Toronto’s Scottie Barnes, who played for FSU, voted Rookie of Year
Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes, Cleveland forward Evan Mobley and Detroit guard Cade Cunningham were unanimously voted Wednesday to the NBA All-Rookie first team.
Orlando's Franz Wagner and Houston's
Jalen Green were the other players chosen for the first team by a panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters.
Barnes, the No. 4 pick by the Toronto Raptors, edged Mobley for the Rookie of the Year in the smallest margin under the current format that began in 2002-03. They both received 200 points in the All-Rookie balloting, along with Cunningham, the 2021 No. 1 pick.
The second team was New Orleans' Herbert Jones, Oklahoma City's
Josh Giddey, Denver's
Bones Hyland, Chicago's
Ayo Dosunmu and Indiana's Chris Duarte.
Barnes, a multi-positional player, played one season at Florida State and played high school ball at Cardinal Newman in West Palm Beach.
DRAFT LOTTERY
Orlando Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman was supposed to be at the podium for the NBA Draft lottery in Chicago.
He benched himself in favor of coach Jamahl Mosley.
“I haven’t been very good at this,” Weltman said. “Coach was feeling lucky and we let him roll the dice. Tonight, he’s the Coach of the Year.”
And next season, he'll be coaching the No. 1 pick.
The Magic won the lottery Tuesday night and landed the top overall pick for the first time since it got
Dwight Howard in 2004.
“We’re all just rooting for our team and hoping that number pops up the right way,” Weltman said. “But teams are built on these breaks.”
The Magic got a huge one, with lottery luck striking the franchise for the fourth time. Orlando also won in back-to-back years in 1992 and 1993, taking Shaquille O’Neal and then trading the rights to Chris Webber for
Penny Hardaway.
The Magic finished with the worst record in the Eastern Conference at 22-60 in its first season under Mosley and missed the playoffs for the eighth time in 10 years. But it got a huge win in the lottery, where it had a 14% chance of landing the top pick.
Duke’s Paolo Banchero, Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren, Purdue’s
Jaden Ivey and Auburn’s Jabari Smith are widely considered the most likely candidates to be taken first. The draft is June 23 in New York.
Oklahoma City got the second pick, followed by Houston and Sacramento. The Kings moved up from the No. 7 spot entering the lottery.
Detroit picks fifth, with Indiana, Portland, New Orleans, San Antonio and Washington rounding out the top 10. The rest of the lottery results are: New York, Oklahoma City, Charlotte and Cleveland.
The Heat’s picks are 27th and 56th overall.
ELSEWHERE
Hornets: Charlotte scheduled second interviews with Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham and Golden State Warriors assistant coach
Kenny Atkinson, along with former Portland Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts for their head coaching vacancy, according to a person familiar with the situation. The Hornets fired
James Borrego.