Although it’s for an honor he would never have needed to win.
The NBA today revealed in a press statement a variety of changes to its end-of-season awards, including the creation of a brand-new honor named after Jerry West, the Clutch Player of the Year award. One may quibble with West’s 1-8 Finals record, but his nickname, “Mr. Clutch,” and his play in those losses was rarely questioned. Also the guy who beat him most of the time, Bill Russell, already had a (pretty appropriate) award named after him: the Finals MVP trophy.
Beyond West, there were a few other Lakers greats who were recognized today with these re-branded awards.
George Mikan, who led the Lakers to five championships as the best player in the league during the pre-shot clock mid-1950s, will get some recognition with the NBA’s newly-renamed George Mikan Most Improved Player award.
Though Mikan was a pretty great rookie in 1946-47 (he was named to the All-National Basketball League First Team as a member of the Chicago American Gears) and would himself not have won this award in his day, the league noted that a big part of his prep has helped players upgrade their games, which in part explains its thinking in giving him the honor. Per its press statement, the league states, “a layup and footwork exercise known as the ‘Mikan Drill’ has been used for decades by players at all levels to improve their game.”
Mikan, a 6’10” center out of DePaul University, played with the then-Minneapolis Lakers from 1947-54, retired, then returned for the second half of the 1955-56 season. He was a four-time NBA All-Star and one-time NBL MVP. The Hall of Famer holds career regular season averages of 23.1 points, 13.4 rebounds, and 2.8 dimes a night.
