Victor Oladipo Is The 2018 Most Improved Player

Congratulations to the well deserving Victor Oladipo on winning the 2018 Most Improved Player Award. He’s the first point guard to the award since Goran Dragic back in 2013-14. Once he got to IND and became “the guy” Oladipo flourished. His points per game jumped by nearly 7 points a night while shooting a career best 47% from the floor and a career best 37% from deep. In almost every statistical category Oladipo made a jump, from Ortg where he jumped 4 points, to Drtg where he jumped 5 points. His TS% improved from 53 to 57%, he hit the boards more than he ever had in his career, had the best stl% of his career, all while having a season in which his usage rate was above 30%. You would think that a guy getting his first crack at this type of production would be inefficient, but that just goes to show what a crazy season Oladipo had.

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We all laughed when IND made this trade for Paul George, but the Pacers certainly are the ones laughing now as the trade looks great for them. They have a young rising star who loves to be in Indiana and is on the path to stardom if he keeps this up. If he ever learns how to consistently get to the line, look the hell out.

Normally to win this award you need some sort of massive jump, usually in scoring, so the fact that Oladipo was able to not only do that but improve his all around game made this an easy choice. People worried that Oladipo would never turn into this type of player, but now that he;’s here the sky is the limit.