NBL Most Improved: Cam Tragardh

[Stanley]

Cameron Tragardh of the Wollongong IMB Hawks has been named the Most Improved Player for the 2007/08 HUMMER Championship National Basketball League (NBL) season.

Tragardh was a clear winner of the award, garnering 81 votes to finish a full 40 clear of nearest rival, Darren Ng of Adelaide (41). New Zealand’s Mika Vukona polled third with 22 votes. Melbourne’s David Barlow (17) came fourth and Perth’s Brad Robbins (15) finished in fifth place.


www.wollongonghawks.com.au (http://www.wollongonghawks.com.au)

[Poida]

No surprises there. Well deserved.

[Cussy]

Rather than list the previous winners at the bottom of each article, why can't the NBL website display the complete list of vote getters for each award this season?

[SB.1]

That way we can see if SOJ got a vote to go along with his deserved nomination.

[stellation]

He averaged 17.6 points, which was a massive increase on the 3.5 he had previously averaged. His rebounding also took a quantum leap, up to 7.8 per game compared to 1.6 in his for previous seasons.
To quote my son; Zoinks!

[stellation]

Well done to him, it's always nice to see a guy improve but that is a HELL of a huge improvement.

[Stumps]

He averaged 17.6 points, which was a massive increase on the 3.5 he had previously averaged. His rebounding also took a quantum leap, up to 7.8 per game compared to 1.6 in his for previous seasons.
To quote my son; Zoinks!
Do we have a minutes played comparison, and a team record comparison?

Not disputing Tragardh's worthiness (as he has obviously showed a more complete game), but how often do MIP awards go to the guy who goes from warming the bench on a contender to starting for a desperately undermanned bottom-dweller. Quite often, I would suggest, and it doesn't always mean that the guy has actually improved that much as a player. Basing it on raw stat increases certainly doesn't always tell the story, unless all other variables have remained the same.

[stellation]

I completely agree Stumps, I'm always suspicious of that myself; but in this case that is just flat out a huge increase. If he'd gone from 3 to 10 through an increase in court time then it's easy to argue it is just the court time as a he is scoring at a similar rate as he had previously, but if he has improved from 3.5 to 17.6 ppg then I think you can mindlessly look at stats and say "wow"... even if he has just continued to score at the same rate as he had previously that is really an impressive effort to maintain it good to the tune of 5 * more court time per game.

[SB.1]

Good point Stumps. I guess Tragardh hypothetically was capable of the season he had this year whilst at Brisbane, just didn't get the opportunity. We'll never know though.

The NBL (or voters) seem to take that "never know" as a "not capable" and give the award regardless of the differences in minutes played or opportunities.

I think that is a reasonable outcome unless you have someone who has improved vastly, but whose production is "only" (in comparision to Tragardh) up say 30% with little change in minutes.

[Stumps]

Well, first of all, his points per minute were almost exactly the same as over the rest of his career, so the increase is directly attributable to extra court time. Why did he get the extra court time? Because he's gone from a 33-6 team to a 9-21 team!

Secondly, he actually averaged 8 ppg last season, albeit only in four games (the Bullets screwed him over to shuffle Ere, Black and Bradtke and keep them all on the roster), so making out that he has suddenly increased his scoring by a factor of five is also misleading -- the glimpses were there, he was just playing for a team who didn't need him.

[Dunkin' Dan]

Given that he's done it this season against the starters as opposed to largely in garbage time, this is about the most cut & dried deserving winner for a long time.
Congratulations to him.
Clearly there is a large element of opportunities & situation, but in this case you really can't argue with the results he has produced.

[Stumps]

Don't get me wrong, I probably would have voted for Tragardh this season too, but for once I would like to see an award like Most Improved given on a genuine improvement in ability rather than just an increase in raw statistical production due to difference in opportunity.

The sort of example I'm talking about is somebody like Worthington this season -- the minutes have gone slightly down, and even some numbers have gone down, but he's several times the player he was last season (and even more so on the season before that), and that's heavily reflected in his team's overall success.

Darren Ng is another example, where the minutes have gone up a bit and so have the numbers (not as much as Tragardh), but the noticeable difference is in how much better-rounded he is as a player, a legitimate starting guard rather than just a BJ Carter off the bench.

[Silencer83]

I agree Cam Tragardh is a worthy winner. Even taking into account all the other factors (only 4 games last year, weaker team, more minutes etc) he did very well to step into the number 2 or 3 role on his team only behind Kavossy Franklin and Matt Campbell possibly.

I was also happy to see Brad Robbins scrape into the five. :D

[fahootie]

Don't get me wrong, I probably would have voted for Tragardh this season too, but for once I would like to see an award like Most Improved given on a genuine improvement in ability rather than just an increase in raw statistical production due to difference in opportunity.

The sort of example I'm talking about is somebody like Worthington this season -- the minutes have gone slightly down, and even some numbers have gone down, but he's several times the player he was last season (and even more so on the season before that), and that's heavily reflected in his team's overall success.


soooo predictable.

[Stumps]

Thanks for the daily dose of un-self-conscious irony.

[stellation]

I think Worthington is an excellent example, he has improved from being a very good player to an elite player in the league. He should be just eligible as Barlow, who improved from being a good player to being a very good player in the league and picked up votes.

[Stumps]

I can't for the life of me figure out how Barlow was even in contention. What has he added to his game this season that he didn't have last year?

To resort to an imperfect statistical analysis, he's just playing six more minutes and scoring just one extra point, while his boards, assists and steals are all down.

At a more subjective level, he has the same weaknesses (poor decision making, lack of composure in the clutch, inability to convert his athletic physique into a defensive presence) that he always had and hasn't really further expanded his strengths (ability to convert open looks from range when left open, speed to surprise teams in transition).

He's putting up a whole heap more treys per game for about the same number of makes. He's still incredibly inconsistent (14/14 in one game, 4/17 in the very next). I can't really figure out where the supposed improvement has occurred.

I wonder if leaving Goorjian was the right move for him. To me, it looks like his development has started to plateau -- is that because his potential is starting to cap out now, or because he's left a more fertile environment for improvement to join a "ready-made" crew that due to career point-in-time isn't as focused on getting individually better?

[Dunkin' Dan]

Yeah, Barlow struck me as a strange one as well.
Good player, but not greatly improved from his pre-injury days at Sydney from what I've seen.
The most significant thing added to his game this season is the slapping sound effect when the ball goes through the basket :?

[scottgcau]

Tragardh has always been capable of scoring in this league. He was just being held back by his defense and mobility, and then last year by the NBL points system and Brisbane's recruiting. I wouldn't measure his improvement so much on a points per minute or rebounds per minute basis - these are much the same as previous seasons. I think the improvement only really becomes apparent if you compare what he was giving up to opponents before as opposed to now. Just check his foul averages - last year 2.5 in 15 mins, this year 2.2 in 32 mins.

He's fixed his achilles heal and now is twice as productive as in previous seasons. I'd say that's deserving enough.

[Stumps]

Tragardh has always been capable of scoring in this league. He was just being held back by his defense and mobility, and then last year by the NBL points system and Brisbane's recruiting. I wouldn't measure his improvement so much on a points per minute or rebounds per minute basis - these are much the same as previous seasons. I think the improvement only really becomes apparent if you compare what he was giving up to opponents before as opposed to now. Just check his foul averages - last year 2.5 in 15 mins, this year 2.2 in 32 mins.
Holy crap, this is the most sensible and insightful thing I've ever seen you write! :wink:

[scottgcau]

Surely you meant to say that there are numerous spelling and grammer mistakes in my post along with many phrases that are worded in such a way as to leave the door open to misinterpretation, thereby rendering anything I have said as completely without merit? :lol:

[Ceelo]

From watching alot of him in the QABL, he was always a good scorer.

The thing that impressed me in last years QABL was his improvement on defense and much better rebounding.

[angry ant]

1 ppg to 17ppg, thats a MASSIVE improvement, a shoe-in for my like

[geespots]

trigger has been able to show his skill for a change instead of sitting on the bench, as for wortho the only thing he has shown in the past 2 months is how dirty of a player he can be.

[anonymouse]

Congrats Trigger, well deserved. Can't wait to see him play again next season.

[Stumps]

as for wortho the only thing he has shown in the past 2 months is how dirty of a player he can be.
Well, certainly some quality comments tonight.