LINK<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>NDBL award named for CollierBy SEKOU SMITHThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 03/31/06 The NBA's developmental league has renamed its Sportsmanship Award in honor of former Hawks center Jason Collier, who died April 15 from heart failure, officials announced Thursday.Collier was a first-team All-D-League pick with the Fayetteville Patriots in 2004, the same season he joined the Hawks."By virtue of this award, Jason's memory will live forever in the league that helped provide him with the opportunity to develop his skills as a player, and become a quality young man whose life was taken away from us much too soon," Hawks general manager Billy Knight said in a statement. "We are truly grateful to have shared time with him as a member of the Hawks family, and speaking on behalf of the coaches, players and the front office, we continue to miss him."The Sportsmanship Award is given annually to the D-League player who best represents the ideals of character and conduct on the court.This year's recipient, Ime Udoka of the Fort Worth Flyers, will be honored at his team's final home game April 9."Ime is well deserving of this honor. His commitment to working hard from the beginning to the end of the season is to be commended," Fort Worth coach Sam Vincent said in a statement. "He is a consummate professional and the heart of our team, not only on the court, but as a solid citizen, a loyal teammate and a guy coaches can depend on."</div>This is a great gesture by the D-League. It will help everyone remember his commitment when he was in the D-League and remember his life.
Very thoughtful of the NBDL, its great to see someone get an award after them when they were never a star but always put in 100% effort out there on the court.
Yo that makes me happy I was kinda shocked when I heard a player his age died all of a sudden and I felt pretty bad so hopefully this gives his family some comfort.
I think it's great that the D-League did this in honor of Collier. I'm sure his family is honored. Now everybody will be able to remember Jason Collier and everything that he accomplished in the short time he played in the league.
I'm sure he was a nice guy and all but this is just sappy. A NBDL Sportsmanship Award? Come on now. How is a renamed award from a league that nobody cares about honoring him? He was a really bad 28 year old player who was only in the league because he was 7'0" tall, all this fake sympathy over it is a little much.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BCB @ Mar 31 2006, 11:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I'm sure he was a nice guy and all but this is just sappy. A NBDL Sportsmanship Award? Come on now. How is a renamed award from a league that nobody cares about honoring him? He was a really bad 28 year old player who was only in the league because he was 7'0" tall, all this fake sympathy over it is a little much.</div>When people die, people do stuff to honor them. Collier was 7'0 tall, and had no skill, you are correct. So why did he get in the league? He was a garbage bucket type of guy, a scrapper. That's what this award is for, so it makes sense. Think before you say stupid things BCB :HAHAHA:
