Was thinking about this when watching the 76ers - Pacers games last week. Everyone’s rightfully been talking about both Maxey’s and Haliburton’s ascents to stardom, and they’ve both been getting chatter for MIP. But the start of the season has also been really great for Tobias Harris, who looks like a brand new player at the moment with strong defense and improved scoring efficiency. If Maxey and Haliburton weren’t shining so brightly, someone like Harris could potentially get into the MIP conversations.

The thought reoccurred during last night’s Boston - Memphis game, where Sam Hauser stood out as the only guy with a 1st half 3pm, and ended up shooting 5-7 (with one of the misses being a heave as the half ended) on 3pt shots and ended up with a team high +17. He’s clearly gotten better as a movement shooter that great shooters like Klay and Huerter have been known to make, and this is on top of continually improving as a wing defender. Obviously Hauser wouldn’t and shouldn’t get MIP consideration over the Tyreses, for example, but recognition for a fringe NBA guy turning into a solid rotation piece really improving would be cool.

If MIP wasn’t an award preserved mainly for guys who go from pretty good to All-Star or All-NBA talent, someone like Tobias Harris and Sam Hauser could potentially get some recognition if they sustain their play over the course of the season. Thinking about it, though, for most of the other major regular season awards, there’s an associated all-[blank] team with it.

  • MVP - All-NBA teams

  • DPOY - All-Defense teams

  • ROTY - All-Rookie teams

(Clutch player and 6th man of the year don’t get teams, but that makes sense imo.) With those teams associated with the awards above, plenty of players get recognition beyond the true standouts who win the award. It’d be cool if guys like Hauser and Harris could also get some of the recognition for their improvement with something like a 2nd-team All-Improved or something like that. Has the NBA ever thought about introducing that? I think one of the difficult things with this idea is measuring levels of improvement across skill levels and preventing the team from devolving into a “rising stars” team with 2nd and 3rd year guys riding their aging curve into much better on-court performance, crowding out older players like Harris who have improved as well. But still, I think it’d be nice to add another award that is attainable for guys who aren’t prominent as the all-NBA and all-defense guys.