Markelle Fultz should get some Most Improved Player love

The Orlando Magic enjoyed a 113-108 win over the LA Clippers on Saturday afternoon. That might momentarily keep their remote hopes of making the postseason alive for a moment. But time is running out with just 11 games to go before the second comes to a close.

Despite this, there were still plenty of positives to take away from the performance. This was an impressive road win against a team with postseason ambitions.

Central to the win over the Clippers was point guard Markelle Fultz, who had without question one of the best games of his career.

We have run out of time for Markelle Fultz to be a serious Most Improved Player candidate this season, but he absolutely deserves some love for what he has done.

Fultz has impressively improved his scoring average each month this season, and in March so far is putting up 17.0 points and 6.3 assists per game.

These are close to All-Star level numbers, and even better is the fact he is shooting a fantastic 87.5 percent from the free-throw line this month too.

For context on how much Fultz has gotten over the woes that blighted the start of his career, as a rookie he shot 47.6 percent from the line, and managed only 7.1 points per night.

The performance against the Clippers felt like a really watershed moment however, as Fultz had 28 points, the most he has managed all season.

It now feels like he has not only put the “yips” from his time with the Philadelphia 76ers truly behind him, but also the nagging feeling that injuries could curtail his development.

Fultz has played 49 times this season and is averaging the most minutes per game (29.9) of his career.

Whenever he is on the court, he brings a calm and poise to the Magic that is sorely lacking when he is not around.

He has dispelled any doubts he can be the floor general of the future for the Magic, is by far and away a better player than Ben Simmons, and is suddenly crucial to a roster on the up.

In achieving all of this, Fultz is averaging career highs this season in points, rebounds, assists, steals, free-throw attempts and even 3-point percentage (a still low 30.3 percent).

That all sounds like a strong case to be this season’s Most Improved Player, so why can’t it happen?

Fultz missed some time earlier in the season through injury, and his 13.8 points and 5.6 assists per game this season are still numbers that can be easily trumped by many other improving players.

Unfortunately for Fultz, he also plays for an organization that has not had a nationally televised game in a long time, and that has two young players who casual fans are more likely to know.

Both Paolo Banchero (who will Rookie of the Year) and Franz Wagner (perhaps the best sophomore in the league) get most of the plaudits, and this is to be expected.

They are young and have All-Star potential, whereas Fultz is happy to play in the background more, leave the high level scoring to them, distribute the ball and defend at a high level.

All of which is to say, he plays in a small market and is not one of the best known players on one of the youngest groups in the league, so it makes sense that he would be overlooked.

Magic fans have not been sleeping on him for a while now, and at 24-years-old there is no telling how could Fultz could be when he hits his prime.

Perhaps the biggest compliment you could give Fultz right now, and one which should be weighed when considering his MIP case but will not be, is what the Magic will do this coming summer.

They have been linked with Fred VanVleet of the Toronto Raptors, but most fans would rather have the younger Fultz on the much better contract.

In fact it would take a legitimate star guard for the organization to even think about benching Fultz, which shows you how far he has come in a relatively short amount of time.

It is hard to argue against Jalen Brunson or Lauri Markkanen winning this award, and either would be a worthy winner.

All we are asking is that Fultz get some sort of recognition for what he is doing in helping to turn one of the worst franchises in the league for the last decade around.

If he closes the season out like this, and there is no reason to think that he won’t, then he will come back next season as the x-factor for this Magic roster as they push for the playoffs.