# The case for Kemba Walker as NBA’s Most Improved Player



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> Kemba Walker, NBA Most Improved Player.
> 
> I don’t know whether Walker has a chance in the balloting come April, but I know there is a reasonable argument to be made that Walker has improved dramatically and in a way that greatly impacts the Hornets’ playoff chances.
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> He had his 30th game of 20 or more points in Wednesday’s 20-point road victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. He reached 30 points on 10-of-21 shooting from the field. He reached the foul line 12 times. He dominated on a night when the Hornets couldn’t afford to squander an opportunity against the Eastern Conference’s worst team at 8-53.
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> The Hornets improved to 32-28. Barring a collapse, they appear likely to head to their third playoff appearance since the inception of the Bobcats in 2004.
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> There are many reasons why they are in playoff contention: the acquisitions of Nic Batum and Jeremy Lin, the recent development of Cody Zeller at center, Al Jefferson’s willingness to morph into a sixth-man role.
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> But nothing compares to Walker’s importance. As Jefferson said recently, he’s their motor and the truck doesn’t move without the motor.
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> Most Improved Player is the most subjective of the NBA’s various awards because there’s no set-in-stone criteria for what is improvement. Some of the media members on the voting panel look for young players who had a breakthrough to be competitive. Others consider players who went from good to great.
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> Typically, the vote gets divided among as many as a dozen viable candidates. Walker belongs somewhere in that dozen.
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> What’s so different? Two things, coach Steve Clifford describes: Walker’s long-range shooting and pick-and-roll sophistication.
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> Back in June, Walker started working extensively with assistant coaches Steve Hetzel and Bruce Kreutzer on his individual game. The season is for fine-tuning, the summer for overhauls.
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> Kreutzer, who replaced now-Charlotte 49ers coach Mark Price as the Hornets’ shooting specialist, helped Walker clean up his 3-point shooting. The improvement has been dramatic: from just 30.4 percent last season to 36.8 percent now.
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> Obviously, a nearly 7 percent improvement from 3 is a weapon unto itself. But it also significantly changed how teams must defend Walker in the pick-and-roll. Teams used to go under picks without fear Walker would pull up and burn them from long range.
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> Now defenses have no choice but to fight over the pick, and that launches all sorts of opportunities off the dribble.
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> Working with Hetzel, Walker figured out how better to exploit his quickness and ball-handling. He drives with impunity on big men, finishing with either hand. He has a midrange pull-up when his path the rim is effectively blocked.
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> And, as those 12 free-throw attempts illustrate, he’s good at forcing defenders to have to foul out of desperation.
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> That’s quite a repertoire, and it’s all but rewritten the scouting reports on what to do about Walker.
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> As Walker said the other day, learning to be a dangerous 3-point threat “changed my life.”
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> It’s certainly changing his profile. It just might – and should – change a few votes on those Most Improved ballots.


Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nba/charlotte-hornets/article63726382.html#storylink=cpy


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## m13nga

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