It's hard to think of what else can be said about Keyonte George. It's been remarkable to go from forgotten Jazzman to potential cornerstone since the season started. He has played well enough to make a case for a spot on the All-Star team, but that will be a litlte hard. Whether he makes it or not, George is already considered a shoo-in for a prestigious NBA award: Most Improved Player.
Draft Guru Sam Vecenie explained on "Game Theory Podcast" that he believes George winning such an honor is basically inevitable at this point, primarily because of how much has changed for him compared to last year.
"Keyonte George is like, very, very, abundantly clearly the most improved player in the league this year... I did not think Keyonte George was particularly good last year. I thought he really struggled... He just wasn't all that impactful of a player, frankly, and it's because to me, he couldn't get by anybody. He couldn't separate from anybody. I didn't feel like he moved as well off of the ball... the jumper, as we've learned throughout his career at this point, just fluctuates."
George's talent was definitely there, which was why many singled him out as the Jazz's most exciting prospect heading into his sophomore season. It just felt like he didn't know how to utilize his talent. Of course, it's been a different story this season, and it's helped the Jazz feel much better about the future.
Why George's candidacy is stronger than his competition
Something Vecenie mentioned while talking about George during the podcast is that other players like Deni Avdija and Jalen Johnson have been mentioned as candidates. The big difference between George and those two is that they were pretty good last year while George inarguably struggled a lot. So much so that him being the Jazz's biggest surprise this season has a lot to do with how underwhelming he was last season.
Because his leap was unexpected, that gives him a better case than Avdija and Johnson, who have been even better this season, but they already established themselves as good. In the past, the NBA has typically given the award to players who had low expectations coming in. Like in 2019, when Pascal Siakam and D'Angelo Russell competed for the award, Siakam won because he was more surprising.
George has flashed his talent, but it was only until this season that he started to prove both how good and how impactful he is as a player. When many had already given up on him coming into the season, he made it clear he should be part of Utah's future. Because of how shockingly good he's been, it wouldn't be shocking at all to see him take home MIP.