Heat’s Seikaly Gets Improved Player Award
Miami center Rony Seikaly, who had a disappointing NBA rookie season, today was named the league’s Most Improved Player, beating out Reggie Miller of Indiana.
Seikaly received 37 of a possible 92 votes from a national panel of sports writers and broadcasters--three from each of the league’s 27 cities and 11 representing the national media.
Miller finished second with 30 votes. He was followed by Minnesota’s Tony Campbell with 13.
Seikaly, the first college player ever drafted by the Heat, struggled in his rookie season in 1988-89, averaging 10.9 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. In the 1989-90 season, Seikaly led Miami in scoring with a 16.6 average and ranked sixth in the league in rebounding average with 10.4 per game.
He also improved his field goal percentage from .448 to .502 and finished 16th in the league in blocked shots with 124.
“I had a rough rookie year,” Seikaly said, “because there was no veteran ahead of me I could learn from, so I had to learn on my own.”
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