Can Most Improved Player Frontrunner Tyrese Maxey Keep His Lead?
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00:00 are odds that you generally don't see in November, in the early part of the NBA season.
00:05 It's the NBA's most improved player.
00:07 We just focused on Tyrese Maxey.
00:09 We don't need to make a case for this because FanDuel has just told you that he's the odds-on
00:13 favorite to win and a heavy favorite, a plus 100 in November.
00:17 I mean, Gilbert, that's just like unheard of this part of the season.
00:20 Now Scottie Barnes is 5-1.
00:23 We have Cam Thomas at 11-1, Cade Cunningham 15-1.
00:27 And then beyond that, a couple of players that I don't know, I mean, I guess they would
00:30 have a shot here, but you can see how short these odds are, Gilbert.
00:34 Can you make a case that Barnes or Thomas can win?
00:37 Or is this just one to stay away from and hand this thing to Maxey?
00:42 It really does feel like it's going to be a runaway with Tyrese Maxey.
00:45 And I don't hate it.
00:46 You know, this is a guy who was a late first round pick or mid to late first round pick
00:49 who was really exceeding expectations that were placed upon him when he came into the
00:52 NBA.
00:53 That being said, we are less than a month into the season, and there's plenty of time
00:57 for one of these other guys to kind of make a leap.
00:59 There's a precedent for a guy like Scottie Barnes winning most improved player.
01:03 He was rookie of the year two years ago, and John Morant won rookie of the year in 2020,
01:06 and then two years later was named most improved player.
01:08 So if Scottie Barnes continues to play the way he's been playing early on in the year
01:12 and is able to be an all NBA caliber player, then maybe there is a way for him to win most
01:19 improved this year.
01:20 Brian Thomas is a guy who people aren't paying that close attention to, but every other night
01:24 he's a threat to score 40 points in a game.
01:27 He's another guy who was taken late in the first round and really has had to fight to
01:31 have the role that he has now with the Nets, which partly came because of trade and partly
01:35 came because of injury.
01:36 So he's an intriguing person for me, and I think that will come if he continues to have
01:41 some big games and a bigger spotlight is placed on that Nets team because not a lot of people
01:45 are paying attention to the Nets and really not a lot of people paying attention to the
01:47 Raptors either.
01:48 So they're going to have to force people to pay attention to what they're doing, but
01:51 they're doing a lot of things this year in Philadelphia, in Brooklyn, and in Toronto.