DeAnna
Just A Face in The Crowd
You must be registered for see images
Suns big man Boris Diaw will reportedly win the Most Improved Award this season.
(Barry Gossage/NBAE Photos) Versatile Sun set career highs in many categories
Diaw to Win Most Improved Award
By Jerry Brown
East Valley Tribune
April 25, 2006
Boris Diaw, who went from a benchwarmer in Atlanta to a savior for the shorthanded Suns, will win the 2005-06 NBA’s Most Improved Player Award in a runaway. The projection is based an informal Tribune poll of voters for the award.
With 50 of 127 voters agreeing to share their votes with the Tribune or announce them publicly, Diaw received 37 of 50 firstplace votes and placed among the top three on 46 of the 50 ballots with 210 total points. David West of New Orleans was a distant second with two first-place votes and 88 points overall. Nenad Krstic of New Jersey was third with 36 points (three firsts) and Tony Parker fourth with 28 points (three firsts).
First perceived as a throw-in player in the highly scrutinized Joe Johnson trade with Atlanta, Diaw came to training camp as a backup point guard. But his unique skills were needed quickly when Amaré Stoudemire was lost for all but three games of the season due to knee surgery. He became the Suns’ starting center in February when Kurt Thomas went down with a stress fracture and has allowed the Suns to maintain their high-tempo style with his athletic ability and great passing.
For the season, Diaw set career highs in almost every statistical category including points (13.3), rebounds (6.9), assists (6.2) and minutes (35.5), playing in every game until skipping the meaningless season finale in Portland with strep throat. During his first two seasons in Atlanta, Diaw averaged 4.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists.
You must be registered for see images
For more coverage of Phoenix sports,
be sure to visit eastvalleytribune.comDiaw was one of only three NBA players (joining LeBron James and Jason Kidd) to average at least six rebounds and six assists, and he recorded four triple-doubles, trailing only Kidd (eight) and James (six). He is only the fourth player in Suns history to record multiple tripledoubles in a season (Alvan Adams, Charles Barkley and Kidd). He also had 18 doubledoubles and scored in double figures in 61 of 81 games — something he did 14 times in Atlanta — including a careerhigh 31 points against Minnesota on Dec. 26.
“Not only has he put up all the career numbers and earned those numbers in every sense, he’s done it in a winning fashion,” Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni said.
“People picked us to miss the playoffs and not win anywhere near 54 games. Boris is a guy no one counted on and a big reason why we were successful.”
Diaw would become the second Suns player to win the award. Kevin Johnson was honored in 1988-89, when he helped Phoenix to a 55-win season after the team had won only 27 the year before.
