Nope, Dorell Wright didn’t get a minor in possession. He’s 25 years old, so there’s no way he could even get one at this point. Dorell isn’t a household name, and unless you were a Heat or Warriors fan you still might not know that he even exists. The Warriors acquired him over the offseason for the next three years at a fairly cheap $11M. I had no idea what we got when we signed him, and have been in many a texting frenzies with the blog mates on how awesome he is for many of the Dubs games this year. I thought he was more of a defensive guy since all the reports that I read said that’s all he really was at the time the Warriors acquired him. Somehow, some way, he’s morphed into a knock down shooter (in best Mark Jackson voice). He currently leads the NBA in three pointers made (85), and is making up for the scoring punch to ab offense that lost Morrow, Azubuike, and Maggette this past season. So far this season, Dorell has gone up in every major category making him my hometown bias pick for, the most improved player. As his minutes went from 20 to nearly 39 per game he has doubled up in his averages in every major category. His points have more than doubled (7.1 to 15.7). His rebounds have nearly doubled from (3.3 to 6.2). His assists have more than doubled going from (1.3 to 3.1). His steals have gone up from (0.7 to 1.4). People might knock his field goal % dropping 5 points, but my reasoning for that is he’s taking a ton of threes (averaging 6 per game), which would lower anyone’s percentages a little. With all those threes he’s taking, he is 27th in the league in 3PT percentage, which makes me not care that his FG% overall has taken a little dip. There’s no signs of him slowing down since the W’s have no bench. Another reason to hand the award to Dorell is that he came out of nowhere to relevance this season. All the other guys I’m about to mention were all at least relatively known at the beginning of the year.
I guess there are some other candidates out there, but in my eyes none of them have improved from last season to this season as much as Dorell, but here are some that I think are in the running. Kevin Love is a beast that should be considered for the award, but at the same time we saw some of what he’s doing this year towards the end of last year, so does that really count as improved now that he’s getting the minutes and already showed us that he could do this? I say no, but it’s arguable.
Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose are on the same plane in my book. Rose has had an amazing season, and shown that he is indeed fantasy relevant instead of just a good player he has been boosting his stats in nearly every area. Westbrook developed a jumper this summer and is scoring more, but both of these guys were stars already, and I commend them for their improvement, but it just isn’t significant enough of an improvement to earn the MIP award. I’d put Raymond Felton slightly above them, because he is improving tremendously in every category much like Dorell, but being in D’antoni’s system jumpstarted that more than anything. We all knew that Felton was solid, just not this good. An honorable mention for a guy on the radar is Paul Millsap. He started off the first month of the season like he was going to win the award, but has fallen back to earth a little now that Al Jefferson has figured out the Utah offense, and mans the post keeping Paul away from this award. Michael Beasley also made the honorable mention list. He was a bust in Miami, and now is a main cog in Minnesota and hasn’t had any legal troubles thus far. If he keeps it up he should be on the list with his teammate.
By
cali4dre
chappy81
dyslecix
mceezy
Doin Work 
January 3rd, 2011 at 3:20 pm
chappy
The kid has got game and then some ! By the way did your hear the crap that went down with Nick Van Exel’s son ? Suffice to say he shot his friend with a shot gun then decided to dump the body and weapon. When confronted by the cops he said he panicked because he didn’t know what else to do . If memory serves me correctly that’s the same excuse used by ex Nets’ player Jayson Williams after he shot his limo driver some years ago .
tophatal …….
January 3rd, 2011 at 5:42 pm
I didn’t hear about that one. Crappy stuff right there, you never want to see people die over meaningless crap. There is no excuse for taking another person’s life unless your Dexter…
January 4th, 2011 at 7:13 am
chappy
Dexter does it because he’s getting scum of the streets what’s Van Exel’s son’s excuse meant to be ? ‘I didn’t know that the gun was loaded at the time I pulled the trigger’ ? Guns don’t kill people …… just dumb ass people with guns kill people !
So the Knicks are once again relevant within the NBA ? Is that meant to be joy to our ears or simply David Stern now having an erection for the benefit of Spike Lee ?
8)
tophatal ………
January 4th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
Man, I was hoping for a guns don’t kill people I kill people from Happy Gilmore reference! Anyways, I agree, morons kill people…
I like that the Knicks are relevant. I’m sure I’ll tire of it quickly, but at the moment it’s refreshing. I can’t remember who, but someone was saying they are like a knockout boxer with that offense. They can be beat, but at times they throw those devastating haymakers ie. 10-0 runs.
January 4th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
I’d rather not think about David Stern having an erection. Call me crazy, it’s just a personal preference.
Meehan
January 4th, 2011 at 12:33 am
No reason to die like that.
They shouldn’t ever put themselves in a position where the “panic” and dumped the evidence, and I’m a guy who sufffers from panic attacks. I wouldn’t ever kill anyone so that I would need to use it as an excuse.
Meehan
January 4th, 2011 at 3:05 pm
Meehan Ravenation LLC
Well Jay Wil formerly of the Nets was the ‘poster child’ for that sh_t when he shot his limo driver Gus Christofi and then told the cops it was an apparent suicide . Mutha’ fu_ka should have had his balls lobbed off ! But here the law is overseen by a punch of p_ssies !
Van Excel must feel proud that his son is following in his footsteps to an extent as he’s no shrinking violet himself !
tophatal ………………
tophatal …………………….
January 3rd, 2011 at 4:10 pm
Dude, I am totally still digging those new unis.
It’s really too bad that team still sucks, man.
January 3rd, 2011 at 5:44 pm
It’s the same story as last year, injuries to the big men. Hopefully we can hang with your Magic squad tonight. We’re up 32-26 early in the second, so I’ve got some hope building early! I’d have more hope if they weren’t so bad on the road…
January 3rd, 2011 at 7:02 pm
That didn’t last long.
Magic up by 14 with 9 left.
Went from looking like a potential upset to the Magic probably covering the double-digit spread.
January 3rd, 2011 at 7:04 pm
That’s how it went with Miami. Up by 17 at the half. Lost by 11…
January 4th, 2011 at 12:29 am
The uniforms are classic
I like how they went “old school” instead of “lightning bolt”
Meehan
January 4th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
yeah man, those lightning bolts were really gay. I never really understood what that had to do with warriors… I guess it matched out mascot thunder, but that was lame all around.
January 3rd, 2011 at 7:23 pm
You came up with a solid list of guys who will probably get more consideration than Dorell. I’d throw in Eric Gordon as well. But like you said, all of these guys were relatively important players last year. Dorell went from irrelevant to main cog, albeit on a faulty machine….
January 4th, 2011 at 9:39 am
I think the voters will side w/ Kevin Love, b/c what he’s doing on the boards is just plain silly. But from the perspective that Chappy & I come from, D. Wright is by far the most improved player, or at least the most “Where The Hell Did That Guy Come From?” player.
So in short, D. Wright = MWTHDTGCF
January 4th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Yeah man EG has been great this year! I bet he’ll get some votes if the Clippers keep playing like they have lately.
K Love will probably win it. As dominant as Griffin has been above the rim, Love has been that dominant below the rim!
January 4th, 2011 at 12:20 am
In Depth. Good read, I agree with most of it.
Meehan
January 4th, 2011 at 12:58 am
MIP: Most important player
January 4th, 2011 at 3:14 pm
chappy
If the Knicks can maintain their current form then they’ll be a shoo-in for the playoffs as they’re on target to win 47 games . In attaining that mark theyd end up being the sixth seed in the conference . Stoudemire has been ballin’ like a mutha’ and his teammates have followed eagerly ! .
tophatal …………
January 4th, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Do You Simply Get The Feeling You’ve Seen This All Before ?
tophatal …………
January 4th, 2011 at 3:48 pm
DMX summed it up best from the ‘Romeo Must Die’ . ‘Guns don’t kill people , people kill people ‘ lines from the movie.
tophatal ……………
January 4th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Very interesting take, haven’t really thought too much about Dorrell Wright with regards to any awards.
January 4th, 2011 at 6:05 pm
My bad: Most Improved player.
I thought that was a very interesting comment about Westbrook and Rose being on the same plane. I think most people would be inclined to say that Rose is better since Rose is really the only superstar that Chicago has.
Did you get my email Chaps?
Meehan
January 5th, 2011 at 8:39 am
chappy
The Knicks put it on my beloved Spurs —– last night (128-115) like they were someone’s prison bi_ch !
tophatal …………
January 5th, 2011 at 11:53 am
Exactly what I was talking about. They are comparable to a bruiser int the ring, and landed the heymaker scoring 128 last night 🙂
January 5th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
chappy
I was watching the game and as the onslaught became much worse I basically got up and took the dog for a walk. I’m not saying that Spurs went down badly but hell at least show some grit ………. rather than taking it like some “prison bi_ch ” who’s about to have their cherry popped !
tophatal ………………
January 5th, 2011 at 4:49 pm
chappy
Dropped this dime on the Lakers .
Is There Trouble In Paradise Or Simply Something The Press Would Like To Have Us Believe ?
tophatal …………
January 6th, 2011 at 7:05 am
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