The Chicago Bulls' Jimmy Butler, who earned his first All-Star selection and set career highs in scoring, rebounding and assists, has won the 2014-15 NBA Most Improved Player Award, the NBA announced today. Butler becomes the first player to win the award with the Bulls.
The award is designed to honor an up-and-coming player who has made a dramatic improvement from the previous season or seasons. Butler, 25, received 92 of 129 first-place votes and 535 total points from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada.
Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors (11 first-place votes, 200 points) and Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz (12 first-place votes, 189 points) finished second and third, respectively.
Butler, in his fourth NBA season, averaged 20.0 points (15th in the NBA), 5.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.75 steals (11th in the NBA) in a league-leading 38.7 minutes for a Chicago team that went 50-32 and secured the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.Last season, Butler averaged the same number of minutes and scored 13.1 points per game.
2014-15 NBA Most Improved Player Award Results| Name / Team | 1st (5 pts) | 2nd (3 pts) | 3rd (1 pt) | TOTAL |
|---|
| Jimmy Butler (Chicago) | 92 | 23 | 6 | 535 |
| Draymond Green (Golden State) | 11 | 43 | 16 | 200 |
| Rudy Gobert (Utah) | 12 | 32 | 33 | 189 |
| Hassan Whiteside (Miami) | 5 | 12 | 27 | 88 |
| Klay Thompson (Golden State) | 2 | 8 | 8 | 42 |
| Anthony Davis (New Orleans) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 27 |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milw) | 1 | 3 | 8 | 22 |
| Donatas Motiejunas (Houston) | -- | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| Dennis Schröder (Atlanta) | -- | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| DeMarre Carroll (Atlanta) | 1 | -- | -- | 5 |
| Tyler Zeller (Boston) | 1 | -- | -- | 5 |
| DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento) | -- | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Khris Middleton (Milwaukee) | -- | -- | 4 | 4 |
| Kyrie Irving (Cleveland) | -- | -- | 3 | 3 |
| Victor Oladipo (Orlando) | -- | 1 | -- | 3 |
| DeAndre Jordan (L.A. Clippers) | -- | 1 | -- | 3 |
| Jae Crowder (Boston) | -- | 1 | -- | 3 |
| Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Detroit) | -- | -- | 2 | 2 |
| Nikola Vucevic (Orlando) | -- | -- | 2 | 2 |
| Robert Covington (Philadelphia) | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| Tyreke Evans (New Orleans) | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| Derrick Favors (Utah) | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| Marc Gasol (Memphis) | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| Tobias Harris (Orlando) | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| Gordon Hayward (Utah) | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| George Hill (Indiana) | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| Enes Kanter (Oklahoma City) | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| Brandon Knight (Phoenix) | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio) | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| Meyers Leonard (Portland) | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |