a decent outside shooter. Last year I saw a bit of dip in my 3-point percentage. A lot of that had to do with starting the season with an injury. I had to feel my way back up and never got to where I should be. The first month and half of the season, I was playing with a bum hamstring. I don't make excuses, but a lot of that plays a role in going from 37 percent to 32 percent. But I definitely wanted to focus on that this summer. And to make sure I keep taking good shots.
"
With Kidd's guidance, Knight's also assisted on a career-high 28.2 percent of Milwaukee's total buckets.
Taking those statistical improvements into account, Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade told reporters Knight should represent the Eastern Conference in his place after it was announced that the Miami Heat guard will not participate in the All-Star Game.
"If I had a say, Brandon Knight," Wade said, according to the Sun Sentinel's Shandel Richardson. "I think it would be fitting for a Miami guy to take an honorary Miami guy's spot. I think he's done a great job of leading that team that a lot of people didn't give a chance to being a very good team that's respected."
To Wade's disappointment, commissioner Adam Silver has officially appointed Atlanta Hawks sharpshooter Kyle Korver as the replacement, according to Bleacher Report's Howard Beck.
Honorable Mention: Dennis Schroder, Atlanta Hawks
Backcourt: Jimmy Butler
2 of 6
Team: Chicago Bulls
Age: 25
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 20.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.9 steals, 0.6 blocks, 21.5 PER
Jimmy Butler, welcome to prime time.
The leading scorer on a team that includes Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol, Butler has seemingly locked up Most Improved Player honors by quickly ascending to the top of his developmental parabola.
Last season, Butler barely averaged better than 13 points. This season, he's bordering on 21 points per game and has already squashed his 2013-14 scoring total of 878 by more than 100 points.
Before the All-Star break.
And among shooting guards, he ranks No. 3 overall in player efficiency rating behind James Harden and Dwyane Wade. That's a 28-spot leap from last season.
Twenty-eight.
As it turns out, declining a four-year, $40 million contract extension prior to the Oct. 31 deadline was the smartest gamble Butler could have made.
Funny enough, Bulls vice president of basketball operations John Paxson now says the team will be amenable to matching max contract offers for Butler this summer, according to ESPN Chicago's Nick Friedell.
You might as well sign that check now, John. Butler's earned it.
Honorable Mention: Shabazz Muhammad, Minnesota Timberwolves
Frontcourt: Tobias Harris
3 of 6
Team: Orlando Magic
Age: 22
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 17.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.5 blocks, 16.9 PER
Oh look, another contract-year explosion. What a neat coincidence.
Finally operating as the Orlando Magic's full-time starting small forward, Tobias Harris is posting career highs in the scoring, assist and steal columns while knocking down 37.5 percent of his threes.
Not only is that a career best, but it represents a major departure from the ghastly 25.4 percent he shot on triples last season. Such a rapid rise in proficiency means he's also one of eight players averaging at least 17 points and six rebounds while converting better than 37 percent of their threes.
A huge development on that front has been Harris' noticeable comfort as a catch-and-shoot option from the corners. When he's not attacking below the free-throw line, Harris has shot a career-high 41.9 percent on corner threes, up from 28.6 percent a season ago.
"He plays with a lot confidence," Nikola Vucevic said, according to the Orlando Sentinel's Josh Robbins. "That comes from him working so hard. He put a lot of time in this summer to improve his game, and he did. Every day, you'd see him work out and try to get better, and it shows on the court. It all comes from that."
Don't discount his open-court capabilities, either.
"At least once a game, he’ll break the sound barrier, ripping a defensive rebound off the glass before going coast-to-coast for an insanely difficult finish—with either hand—at the rim," Bleacher Report's Michael Pina wrote. "He's a breathtaking player to watch."
Honorable Mention: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Frontcourt: Draymond Green
4 of 6
Team: Golden State Warriors
Age: 24
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 11.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.6 steals, 1.4 blocks, 15.8 PER
Per-game scoring and rebound improvements aside, Draymond Green has made his money as a dexterous presence who's readily considered a front-runner to capture Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Along with Anthony Davis, Nerlens Noel and DeMarcus Cousins, Green is one of four players averaging at least 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks. Last season, Green averaged just over a steal per game and couldn't crack one block per night as he started just 12 of a possible 82 games.
To date, Green's started all 50 games in which he's appeared, and it's hard to overstate just how important he's been to the league's top-ranked defense.
With Green holding both small and power forwards to efficiency ratings below 14, according to 82games.com, the Golden State Warriors have posted a defensive rating of 95.4 with him on the floor—three points better than the team's league-leading total.
Honorable Mention: Donatas Motiejunas, Houston Rockets
Frontcourt: Hassan Whiteside
5 of 6
Team: Miami Heat
Age: 25
2014-15 Per-Game Stats (in nine starts): 13.1 points, 11.4 rebounds, 2.1 blocks, 0.7 steals, 0.2 assists, 28.5 PER
At this point, it's valid to wonder if Hassan Whiteside is even a member of the human species.
No, he's not averaging a double-double over the course of 24 appearances. But if we account for the fact that Whiteside is only playing 19.5 minutes per game, his rate-adjusted numbers are enough to make your computer screen instantly burst into flames.
So take a deep breath and proceed with caution, because the following figures may induce whiplash due to a high volume of double takes.
Entering Wednesday night's clash with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Whiteside is averaging—and I promise these are accurate—18.2 points, 15.6 rebounds and 4.6 blocks per 36 minutes.
"Since January 1, he leads the NBA in blocks per game, ranks fourth in field goal percentage, and is ninth in rebounds per game," Grantland's Kirk Goldsberry wrote. "He’s been one of the league’s top rim protectors. In fact, any attempt to try to characterize this Whiteside insanity needs to include a list of freakish facts and figures."
Elaborating on Goldsberry's point, Whiteside's allowing a conversion rate of just 41.3 percent at the rim—No. 3 overall behind Rudy Gobert and Serge Ibaka (minimum five field-goal attempts per game), according to SportVU player-tracking data.
The amount of production he's packed into fewer than 20 minutes per game has been so astonishing that he already ranks No. 3 overall in PER behind Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook.
"He does everything 10 times better than I do it," Heat center Chris Andersen said, according to the Palm Beach Post's Jason Lieser. "With his length and his wingspan and jumping ability—s--t, he’s doing everything with ease. It looks like a video game deal where you create your own guy and he gets in there and just does what he does."
To top it all off, Whiteside leads the league in rebound rate (26.7), three points clear of the second-place Andre Drummond.
Honorable Mention: Steven Adams, Oklahoma City Thunder
Sixth Man: Rudy Gobert
6 of 6
Team: Utah Jazz
Age: 22
2014-15 Per-Game Stats: 7.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.1 blocks, 1.1 assists, 0.7 steals, 22.0 PER
Put lightly, Rudy Gobert is a physical anomaly. A 7'2'' specimen with a 7'9'' wingspan, per DraftExpress.com, Gobert has rapidly emerged as one of the NBA's most disruptive defensive forces.
When the towering Frenchman is patrolling the middle, the Utah Jazz have been 7.1 points better per 100 defensive possessions—posting what equates to the league's 14th-best defensive rating.
Gobert also leads the league in opponents' conversion rate at the rim—nearly four points ahead of Serge Ibaka at 37.4 percent, according to SportVU player-tracking data.
Aside from his supreme shot-blocking capabilities, Gobert has made some quiet improvements on offense, as outlined by Grantland's Zach Lowe.
"In an unexpected twist, he has become a clever passer," Lowe wrote. "Gobert had seven assists — seven! — in 434 minutes last season; he already has 56 in 1,134 minutes this season. Gobert isn’t Magic Johnson, but he has shown that he can read the floor on the pick-and-roll."
Additionally, Gobert's field-goal percentage (64.1) has spiked 15.5 points from last season while free throws are falling through the net at a 62.5 percent clip.
Quickly making Enes Kanter expendable, look for Gobert to assume full control of Utah's starting center spot next season, at the very latest.
Honorable Mention: Robert Covington, SF, Philadelphia 76ers
All statistics current as of games completed through Feb. 9 and courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless noted otherwise.
