New York Knicks star Julius Randle has officially been announced as the 2020-21 Most Improved Player — a well-deserved honor for the first-time All-Star. As it turns out, however, the final results of the vote might come as a bit of a surprise for most.
The final results were released by the NBA, and apparently, it was not even close. Nope, not even a little bit:
The general belief was that Julius Randle was going to come away with the title, but perhaps not many saw that the race was actually this one-sided. Randle ended up getting all but two of the 100 first-place votes. Detroit Pistons forward Jerami Grant was the recipient of what feels like two consolation first-place votes.
Michael Porter Jr. of the Denver Nuggets, Christian Wood of the Houston Rockets, and Zach LaVine of the Chicago Bulls came in third to fifth, respectively, and they combined for a grand total of ZERO first-place votes.
The race to the second spot actually turned out to be neck-and-neck. Interestingly, Porter earned more second-place votes (40) over Grant (33).
At the end of the day, however, there's no denying that Randle absolutely deserves the Most Improved Player award. He's emerged as a true star this season and is the main reason why the Knicks were able to secure the fourth spot in the East.
Randle will need to do even more right now though, with his Knicks going down 1-0 to the Atlanta Hawks in their first-round series matchup. The MIP award is nice, but it will mean much less if the Knicks suffer a first-round exit.
Follow Us
Subscribe