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Brooklyn Nets Spencer Dinwiddie should win Most improved player, but won’t.

By Leo Mar

Brooklyn Nets Spencer Dinwiddie (Photo by Bilgin S. Sasmaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Brooklyn Nets Spencer Dinwiddie (Photo by Bilgin S. Sasmaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) /
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With only a few games left before the NBA yearly awards, Spencer Dinwiddie is patiently awaiting the results for M.I.P. Anyone who has followed the Brooklyn Nets this season knows he’s deserving of this award. However, politics and  a bigger name will make sure he doesn’t.

With the 38th pick in the 2014 NBA draft, the Detroit Pistons selected Spencer Dinwiddie from the University of Colorado. Unless you were a die hard follower of the University if Colorado, or a huge fan of Spencer Dinwiddie you wouldn’t know who that was. Or what he was capable of doing. You wouldn’t know that he scored 32 points in his very first college game. Or that he was an integral part of getting the Colorado Buffaloes back to the NCAA tournament his first two years. The first of which was their first trip back since the 2002-2003 season.

Dinwiddie blew out his knee his junior year, after a spectacular beginning to the season. He had  led his team to win 14 out of their first 16 games. He declared for the NBA draft, a gutsy move but a risk he was willing to take. After all, it was in this season that he was rated as the 2nd best returning prospect in the Pac-12.

It was the beginning of a dream for Spencer when he was selected 38th overall. He was willing to put in the work necessary to play at a high level. However, teams like Detroit and Chicago were not willing to let him develop and moved him while he was in the then D-league.

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Enter the Brooklyn Nets. After he was cut by the Chicago Bulls D-league team, Brooklyn scooped him up in December 2016. He averaged only 7.3 points per game in his first season in Brooklyn. However, Nets fans saw him flourish this past season with averages of 12.6 PPG, 6.6 assists per game and 3.3 rebounds per game. All improvements on his first season with the team. It wasn’t only the numbers that grew, but his leadership skills as well. Brooklyn fans saw the type of player he could become. Multiple game winners, and when games went sour for the Nets he took responsibility for the losses.

In any other season this would be deserving of an award. However, probably not this season and not because of anything Spencer did wrong.

This season we also saw the emergence of a former lottery pick. A bigger name who played for a bigger college and was supposed to do well because of his skill and God given ability. His name is Victor Oladipo and he was selected second overall by the Orlando Magic in 2013. Not to take anything away from Mr. Oladipo. He was given natural talent and worked hard to improve his game.

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After being selected second in the 2013 NBA draft, Oladipo was named to the 2014 All-Rookie first team. He was also the 2013 Sporting News player of the year, receiving the Adolph Rupp trophy. This is an award given to the top player in men’s Division I college basketball, until 2015. The winner of the award was selected by an independent panel consisting of national sportswriters, coaches, and sports administrators. Essentially the MVP of the college basketball season.

Victor Oladipo was destined for greatness and never mediocrity. He was chosen to lead a franchise to the promised land and has finally found a home, and a system that works for him.

Spencer Dinwiddie was a journeyman who had talent. But he didn’t have the flashy accolades or prestigious college background that Oladipo had. He deserves this.

Even if Dinwiddie doesn’t win Most Improved Player, he’s already been accepted into the hearts of Brooklyn Nets fans everywhere. He’s proven willing to put in the time and work to get where he wants to be.

In Brooklyn, individual awards don’t matter. Even though all Nets fans know the award is his, they also know this is a business and the bigger name always get whatever it is they desire.

Just ask Lebron James and Stephen Curry.

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