Andray Blatche picks up first place vote for Most Improved, Brook Lopez snags a third place vote

Congratulations to Paul George who won the Most Improved Player award, as announced by the NBA this morning. Paul picked up 52 out of a possible 120 first place votes, while Greivis Vasquez and Bucks big man Larry Sanders rounded out the Top 3.

Of note, naturally since this is a Brooklyn Nets blog, Andray Blatche picked up one vote (a first place vote) and Brook Lopez picked up a third place vote.

Blatche played in all 82 games for the Nets this season, averaging 10.3 points per game and pulling in 5.1 rebounds in 19 minutes per. He also finished with a PER of 21.9. But, as Rodger Sherman, over at SB Nation, writes, you can say the case for Blatche is a bit curious, well, considering.

And Andray Blatche, who also received a first-place vote, which I guess is true considering his team didn't tell him to stop showing up to games for being out of shape this year, but he averaged 16.8 points two years ago and 10.3 this year, so, what?

For Lopez, the improvement was in that he wasn't injured this season, making the All-Star team for the first time in his career and finishing fifth in the NBA in Player Efficiency Rating.

There's no question that Lopez is improved, but the line between improvement and progress gets a bit blurred -- same case can be made for George in this instance.

You expect Lopez to progress at this rate, which doesn't necessarily make him improved, right? It makes him "who he is." But, no harm done in giving him a third place vote. This, of all the awards, seems so random and oftentimes... useless.

• Pacers' George wins Kia Most Improved Player Award - NBA.com
• Paul George runs away with Most Improved Player award, Greivis Vasquez, Larry Sanders distant runners-up - Rodger Sherman - SB Nation
• Deron Williams as MIPIS - Devin Kharpertian - The Brooklyn Game