This is pretty simple, the Warriors are finished and I was curious to see what the Warriors fans here thought of who was deserving of the following awards and why. Most Valuable Player: Most Improved Player: Best Sixth Man: Best Defensive Player: Rookie of the Year: Play of the Year: Game of the Year:
Most Valuable Player:Robinson. He brought proffessionalism, defense, and leadership to this team. He played all 82 games, and he kept the team fighting even though they were out of the playoffs. With out him who knows who would have played PF all season. I guess Cardinal... Most Improved Playeretrius. From sitting on the bench and not playing well in the summer leage to scoring over 20pts in a few games with a decent 3pt% and playing phenominal defense on some of the leagues best PGs. Best Sixth Man:Cardinal. With out a doubt... Best Defensive Player:Robinson. If Petrius had played in more games he would probably have this award. Rookie of the Yearetrius? Play of the Year:JRich's follow up dunk over Jahidi White... Game of the Year:Beating the Mavericks to end a 20 game losing streak and when the end of the season was meaningless.
MVP:Robinson, for basically same reasons stated above. MIP:Cardinal, never seen him play before this year and he came out of nowhere to having a huge impact for the warriors and even could have made a case to start over Dunleavy. SixthMan:Cardinal, came off the bench provided a spark off the bench and did all the little things. Best Defensive Playerampier, his size made players think twice about getting to the rim and made it a much tougher shot for when one his teamates gets beat on a drive. Also got all the rebounds, limiting the amount of offenseive rebounds by other teams. Honorable Mentions, Pietrus, Claxton, Robinson. This was kind of tough but I think Damp had the most impact. Game of the Year, the game against the spurs, when NVE hit the the three to win it.
Here's mine for the whole league. MVP: Garnett he lead his team to the best record in the league and does basically everything for his team. MIP:Cardinal, same reasons I mentioned in my previous post. DefensivePlayer:Theo Ratliff if he had played the whole season as a Blazer. I can't forget that game when the warriors faced the blazers and how he dominated that game on the Defensive end. But I'd have to go with the media who chose Artest. Rookie of the Year, Carmello Anthony, I thought the Jazz were going to make the playoffs, but Carmello stepped it up and lead his team to victories that secured them a playoff spot. Play of the year, Kobes 2 buzzer beater threes against the blazers in the final game. That was amazing.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Rudeezy:</div><div class="quote_post">just players on the Warriors.</div> Ok, I posted mine for the whole also. But rookie of the year is kind of obvious, we don't have much of a choice, so thats why I thought you may have been talking about the whole league
An outsiders view! MVP : Richardson, he is always a threat, allowing others to go under the microscope. 'D'MVP : Robinson, has all the defensive smarts. Pietrus is loooking the goods though. MIP : Cardinal, what are you guys feeding him. Did absolutely nothing but look out of place in the NBA before this year. 6th Man : Cardinal, his hustle was invaluable. ROY : Pietrus, coming on nicely and definately should be high on rotation next year.
Most Valuable Player: Erick Dampier, he had an incredible year on both sides of the court and really showed the league what he is capable of. He matched up well with the Elite centers in the West. Most Improved Player: I'll go with Cardinal here. This guy went from a guy just taking up space to a real contributer for the Warriors. He played in crunch time and helped us seal some victories. Best Sixth Man: Once again Brian Cardinal. He was a huge spark off the bench and did a lot that never showed up on the stat sheet. Best Defensive Player: Clifford Robinson. Kevin Garnett called him the best PF defender in the league, that has to count for something. Rookie of the Year: Pietrus for obvious reasons. Play of the Year: NVE shots against the Kings and Spurs which sealed the game. Game of the Year: Beating the Mavs to end the long losing streak.
Most Valuable Player: Robinson. Only player to play all 82 games plus his veteran leadership and defense kept the team going. Most Improved Player: Damp. Took it to another level avg. a double double Best Sixth Man: Cardinal. Provided consistent hustle and energy along with some offense. Best Defensive Player: Robinson. <strike>Shit</strike> what can I say <font size="1"><font color="navy">(Not that - SS )</font></font> Rookie of the Year: Pietrus Play of the Year: J-Rich's 3 to beat the T-Wolves in Minn. Game of the Year: Game 4 against Dallas and game 2 against San Antonio
MVP: Dampier MIP: Cardinal 6th Man: Cardinal ROY: Pietrus POY: Cliff coming up big in OT against my Sonics
Most Valuable Player: Robinson. Where would the Warriors have been this year without him? Zendon Hamilton and Cardinal would have been the only power forwards. Most Improved Player: Dampier. I've always been one of Damp's biggest fans. It was nice to finally see him be consistently productive, for both the whole game and the whole year. Best Sixth Man: Cardinal. You all know why Best Defensive Player: Robinson. Who am I to disagree with KG. I'm actually pretty shocked to see that he didn't get any defensive player of the year consideration. Rookie of the Year: Pietrus. He's gonna be a good one. Play of the Year: Its always hard for me to come up with specific plays, its just not how I remember games. But I do remember Richardson hitting a three off an NVE feed against Minnesota to win the game. That was one of the first game winners I remember Richardson hitting. Hopefully it will become commonplace next year. Game of the Year: I'm going to say the last game of the year. The Warriors were shorthanded, didn't have anything to play for, and were playing against a team that did. Hopefully it will set the tone for next year.
Most Valuable Player: Erick Dampier (maybe Jason Richardson) - He was the most consistent of all players during the season on both ends of the court. Even though most of the time he needed others to create offense for him, he still managed to work the ball down low using his strength and footwork to score or get fouled. He provided energy with his thunderous dunks and also was decent kicking the ball out to the wing. On the defensive end, he controlled the paint with his footwork and his strength to get inside positioning for rebounds. He also blocked a lot of shots, which prevented anyone from just going in for a layup. He was the warrior who had the best chance of making the allstar game. Jason Richardson will probably get this award next year when he becomes more consistent. Gotta love Jrich though. Most Improved Player: Jason Richardson - Has been made the go-to-guy since showing signs of coming through in the clutch with his ability to create for himself and hit those buzzer beaters. Has developed a solid midrange game, which before was non-existant, has improved ballhandling to the point where he can take Kobe off the dribble (but not to the point where he can split defenders on a double team), has improved his team defense, his court awareness seems to have improved with the ability to find open guys, and he has become the number one rebounding shooting guard. His rebounding ability has saved some close games which was good to have. He had a real positive attitude about himself and his team and he had great work ethic and showed how mature he has become since last year. Before he used to ditch practices and be at odds with the coach. Best Sixth Man:Brian Cardinal. - The ultimate team player. He provided a spark off the bench, with his aggressive, high energy style of play on both ends of the court. He hustled for loose balls, took charges, never gave up on ANY play, fought hard for every posession trying to knock balls loose from opponents, and had the mindset in the game to do whatever it took to make his team better. He sacrificed his body a lot to get to the foul line, to regain posessions and to force turnovers which was a real selfless act considering that any long term injury might have jeopardized his non-guaranteed contract and his future in the league. On offense, he had an impact as he was the team's best shooter. If left open he could knock down a 3 pointer consistently and he could also take the ball inside and be clever enough to get fouled. He led the team in free throw percentage. He also was the team's fan favorite as he was the blue collar, training camp invitee, who despite not having an nba body, managed to make a huge impact on the team with his high energy play and willingness to do the important things that don't show up on a stat sheet. Best Defensive Player:Cliff Robinson/Speedy Claxton/Pietrus. All 3 need to share this award because they all specialize in defending certain positions which have made a huge impact. Robinson is the best at guarding high scoring front court players in the low post or forwards on the perimeter. He frustrated Jermaine O'Neil enough for him to lose his cool and Kevin Garnett said he is the game's best front court defender with his work against him. Speedy Claxton is the best one on one defender against point guards and even though he's small he manages to use his lateral quickness, fast hands, long reach to grab steals and contest shots. He frustrated Gary Payton enough in that one game with his stingy defense. And finally Pietrus deserves credit because the guy is so quick he can guard point guards. Although he's overly aggressive at times, his hustle makes an impact on the point guard's ability to set up plays. Imagine if he gained more muscle, he could lock down some of the league's best shooting guards. Rookie of the Year:Pietrus - Our only rookie. Play of the Year: Cliff Robinson/Jrich/NVE [WINNER] - Versus the Rockets. a picked off pass by Van Exel gets knocked towards Cliff Robinson. A defender goes at Robinson, so Robinson gives a flashy behind-the-back pass back to Nick to avoid the defender. Nick van exel takes off running in transition and then throws an alley oop from 3 point land to Jrich, who was also running, for the slam dunk. Cuttino Mobley lost sight of Jrich and thought Van Exel was shooting a 3 pointer so he stops and then Jrich leaps up, catches the oop pass and dunks it in midair! Great play that started with Nick and Cliff and then finished with Jrich. Flashy and flawless execution. RUNNER UPS: Brian Cardinal - The play where Cardinal dribbles the ball hard along the baseline towards the basket, Greg Ostertag tries to foul him. After the contact, Cardinal lunges backward with his back almost parallel to the ground, he then fires off a shot and goes sliding to the floor for the basket and one! He then raises his arms while on the ground and makes the double "hang loose" hand signs. That one shot from behind half court to almost beat the half time buzzer was also pretty good. I can't remember if they waived it off or it counted. But nice shot anyway. Speedy Claxton - That alley oop pass from beyond half court to Jrich for the slam dunk was just pure passing skill. NVE - Too many to list. He's a great passer and he makes these impossible circus shots with all these defenders on him. I'd say that one play where he shoots from the hip against two Miami defenders and he makes it from half court to beat the halftime buzzer. A.J. - The show and go "fake behind the back pass" to freeze his defender up and then the layup. Game of the Year: The first game at Minnesota. NVE's awesome mid air, pump fake, no look pass to Jrich on the wing for the game winning shot. Jrich nails the 3 point shot with 0.2 seconds left. Awesome shooting and awesome playmaking skills from Nick Van Exel.
