By Paul Levine May 10, 2006, 19:27 GMT
Los Angeles - In a year of devastation in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina, Hornets' rookie Chris Paul managed to bring some relief to the 'Big Easy' with his sparkling and unselfish play.
Paul, tops among first-year players in nearly every statistical category, was named on Wednesday as the NBA Rookie of the Year, in a runaway.
'Winning the award wouldn't have been possible without my teammates,' the modest Paul told The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune on its Web site. 'Guys like David West and Speedy Claxton made things easier for me. I just tried to play the same way every game.'
Paul received 623 points from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. He easily outdistanced Toronto's Charlie Villanueva, who finished second with 248 points. Milwaukee's Andrew Bogut placed third with 98 points.
Selected as the fourth player in last year's NBA Draft, Paul quickly and smoothly made the transition from the college game to the pros.
Paul ranked first among rookies in scoring (16.1), assists (7.8), steals (2.2), double-doubles (21), minutes played (36.0) and triple- doubles (2).
He was selected the Western Conference Rookie of the Month all six months, joining Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Tim Duncan and David Robinson as the only players to be honoured.
As a result, last week, the speedy 6-foot point guard was the only unanimous pick on the NBA All-Rookie first team, which was selected by the league's 30 head coaches.
His biggest impact, though, was helping the Hornets achieve a 20-win turnaround from a season ago, when they finished with a dismal 18-64 record. However, he couldn't help stop a late season meltdown, resulting in a failure to make the playoffs.
'A lot of times after having such a successful rookie season people are waiting to see if you are content with it or if you're going to try to get better,' Paul said. 'I'm going to be more driven, because I don't want to be sitting at home watching the playoffs next year.'
Your Talkback on this Story