ESPN: Calderon most improved

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dime-080301-02

Quote :

Jose Calderon, Toronto Raptors

Can Golden State's Monta Ellis win this award two years in a row? Our guy Monta -- we go way back, trust us -- just became the 10th guard in league history to shoot at least 60 percent from the floor for an entire month. With a success rate from the field of .602, Ellis averaged 26.0 points in February.

Since I'm guessing we can't vote for Ellis again, what about Calderon? The All-Star snub-ee also shot 60 percent from the field in February -- .609, to be precise  and likewise nailed 51.4 percent of his 3-pointers and 94.4 percent of his free throws in averaging 14.1 points and 8.4 assists for the Raps.

Yet it'll probably be tough for the Spanish point guard to maintain those numbers for the rest of the season with T.J. Ford back, which could well lead us back to the First Trimester wrestling we did trying to choose between the Clippers' Chris Kaman and the Orlando duo of Howard and Hedo Turkoglu ... which as previously explained remains complicated because Howard might have been too good already to be considered for this award and because Turkoglu (in his eighth season) doesn't quite meet the league's MIP guidelines. The official ballot, remember, instructs to vote for "an up-and-coming player."

But there's no such hesitation with the third-year Spanish point guard, who has improved so much over the course of the season that he's got Washington's outspoken Gilbert Arenas backpedaling. Arenas chided folks campaigning for Calderon to go to New Orleans in a recent Blog entry, saying "he's about 20 years from being an All-Star." But Arenas has since retracted that sentiment, writing that Calderon "might have a crack at it" next season with the way he's playing and with Jason Kidd having moved to the West.

caldy is definately in now that kaman has gone "tarded" again

I'd vote Rudy Gay over anyone else. He's jumped nearly 10 points per game and has improved his percentages, rebounds, assists and steals. And with Gasol gone and Miller hurting, his numbers will probably just go up the rest of the year.