My Player: The Continued Story of William Higgs (episode III)
By yevinorion 7 Comments
Been awhile since my last update, but The Beast™ has been tearing it up on the court. Barring a minor twisted ankle that he played through for 3 games, I've been in top shape. I've been working hard and putting time in the gym on my 3pt shot and it's really starting to pay off as I've increased my season 3pt FG% from a measly 23% to 44%. My normal shooting percentage has also gone up to 54% for the season and I'm averaging around 32 pts a game with 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Not bad, although once I can work on my passing and awareness I'm sure the assists will go up.
The biggest news is probably my All-Star snub. I was around 5th in overall voting in the East and easily doing well enough to land on the team as a reserve, but as the game happened right on the tail end of my playable injury I'm not sure if that had something to do with it. Not only that, but I didn't even get in the Rookie vs Sophomore game. I'm hoping the injury is the cause, but still...it's a bit disappointing given all the work I put in. Fear not though! There are still big things on the horizon for Higgs. I'm second in the running for the MVP award to LeBron James. Unlikely I'll win it, but it's nice to even be in the race as a rookie. Speaking of which, I'm the clear leader for Rookie of the Year and no other rookie is even close to producing at my level. If I can win that I'll be more than satisfied.
Enough of the solo accolades however, as the Heat are currently leading the league with a whopping 52-8 record. Keep in mind that's including my 10 game absence due to injury at the beginning of the season. So needless to say, the team has been dominant. Which is part of the reason I'm thinking about moving to a new team come the off-season. Oh, believe me, I'm going to go for a ring while I have the opportunity with the Heat, but my heart is really in Chicago so I'm hoping I can get over to the Windy City after the season is over. High scoring has been a huge help, but the meat and potatoes of our wins are defense. See example A:
A nice little steal from the passing lane ended with a convincing finish. I've come a long way from the mere rimgrazer I was in the Draft Combine. I'm getting around 3-4 highlight plays in a game. Not bad for a second round pick right? Oh, and I got my very first alley-oop as well. Well, I had passed one to LeBron before, but my first time on the receiving end from D Wade. Just goes to show even the big guys are starting to respect my game.
So now in the wake of the All Star break, it's balls to the wall time as we make our final push to the playoffs. With a pretty much guaranteed #1 seed (as I believe the Magic who are in the 2 spot are about 6 games or so behind us) it's really just a time to sharpen our edge and make sure we're mentally and physically ready for the big stage. As the personal season leader in points in a single game (51), made 3 pointers in a game (9) and offensive rebounds in a game (7) I'm hoping I can set a few franchise records in the playoffs, if not NBA records (although that's tough given Jordan's legacy). I expect by the time I post a new update it'll be playoff time so in the mean time I'll leave you with a little taste of what The Beast™ plans to bring to the table in the post season. See you in the playoffs.