NBA Names Chicago Bulls Jimmy Butler Most Improved Player of the Year

By Cheri Cheng - 07 May '15 16:08PM

The NBA Most Improve Player of the Year award is going to Chicago Bulls Jimmy Butler, the league announced Thursday.

Butler received 92 of the 129 first-placed votes and got a total of 535 points. In second place was Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, who received 11 first-place votes and racked up a total of 200 points. Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert came in third with 189 points (12 first-place votes).

The league will host a news conference on Thursday to give Butler the award. He will also be honored with an on-court presentation before the start of Game 3, which takes place on Friday, May 8 at 8:00 p.m. ET. The Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers have split the Eastern Conference semifinals series one game apiece.

Butler, 25, averaged 20 points per game with a field goal percentage of 46.2. During this season, Butler also became an Eastern Conference All-Star for the very first time.

His postseason numbers have been impressive as well. Butler is averaging 23.4 points in 41.5 minutes over eight games.

Butler was selected 11th overall by the Bulls in the 2011 NBA Draft. With the Bulls, he averaged 11.7 points per game in 256 games.