The Philadelphia 76ers may be scuffling due to a combination of injuries and health and safety protocols, but a lot of things are still going right for the team. Tyrese Maxey has played like an All-Star in Ben Simmons’ absence. Georges Niang has been one of the NBA‘s best bench players. The team boasts a top-five offense despite all of the games missed by Joel Embiid and others.
Of all the positive developments that have occurred this season, though, Seth Curry’s age 31 explosion may be the big surprise of the bunch. Steph’s younger brother has been ripping the nets for a while, of course, but what he’s doing this year is on a whole other level.
Through 17 games, Curry is averaging a career-high 15.9 points per contest while shooting over 50% from the field and 41.1% from three-point range. He is currently second on the team in win shares with 1.2.
Curry has been so good, in fact, that he’s getting some love for a major year-end award.
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B/R: Curry a ‘Sleeper Bet’ for MIP Award
In a piece identifying 12 NBA sleeper bets to consider throwing money on right now, Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale namechecked Curry as a sleeper bet for the league’s Most Improved Player Award. And when you look at where he came from and where he is now, he makes total sense as a candidate.
After battling for years just to secure a spot in the league, Curry now finds himself on the precipice of joining a pretty exclusive club. Wrote Favale:
He’s on pace to become the sixth guard to average more than 15 points per game on a true shooting percentage north of 64. His potential company: Stephen Curry, James Harden, Reggie Miller, Steve Nash and JJ Redick.
As it stands, Curry isn’t the only Sixer in the running for the award. Per FanDuel, Maxey is currently at +3500 as a MIP pick, which puts him in the top 10 from an odds standpoint. However, there’s absolutely a case to be made for Curry. And at +13000, he may be the best intersection of a longshot with a huge potential payout that could legitimately bring home the trophy.
He does have a bit of history working against him, though. As noted by Favale, only Darrell Armstrong has won the award in an age-30 season or later.
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Hersey Hawkins Gets Into CBB Hall of Fame
Without question, Hersey Hawkins was one of the Sixers’ best players during the late 1980s and early ’90s. After getting drafted by No. 6 overall in ’88 and then immediately getting traded to Philly, Hawkins went on to play five seasons with the Sixers, averaging 19.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.8 steals per contest.
Before moving on, he captured All-Rookie First Team honors and, later, represented the Sixers in the 1991 NBA All-Star Game.
On November 21, Hawkins was honored once again — this time for his efforts as a collegiate at Bradley — as part of the College Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2021 induction class.
“To have coaches that believe in you and that trust the fact that you can go out there and do it every night, and then have players who are just as talented as you are but are willing to sacrifice their game for the betterment of the team to get me open, that meant a lot,” he said at the induction ceremony. “So I share this with a lot of those guys.”
Hawkins was a four-year starter at Bradley, as well as a two-time All-American and a two-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year. As a senior, he put up 36.3 points per contest for the Braves. His career point total of 3,008 still ranks 10th in NCAA history.
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