Chalmers’ Improvement Is Stunning
It’s 21 games, nearly a third of the way through this compact 2011-12 season, and Heat point guard Mario Chalmers has taken his game to another level. If he keeps up his current play and cuts down on some turnovers, he should be a serious candidate for the NBA’s Most Improved Player.
Oh how things have changed in a year’s time. This is the same player who Heat fans once wanted benched in favor of declining vets like Mike Bibby and Carlos Arroyo.
Rio has increased his regular season field-goal percentage to 49 percent (from 40 percent in 2011), his 3-point percentage to 43 percent (from 36 percent in ’11), while still maintaining his 80 percent free-throw shooting.
Those are monstrous progressions.
Then realize the Heat are 14.6 points better with him on the court this year over his replacement (Last year it was +0.9), and I begin to wonder if they actually cloned Jason Kidd’s frontal lobe (the part of the brain dealing with decision making) and implanted it into Chalmers because we don’t see the same amount of BHP’s (Bone-headed plays) anymore. They’re still there, but more sporadic.
His shooting has been so efficient on a league wide scale, he currently ranks second in the NBA among all point guards in true-shooting percentage, which is what a player’s shooting percentage would be if we accounted for free throws and 3-pointers.
Sure, Rio still gives us a few head-scratchers a game, as it’s been common practice for LeBron James to verbally chastise him on national television. His turnover rate and fouls per game are both worst among all point guards.
His improvements this year have widely gone unnoticed as an electric, yet wild, rookie named Norris Cole has become the fan favorite at the position.
But Chalmers is cashing opportunities as they arise on the offensive end and he’s playing smarter defense. That’s all we can ask for at this point. Every player has their strengths and weaknesses, it’s just a matter of plucking away at their deficiencies, one at a time.
With the 21-game sample size of the new-and-improved Mario Chalmers, the question begs whether he can maintain it for the remaining 45 games and then into what should be another deep playoff run.
Regardless, Rio is off to a sizzling start.
