Danny Granger Wins NBA's Most Improved

All NBA awards are completely subjective and usually debatable. None registers moreso (on both counts) than the Most Improved Player award. There are a million arbitrary, unwritten rules about who can be eligible for consideration. Some voters reject all All-Stars, others think second- or third-year players shouldn't be valid. It's a mess, really.

But this season had some great candidates we can all agree on. Chief among them were Danny Granger and Devin Harris. Today, Granger was announced as the victor, beating out Harris by just a handful of votes.

Granger deserved it. On a bad Pacers team in desperate need of a constant lift, Granger provided it. His scoring jumped up into the top 10 without his efficiency suffering. He takes a ton of threes ... and has hit 40% two straight seasons. He took on an incredible load in Indiana, given the injury to Mike Dunleavy Jr. And he met the call.

Harris deserves dap, too. His move to Jersey coincided with a transformed game. Harris had never been a credible deep shooter ... so he began taking the ball to the rack relentlessly. His free throw rate shot up, and so did his scoring. He has work to do (especially on the stroke), but he made major offensive strides this year.

While the qualifications for the award remain fuzzy, I think we can agree voters made a good choice. And honestly, I don't want stricter definitions involved. As long voters withhold from making (Zach) Randolphian decisions in the awards, leave it up the air.

(Note to Jim O'Brien, who wore gym shorts to Granger's award ceremony: You're dead to me.)