The league changed its name from National Basketball Development League to NBA Development League (D League) in 2005
All-D-League Awards 2005-06
MVP - Forward Marcus Fizer (6'8''-F-78) of Austin Toros Rookie of the Year - Will Bynum (5'10''-G-83) of Roanoke Dazzle Defensive Player of the Year - Derrick Zimmerman (6'3''-G-81) of Austin Toros Jason Collier Sportsmanship Award - Ime Udoka (6'5''-F/G-77) of Ft.Worth Flyers 1st Team Marcus Fizer (6'8''-F-78) of Austin Toros Ime Udoka (6'5''-F/G-77) of Ft.Worth Flyers Andre Barrett (5'9''-G-82) of Florida Flame Will Bynum (5'10''-G-83) of Roanoke Dazzle Anthony Grundy (6'3''-G-79) of Roanoke Dazzle 2nd Team Erik Daniels (6'8''-G/F-82) of Fayetteville Patriots Jamar Smith (6'9''-F/C-80) of Austin Toros Isiah Victor (6'9''-F-78) of Roanoke Dazzle Scott Merritt (6'10''-F-82) of Austin Toros Luke Schenscher (7'0''-C-82) of Ft.Worth John Lucas (5'11''-G-82) of Tulsa 66ers Honorable Mention T.J. Cummings (6'9''-F-81) of Albuquerque Thunderbirds Desmon Farmer (6'5''-G-81) of Tulsa 66ers Brian Jackson (6'9''-F-80) of Arkansas RimRockers Theron Smith (6'8''-F-80) of Florida Flame Andreas Gliniadakis (7'1''-C-81) of Albuquerque Thunderbirds James Lang (6'10''-C-83) of Arkansas RimRockers Kelenna Azubuike (6'5''-G/F-83) of Fort Worth Flyers Tierre Brown (6'2''-G-79) of Albuquerque Thunderbirds Will Conroy (6'2''-G-82) of Tulsa 66ers Ramel Curry (6'3''-G-80) of Austin Toros Clay Tucker (6'3''-G-80) of Arkansas RimRockers Derrick Zimmerman (6'3''-G-81) of Austin Toros Thunderbirds Take 2006 D-League Championship The Albuquerque Thunderbirds are the D-League Champions for the 2005-2006 season after downing the top-ranked Fort Worth Flyers 119-108 last night at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Proving that team stability and chemistry can overcome talent, the Thunderbirds relied on a balanced scoring attack to rack up the single highest D-League Finals score ever. Led by Tierre Brown (6'2''-G-79, college: Mc Neese St.) and his 21 point and 10 assist performance, all eight Thunderbird players who played scored in double-figures. "Every player who got into the game scored in double figures and that is what team basketball is all about,†Head Coach Michael Cooper said. “We have had pretty much the same team throughout the year, so all it took was for us to start playing as a team.†The top-seeded Flyers were led by a Finals record 39 points from Keith Langford (6'4''-G/F-83, college: Kansas) but were outmanned on the boards 50-27 and missed 15 free throws on the night (32-47). Evidence of the lack of rebounding for Fort Worth was that Marcus Douthit (6'10''-F/C-80, agency: Passing Lane, college: Providence) came off of Albuquerque’s bench to grab 15 board in just 26 minutes, more than half of the Flyers total for the game (27). The Flyers who are composed of lots of fringe NBA players in Aaron Miles  (6'1''-G-83,
college:
Kansas), Keith Langford and
Kelenna Azubuike
(6'5''-G/F-83,
college:
Kentucky), ex-NBAer Ndudi Ebi (6'9''-F-84, college:
Arizona) and D-League assignees Von Wafer, Rawle Marshall and Pavel
Podkolzin just couldn’t stop the cohesive Thunderbirds. Teamwork won
against “talent†on this night. Definitely look for Brow, TJ Cummings
and Marcus Douthit to get strong looks from NBA teams this summer as
they were consistently good this year. In the case of Brown, he has
already been productive in limited time in the NBA and deserves another
shot to make his mark in the League.THUNDERBIRDS: T. Brown (21p+10as+5to), TJ Cummings (19p+8rb), M. Douthit (11p+15rb), A. Glyniadakis (21p+9rb) FLYERS: K. Langford (39p+7rb+6as+5to), K. Azubuike (17p+6rb), A. Miles (16p+6as+6st), R. Marshall (15p) |
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