After a regualar season in which he replaced Hall of Fame-bound shooting guard Ray Allen in the starting lineup, Celtics sophomore Avery Bradley finished eighth in the NBA's Most Improved Player voting with 36 points -- 224 fewer than the Magic's Ryan Anderson in first.
In addition to emerging as one of the best defenders in the league, Bradley averaged 7.6 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 21.4 minutes over 64 games this season, but he averaged 10.4 points after the All-Star break in addition to recording averages of 15.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.2 steals in 32.9 minutes over 15 games in April. Bradley couldn't crack the rotation as a rookie, averaging just 1.7 points in 5.2 minutes over 31 games last season.
Here's how the voting played out (5 points for 1st place, 3 points for 2nd place and 1 point for 3rd place):
Ryan Anderson (ORL): 260 points (33 1st, 27 2nd, 14 3rd)
Ersan Ilyasova (MIL): 159 points (21 1st, 15 2nd, 14 3rd)
Nikola Pekovic (MIN): 104 points (10 1st, 15 2nd, 9 3rd)
Greg Monroe (DET): 96 points (10 1st, 9 2nd, 19 3rd)
Andrew Bynum (LAL): 96 points (13 1st, 8 2nd, 7 3rd)
Jeremy Lin (NYK): 91 points (10 1st, 8 2nd, 17 3rd)
Goran Dragic (HOU): 54 points (4 1st, 8 2nd, 10 3rd)
Avery Bradley (BOS): 36 points (4 1st, 4 2nd, 4 3rd)
Anderson averaged 16.1 points and 7.7 rebounds in 32.2 minutes over 61 games for the Magic this season. He produced 10.6 points and 5.5 boards in 22.3 minutes over 64 games last season.
With Lin sidelined due to a knee injury, only Anderson, Bynum and Bradley are playing for playoff teams.
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