Lol I wonder if it might have had something to do with them losing HoF defensive coach Larry Brown and 4xDPOY Ben Wallace 🤔

Seriously, Bron’s 2007 ECF against Detroit was cool but it’s disingenuous when people try and paint that team as if they were the same one that won the title with a historic defense a few years earlier

Why?? It’s the most improved player award, not the most unexpectedly improved player award.

It’s become a dumb award because a precedent was set that it was the “guy who went from third string to averaging 16 ppg on 50 TS% cos half his team got traded/injured” award.

Just like the Sixth Man of the Year award is just the “mediocre efficiency bench chucker of the year” award and the Coach of the Year is the “coach of the team that beat its over/under by the most regardless of how much coaching was involved” award

Overrated imo. Not as good as his counting stats as a rebounder/passer, not as good in the playoffs as a regular season and is an inherently hard archetype to build around (non spacing non rim protecting big).

He’s good but he’s not an All-Star calibre guy imo.

Fun fact, if they each replicate the season they just had, Wemby will pass Bam for career blocks by the end of the year.

Not really related to your point just a fun fact

Offensive rebounds have been tracked officially as a stat since 1974, and Zaza Pachulia has the 3rd most in a game since then with 18. It’s the most offensive rebounds in a game in the last 40 years.

He had only 3 defensive rebounds that game.

Feels like the general audience’s opinion of Austin Reaves went from “yet another overrated Laker role player” to “oh shit this dude is for real” in the span of 3 possessions in Game 1 against Memphis last year.