If the NBA’s most improved player award was handed out after the first week of the regular season, Nikola Mirotic would have ran away with the distinction. During the first three games of the season, Mirotic averaged 19.7 points per game while pulling down 24 total rebounds in those three games.
Since Mirotic’s hot start to the season (in which he was shooting 50 percent from the floor), the numbers have taken a concerning dip. The Bulls have gone 5-2 with Monday’s win over Indiana, but Mirotic has shot just 28.1 percent and failed to reach double digits in the scoring column during five of those seven games.