RuffnReadyOzStyle
03-15-2008, 09:20 PM
I am happy to report that my premonitions about Orlando's Hedo Turkoglu were way, way off.
The league office confirmed this week that Turkoglu is indeed more than eligible to win the NBA's Most Improved Player award.
I honestly wasn't sure because of what it says on the ballot. The MIP, according to the ballot's instructions, is meant to go to "an up-and-coming player" and is "not intended to be given to a player who has made a comeback.''
Those guidelines were actually brought to my attention a few years back when I wrote in this cyberspace that I planned to vote for then-Orlando forward Grant Hill as my MIP in 2005 because his consistently poor luck with health improved to the point that Hill had reclaimed his usual spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star team. An official from another team touting a MIP contender of its own called me to point out that I was ignoring the official guidelines.
Yet it turns out that the league is not nearly as firm as I feared on the up-and-coming part. Turkoglu is almost 29 and in his eighth season, but an NBA official stressed that the guidelines aren't intended to exclude anyone aside from players making full-fledged comebacks from a lengthy absence.
So ...
You can still debate whether Hedo is the most improved player on his own team, given the progress made by Dwight Howard this season. But since Howard was already an All-Star -- which is bound to rule him out with some voters even though he's made that most challenging leap to the stratosphere of MVP candidate -- there's little question that Turkoglu's improvement has been more pronounced.
The versatile Turk, discarded by Sacramento after just three seasons, has generally given Orlando more than $113 Million Man Rashard Lewis. He's transformed himself into one of the league's better fourth-quarter performers, having scored 10-plus points in the final period 14 times. Overall, Turkoglu has raised his nightly offensive output more than nine points from a career average of 10.5 points per game to 19.6 points, helping him earn back-to-back Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors on Jan. 27 and Feb. 3.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-080315-16
If only he'd played like that for us we'd be chasing a 6th ring right now, and the repeat would've been taken care of.
Bloody Hedo. :pctoss
The league office confirmed this week that Turkoglu is indeed more than eligible to win the NBA's Most Improved Player award.
I honestly wasn't sure because of what it says on the ballot. The MIP, according to the ballot's instructions, is meant to go to "an up-and-coming player" and is "not intended to be given to a player who has made a comeback.''
Those guidelines were actually brought to my attention a few years back when I wrote in this cyberspace that I planned to vote for then-Orlando forward Grant Hill as my MIP in 2005 because his consistently poor luck with health improved to the point that Hill had reclaimed his usual spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star team. An official from another team touting a MIP contender of its own called me to point out that I was ignoring the official guidelines.
Yet it turns out that the league is not nearly as firm as I feared on the up-and-coming part. Turkoglu is almost 29 and in his eighth season, but an NBA official stressed that the guidelines aren't intended to exclude anyone aside from players making full-fledged comebacks from a lengthy absence.
So ...
You can still debate whether Hedo is the most improved player on his own team, given the progress made by Dwight Howard this season. But since Howard was already an All-Star -- which is bound to rule him out with some voters even though he's made that most challenging leap to the stratosphere of MVP candidate -- there's little question that Turkoglu's improvement has been more pronounced.
The versatile Turk, discarded by Sacramento after just three seasons, has generally given Orlando more than $113 Million Man Rashard Lewis. He's transformed himself into one of the league's better fourth-quarter performers, having scored 10-plus points in the final period 14 times. Overall, Turkoglu has raised his nightly offensive output more than nine points from a career average of 10.5 points per game to 19.6 points, helping him earn back-to-back Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors on Jan. 27 and Feb. 3.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-080315-16
If only he'd played like that for us we'd be chasing a 6th ring right now, and the repeat would've been taken care of.
Bloody Hedo. :pctoss