Aussie Dyson Daniels wins major NBA individual award after breakout season
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He may have missed out on Defensive Player of the Year, but Dyson Daniels could not be denied for his all-round improvement in his first season at the Atlanta Hawks.
The Australian was announced as the recipient of the NBA's Most Improved Player of the Year award on Thursday, beating out Clippers big man Ivica Zubac and Pistons former first overall pick Cade Cunningham for the honour.
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Daniels won the award in a landslide, collecting 44 of 100 possible first-place votes while 36 other voters had him second and four had him third for a total of 332 points.
Zubac finished second in voting with a total of 186 points with Cunningham third (122).
It follows a breakout third season in the NBA, where Daniels made the most of his fresh start in Atlanta with career-high numbers across the board (14.1 points, 5.9 assists, 4.4 assists, 3.0 steals, 0.7 blocks).
Speaking to NBA on TNT after winning the award, Daniels said he felt like he 'took a backseat' role in New Orleans and thrived with a 'fresh start' in Atlanta, while adding that this season was 'just a small step in the right direction'.
'Obviously this is my third year in the league and my first two being in New Orleans, I feel like I kind of went in there and I wasn't myself,' Daniels said.
'I feel like I kind of took a backseat role so I came into this third year wanting to really put my foot down and show what I could do.
'I wasn't happy with how I performed and going to Atlanta I got the opportunity to have a fresh start, get that starting two guard spot in a really good team.
'I think it's just coming in with the right mindset, working hard in the offseason, having a good Olympic campaign and coming in and going out there and being aggressive, being myself and not caring about making mistakes. I think that was the main thing this year, I've got trust in my coaches and teammates. I was able to go out there and be myself.'
Daniels was already one of the league's best perimeter defenders before being traded to the Hawks, but the increased minutes in Atlanta gave the Bendigo bandit an opportunity to really put his mix of physicality, discipline and instincts on full display.
It was the offensive end, however, where Daniels showed the most growth.
He had previously seen his minutes shrink in the postseason during his time at New Orleans, where Daniels' development was stunted playing behind a plethora of ball-dominant options.
But Daniels gave Hawks fans a glimpse of his promising two-way potential at the Paris Olympics, where he was a standout in the backcourt alongside Chicago Bulls guard and good friend Josh Giddey.
The 21-year-old's form in Paris transferred to Atlanta, where Daniels proved the perfect foil for new running mate Trae Young, helping cover up for some of his defensive deficiencies while benefiting from the attention Young commanded both with and without the ball in hand.
Dyson Daniels and Trae Young. (Photo by)
Daniels also spoke extensively about the confidence new coach Quin Snyder gave him, something which wasn't always there in New Orleans under Willie Green according to father Ricky.
'He's always been a confident kid. I believe that was rocked a little bit at New Orleans… the coach probably didn't have as much confidence in him as he probably should have,' Ricky told foxsports.com.au earlier in the year.
Daniels, meanwhile, told foxsports.com.au he was playing more 'free' with the Hawks.
'He just said he wants me to go out there and play confident,' said Daniels, recalling his first meeting with Snyder after visiting the Hawks facilities.
'He's seen in me what I could do, the impact I could have on the game, so he was out there just telling me he wants me to play free, play confident, shoot my shots, get downhill and kind of like help Trae out a little bit and that's from day one.
'When you hear that from your coach, it really does give you confidence. I think I've just taken that and gone out there and played free.'
Originally published as Aussie Dyson Daniels wins major NBA individual award after breakout season
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