2001 All-NIBL Team

[ The best players of NIBL 2001 ]
The All-NIBL teams includes the NBA players with the most nibls per game (npg) who have played a minimum of 80% of a team's games. Since we've played 50 games (25 nibl-weeks), players had to play in at least 40 games to be eligible for All-NIBL honors.

Enjoy!

2001 NIBL Most Valuable Player

No surprise here...

Shaq O'Neal (Lal)

Elk Grove Cougars

2,220 nibls!

49.3 nibls/game!

This is Shaq's second consecutive NIBL MVP title.

And a little NIBL trivia... Karl Malone was the NIBL MVP in the NIBL's first two years of existence.

2001 NIBL Rookie of the Year

The rookie with the most NIBLS, eh:

Kenyon Martin (Njn)

Diablo Spawn

1,054 nibls

25.7 nibls/game

For the idly curious, Martin was the first rookie selected in the draft... taken in the 4th round by Diablo. 

It was a buster rookie crop this year. Kenyon Martin is the only rookie to crack the list of the top 50 scorers in the NIBL. I couldn't even name the second-place rookie for you. Marcus Fizer? Dop.

Not a bad pick, I guess, except that Danny's Mommy (Denise Raimondo, head-mistress of the Manila DogEaters) selected Darrell Armstrong with the next pick. Darrell tallied 1,352 nibls and 29.2 nibls/game. Sorry Danny.

 

The 2001 All-NIBL Team

Only one second-rounder in the bunch, Tracy McGrady. Other than that, we have the #1, #2, #4, and #12 overall picks in the NIBL draft.

  Team Player Npg
F Burlington Express Chris Webber (Sac) 46.6
F Aruba Thongs Tim Duncan (Sas) 41.8
C Elk Grove Cougars Shaq (Lal) 49.3
G Napa Valley Taster Tracy McGrady (Orl) 42.8
G Joliet DurtyByrds Alan Iverson (Phi) 41.8

With all these first-rounders, who had the worst first-round pick in the NIBL draft? Sorry Walla, it's Grant Hill who saw only two games of NIBL action for a total of 58 nibls. West Chicago drafted immediately following Walla, and to this day Don Fenton swears he would have taken Grant Hill over Kobe Bryant had he been available. 

The 2001 All-NIBL Second Team

KG, Carter, and Kobe were all first-rounders. Stackhouse was a 2nd-rounder for Nantucket, and Rasheed was St Louis' second-round selection. The dropoff for centers after Shaq and Duncan is pretty dang steep, eh.

  Team Player Npg
F Vegas Vermin Kevin Garnett (Min) 41.4
F St Louis Scammers Vince Carter (Tor) 39.8
C St Louis Scammers Rasheed Wallace (Por) 33.0
G West Chicago Beaters Kobe Bryant (Lal) 41.0
G Nantucket Buckets Jerry Stackhouse (Det) 41.0

Some honorable mentions for you:

  • The Boston frontcourt of 'Toine with 39.7 npg and Paul Pierce, 37.5 npg, were star players for Vegas and Cap City, respectively.

  • Old-timers Gary Payton (Sea) put up 39.6 npg and Karl Malone (Uth) averaged 38.4 npg had great seasons for Cap City and Nantucket, respectively, but are starting to show a little wear and tear. I guess Jason Kidd (Pho) qualifies as a geezer these days too. Kidd racked up 36.3 npg for Napa Valley.

  • Injuries hurt Stephon Marbury (Njn) and Antonio McDyess (Den) this season. Marbury averaged 36.5 npg for Manila, but only played in 37 nibl-games (out of 50 for the full season). McDyess pulled in 37.0 npg but only played in 36 nibl-games for Elk Grove.

  • Rip City's Antawn Jamison (Gsw) provided some mid-season fireworks with his NIBL record 144 nibl week. Jamison led the Rippers to an equally impressive new NIBL record of 429 nibls, most ever scored in one week by a NIBL team. Jamison fizzled on Golden State and Rip City in the end, but still finished with a sterling 37.7 npg average.

  • Finally, my choice for best pick of the 2001 draft. Taken in the 8th round (yeah, so that's after about 120 players or so) and averaging 33.2 npg and in the top 25 in NIBL scoring... Shawn Marion (Pho) of the Nantucket Buckets. Nick selection there Jack! 'Tuckets trio of Malone, Stackhouse and Marion propelled the Buckets into the NIBL playoffs in 2001.