Honestly, I'd never heard of this until reading Mr. Matt Brennan's D-League "Prospect Watch". Apparently, this award goes to a player who joins a D-League team after the season begins and makes a positive impact on their fortunes. In the ever-changing D-League, I would assume it's impossible to just pick one - so we've made a team out of it.
PG - Eddie Gill, Colorado - Eddie Gill hasn't so much made an impact, because this team is so good anyway, but it'd be hard not to include him. At the beginning of the season, Colorado was cycling in some sort of combination of Jamar Brown, Damien Lolar, and Lamar Butler. Now, Colorado is the best team in the D-League, record wise, and Eddie Gill is leading the ship.
SG - Blake Ahearn, Dakota - Ahearn, to me, seems like he's always been a Dakota guy. He hasn't. After being called up at the beginning of the season to the Spurs, he was actually assigned to the Toros and wasn't picked up until December 19th by the Wizards. I can't say Dakota would have been lost without him, as David Bell has been a great shooter off the bench, but they probably wouldn't be playing Thursday for the Central Division.
SF - Jawad Williams, RGV - Williams has come into the league after playing with the Cav's earlier this season and set it on fire. I really wanted to get him on our All-D-League team, but he's played in less than half the D-League games, so there were just players that have impressed us for a longer time. In 19 games, the 6'9 forward is shooting 42% from behind the arc, averaging 25.7 points per game.
PF - Richard Hendrix, Dakota - Hendrix rarely impresses, but wow is he good. He made an immediate impact with the Wizards, scoring 23 points, grabbing 12 boards and swatting three shots his first game with the team. Also, if I had to watch this team play Jesse Smith 48 minutes a game, my Wizard watching would go way down.
C - Pops Mensah-bonsu, Austin - Pops had a short stay in Austin, but it was a great stay in Austin. In eight games, all starts, he averaged 26.6 points, 13 boards and 2.5 blocks, shooting 61% from the field. Currently, I think the Toronto Raptors might give him their Impact Player award.
6th Man: Jared Jordan, RGV - From Jon: Pop quiz, hot shot. Who leads the league in assists per 48 minutes? Walker Russell? No. Eddie Gill? No. Will Conroy? I'm sure the League wishes that were true. Sun Yue? Don't we all wish that were true. This has grown tedious, as I'm sure you've guessed that it's Jared Jordan. For good measure, Jordan is also fourth in the league in steals per 48 minutes.
7th Man: Rod Benson, Reno - I'd be remiss if we didn't get him somewhere. I'm not sure that he's the sole reason for Reno's resurgence (he came in with David Noel and Richie Frahm), but he's a big part of it. With Reno, he's averaged 15.8 points, 8.8 and 2.8 blocks per game. Not bad.
EDIT: Eddie Gill won the D-League's official award.
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