Massinburg beats Grazulis and Abass.
Massinburg number one
From the season before to the season after, the goal of a player è undoubtedly to improve himself, step up to become useful again to the cause and meet the demands of the coach, as well as to become a teammate to rely on. C.J. Massinburg (Germani Brescia) è took home the palm of "Most Improved Player – Pokerstarsnews" surpassing in preferences Andrejs Grazulis (Dolomiti Energia Trentino) and Awudu Abass (Virtus Segafredo Bologna). This award è was voted by clubs (managers, coaches and players), the media and community panel and fans.
It is not è the story of the ugly duckling turning into a swan, more that of a boy who has become more and more aware of his means at his disposal. In Germani Brescia’s ride to the lowest step of the podium in the regular season, there is the hand of the Charlotte native, a shooting guard whose killer instinct is second to none.
Noticing his strides and improvements were everyone, from coach Magro to his teammates, passing through opponents and, of course, the fans. Germani’s head coach himself has been working hard on the 1997 class giving him not only more responsibility, but also helping him polish up all those little details that have transformed him from a role player to a key pawn in the chessboard coming off the bench. Last season he had been one of the protagonists of the Frecciarossa Final Eight 2023 conquered in Turin with two mind-boggling performances (the 16 points with only one mistake from the field in the challenge against EA7 Emporio Armani Milano and the 13 points with 8 rebounds and 24 rating against Carpegna Prosciutto Pesaro are a testimony), but the year in its complexity had seen him bring to the parquet a fluctuating basketball, made of flashes destined to have no real continuity. In this championship, however, C.J. Massinburg has è proved himself up to every expectation and has clearly touched up every one of his career highs since wearing the Brescia uniform: 27 points against Virtus Segafredo Bologna and against Estra Pistoia, 8 rebounds against Banco di Sardegna Sassari, 7 assists against Openjobmetis Varese, 5 rebounds against Vanoli Cremona, 38 rating against Estra Pistoia and +30 plus/minus against Openjobmetis Varese. Moreù specifically came 12.6 points (8.8 in the 2022/2023 season) with 57.5% from two (41.6% in the 2022/2023 season) and 44.2% from three (36.2% in the 2022/2023 season), as well as 16.1 rating (8.0 in the 2022/2023 season) and +8.7 plus/minus (+0.3 in the 2022/2023 season) in 21.8 minutes (it was 17.7 at the end of last season).
