Pollin': Most Improved Player
Last week you voted, and Caron's game winner in Game 5 of the playoffs beat out Nick Young's dunk over LeBron and DeShawn's dagger to beat New Orleans to be voted as the play of the year.
Below you'll see this week's poll and after the jump, you'll get reasons for why each player on the Wizards deserves to be the most improved player this season.

Gilbert Arenas: Injuries kept Gilbert from having the kind of season that we were all anticipating, but even through his knee problems Gilbert had the best rebounding percentage of his career this season and he also his best steal and assist per 36 numbers since he came to Washington.
Andray Blatche: The 21 year old had his ups and downs but he still managed to put up career numbers in just about every category this season. The one exception is his free throw shooting, which improved over last season, but his 69.5% free throw shooting couldn't match his 83% shooting in his rookie year. However, it's worth noting Blatche only shot 12 free throws his rookie year and never really had to shoot under any kind of game pressure.
Caron Butler: Tough Juice took his game to a new stratosphere this season, going from a fringe All-Star player to a bona fide All-Star selection, and arguably becoming one of the top 3 small forwards in the NBA.
Antonio Daniels: With Arenas on the shelf, AD kept the team going as he stepped up his play with career highs in minutes per game and games started.
Brendan Haywood: Given the chance to show once and for all that he was the franchise center, Brendan delivered the best season of his career, putting up career highs in scoring and rebounding while delivering solid low post defense. Not to mention that he finally shed the Brenda label.
Antawn Jamison: You don't normally see a player put up his best season at age 31, but Jamison isn't you're average player. This was the first season in his career that he averaged double digit rebounds per game while averaging over 20 points per game. He's had years where he's been a more explosive scorer, but this was without a doubt his most complete year.
Roger Mason: Draft Express might have been a little excessive on the praise for Roger this season, but there's no doubt that he's made himself some money with his performance this season. 71% of the points in Roger Mason's 4 year career came this season.
Darius Songaila: After struggling through the early part of the season, Darius stepped up his play in the second half of the season, giving the team consistent play as injuries continued to pile up.
So, there are your choices. Young, McGuire, and Pecherov were all excluded because you have to have a season under your belt before you can, y'know, improve on it. Etan Thomas was excluded because it's hard to improve if you can't even play. But other than those 4 players (and Mike Wilks, who doesn't merit discussion) the field is wide open. The choice is yours.
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Looks like BTH has it hands down
He’s the one guy on this list who we have no idea of how he would perform this year.
Could he and Eddie Jordan forge ahead with a rebuilt relationship?
Not only did BTH display improvement in skills, but attitude as well.
Heck, he could’ve even gone backwards
by Truth About It on May 13, 2008 10:05 AM EDT 0 recs
It Will Be Interesting to See...
... what will happen if a healthy Etan returns. It can be argued that Brendan played better because he didn’t have to keep looking over his shoulder throughout the season to see if Eddie would pull him in favor of Etan. Brendan needs to know that he’s the man.
The problem is the last time both he and Etan were healthy Etan won the starter role, which infuriated Brendan. I like Etan, but I would rather see him leave than to see Brendan step backwards next season.
"It's OK for the Bullets to trade baskets, as long as they can score on their end." -- Words of wisdom from Phil Chenier
by cuppettcj on
May 13, 2008 10:17 AM EDT
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"It's OK for the Bullets to trade baskets, as long as they can score on their end." -- Words of wisdom from Phil Chenier
by cuppettcj on May 13, 2008 10:31 AM EDT 0 recs
BTH
Last year, Brendan and Etan were the only players I really had a problem with (yes – I was one of the few who were happy to see DeShawn get his contract last year). I was sick of their squabbles, their inconsistent play, their free throw shooting, the list goes on…
This season comes to a close and I feel like my opinion on Brendan has done a complete 180. All of a sudden he’s tearing it up – he’s now a good free throw shooter for a big man, he’s stepped up his offensive boards and scoring, and after reading more of his quotes, I can’t help but like the guy.
I’m weary of the return of an Etan to the lineup. If Etan is comfortable coming off the bench and isn’t trying to fight Brendan over the starting position – that’s fine, otherwise, maybe we should help him find a new home.
by T.Really on May 13, 2008 2:16 PM EDT 0 recs
If only
If we were to find Etan a new home, I’m pretty sure Ernie would chip in for the first month’s rent.
"Now, obviously individual production does not unilaterally equal better team production, but there's a high level of causation."
by Vanilla Gorilla on
May 13, 2008 3:02 PM EDT
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