NEW YORK, May 2 -- Washington Bullets center Gheorghe Muresan, who led the National Basketball Association in shooting percentage, Thurday was named league's Most Improved Player for the 1995-96 season. Muresan received 50 of a possible 113 votes from a nationwide panel of writers and broadcasters.
George McCloud of Dallas finished second with 23 votes and Cleveland's Terrell Brandon and Danny Ferry were third with six votes each. Eighteen players received votes. NBA Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik presented Muresan with the award in a ceremony on Capitol Hill. 'When I came to the NBA, I knew there were very good players here,' Muresan said. 'But I knew if I worked hard I would get better... This is very nice.' The 7-foot-7 Muresan set career highs in shooting percentage (58.4), points (14.5), rebounds (9.6), blocked shots (2.26), assists (0.7) and steals (0.68). The 25-year-old native of Romania improved his scoring average by 4.5 per game, his rebounding average by 2.9 and his blocked shots by 0.52. Muresan, who completed his third NBA season, started the first 76 games before suffering a knee injury. He scored a career-high 31 points against Charlotte on Nov. 8 and had 19 points, 21 rebounds and six blocked shots on Jan. 17 against Milwaukee. This marks the third time a Bullets player has won the award. Don MacLean won in 1993-94 and Pervis Ellison won in 1990-91. Despite the awards, the Bullets have not made the playoffs in eight seasons.
