Morant wins most improved honor
Ja Morant was rookie of the year in 2020, vowing he would get better from there. And he’s done exactly that.
The Grizzlies guard picked up his second major award in three seasons Monday, getting announced as the NBA’s most improved player. He’s the first Grizzlies player to receive the award.
Morant set career bests in scoring (27.4 points per game), rebounds (5.7), steals (1.2) and field-goal shooting (49.3%). His scoring average last season was 19.1 per game, and he made the big jump while playing basically the same amount of minutes.
“Just constant work, putting in work to be better at certain areas of my game each and every day,” Morant said during the televised announcement of him receiving the award, which came a few hours after he was told he had won during Grizzlies practice. “That’s pretty much where all that came from.”
Morant, an All-Star this season for the first time, was hardly a runaway winner. He finished with 221 points from a panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters who cover the league, with five points awarded for a first-place vote, three for a second and one for a third.
The Spurs’ Dejounte Murray was second with 183 points, and Cavaliers’ Darius Garland was third with 178. Murray appeared on 63 ballots, more than anyone else. Garland appeared on 62 ballots.
Morant appeared on 51 of the 100 ballots — but got far more first-place votes than anyone else. He had 38, while Murray collected 20 and fourth-place finisher Jordan Poole of the Warriors got 15.
The 22-year-old Morant said he spent this last offseason working to become more consistent from 3-point range and honing his midrange game.
“Those were pretty much the two main areas I worked on this past summer,” Morant said. “It allowed me to take a big leap in my game, as you can see from my scoring.”
NFL: The Virginia attorney general’s office will open an investigation into allegations that the Commanders engaged in financial improprieties, according to a letter it emailed the franchise. The letter comes after the House Oversight and Reform Committee sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission on April 12. That letter was also sent to the office of Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares as well as to the attorneys general for Maryland and Washington, informing them of alleged financial improprieties by the team. Miyares told the team he felt it was his “responsibility to carefully examine the material facts after it was brought to my attention.” Former Commanders executive Jason Friedman made allegations during an interview with the committee March 14 that the team withheld security deposits from season-ticket holders and kept two accounting books, allowing them to keep money that would have been earmarked for the league’s revenue sharing pool.
NHL: Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is day to day after suffering an upper-body injury during the team’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Maple Leafs on Sunday. According to The Washington Post, forward T.J. Oshie said he spoke with Ovechkin after the game and that Ovechkin said he thought he would “be all right.” The 36-year-old Ovechkin, who has 50 goals in 77 games, crashed hard into the end boards early in the third after he tripped over Leafs goaltender Erik Kallgren’s stick on a breakaway. He remained on the ice for a few moments, grimacing, before slowly getting up and yelling at the officials. He then went straight down the tunnel to the dressing room, throwing his helmet in frustration. Shortly after his exit, he was ruled out of the game. Ovechkin has missed just 44 games in his 17-year career — and only 24 of those were because of injury. He missed two games this season when he was in the league’s COVID-19 protocols. The Capitals have three regular-season games before the start of the playoffs.