Tipping point for rookie race is in the eye of ballot holder
It may be months until voters have to make their choices, but when it comes time to figure out who might be the NBA’s rookie of the year this season it could be a fascinating study.
The age-old question — Does team success trump individual performances on a losing team? — is sure to come into play, and there are a couple on each side of the equation who could turn this into a very interesting race over the last half of the season.
Ben Simmons, the 2016 No. 1 draft pick who sat out last season with a broken foot and remains eligible this year, has the Philadelphia 76ers on the cusp of the playoffs and at .500 deeper in a season than they have been in years. He’s seen, in most league circles, as the leader at the moment. His passing skills, size and multi-dimensional defensive skills are impressive, and the Sixers would likely be nowhere near the playoffs without him. He certainly feels worthy. “I feel like I’m rookie of the year, so I don’t really look into that too much,” he told reporters in London, England, before Philadelphia played Boston there Thursday. “I know I’m the best rookie in the league.”
But if a winning team is a prerequisite, how could voters shy away from Boston’s Jayson Tatum, who is rewriting the Celtics’ rookie record book — shooting 46.2 per cent from three-point range while playing for the team with the NBA’s best record.
There are sure to be voters who see Tatum’s production on a team vastly superior to Simmons’ as a reason to choose the Celtic over the Sixer. But what if winning isn’t what matters most?
Most rookies — at least the high draft picks — don’t get the luxury of joining a stacked team like Tatum did, and even fewer get to experience NBA life for a season before even playing a game like Simmons did.
Utah’s Donovan Mitchell averages 18 points and four assists per game for a Jazz team that’s finding it impossible to match last season’s success. But Mitchell has been unafraid of big shots or big moments, and the only reason Utah’s even on the periphery of the Western playoff race is because of what he’s given them. He may not get them to the playoffs, but will getting close be good enough?
The same would go for Chicago’s Lauri Markkanen, who is averaging 2.4 made three-pointers a game, more than any rookie in the history of the NBA. He, too, is on a team that’s not going anywhere, and may take a step back if it can move veterans Robin Lopez or Niko Mirotic at the trade deadline, but Markkanen has shown the ability to do one thing better than any first-year player ever, regardless of his team’s record.
Much can happen over the final half of the season, but there are going to be interesting choices to contemplate when voting time rolls around.
It also hammers home the point that the draft is a bit of a crapshoot and that it takes patience with young players. Neither the No. 1 pick, injured Markelle Fultz in Philadelphia, nor the No. 2 selection, Lakers guard Lonzo Ball, would be in any legitimate rookie-of-the-year conversation halfway through the season. Tatum went third after the Celtics traded back knowing they would get him, while Markkanen was the seventh pick — involved in the trade that sent Jimmy Butler to Minnesota — and Mitchell was taken by Denver before being moved to Utah.