The list of Most Improved Player of the Year award winners is an impressive bunch. T-Mac, Zach Randolph, Jermaine O'Neal, Kevin Love and Monta Ellis. As of Tuesday afternoon, you can slap Paul George's name onto that list. This is the first end of season award accolade bestowed upon George, but it won't be the last. Although, he won't win the Defensive Player of the Year Award he was in the running for, George has been on the rise since he entered the league as a raw 6-8 small forward with out of Fresno State.
George has already emerged as one of the league's top young players, which explains his runaway victory in the balloting. He received 52 of 120 first-place votes and 311 points, more than double the total of New Orleans' Greivis Vasquez, who had 13 first-place votes and 146 points. Milwaukee's Larry Sanders was third with 141 points and was one of three players to receive 10 first-place votes.
The Indiana Pacer forward averaged career highs in points and rebounds this season while Danny Granger spent much of the season rehabbing multiple injuries and led the Pacers to a top-three seed in the Eastern Conference.
