NBA Rookie of the Year Watch
With the season starting to wind down it is time to start sorting through this year’s candidates for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year. There is one clear cut favorite right now with several players jockeying for position in what has turned out to be a pretty deep rookie class this season.
Tyreke Evans, Sacramento Kings – Evans has emerged as the head-and-shoulders above everyone else candidate for the ROY in this class. Tyreke leads all rookies in scoring with 20.3 points per game and is the only one averaging over 20 points this season. He ranks second amongst rookies in assists, field goal percentage, is sixth in rebounding, and tied for the lead amongst rookies with seven double-doubles.
Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors – Curry has been coming on like gang busters the past two months at a time when rookies generally start to hit a wall during the season. In the calendar year of 2010 Curry is averaging 19.5 points, 5.9 assists, and 4.7 rebounds per game. He and Evans have been the two best rookies in the league since January 1, Evans gets the nod over Curry for having a more complete season to-date. Curry is one of only two rookies to record a triple-double this season and currently ranks third in scoring, ninth in rebounding, third in assists, and leads all rookies in steals per game. He also rates as one of the league’s best free throw shooters.
Brandon Jennings, Milwaukee Bucks – Remember when Jennings was the next big thing in the league and every0ne was ready to hand him the ROY after averaging 21.9 points through the first month of the season? It would seem as though Jennings hit that rookie wall a lot quicker than most this season. He has gone from being the runaway winner to averaging just 14.2 points and shooting just .339 from the field since the end of November. His drop has been quite precipitous, but, to his credit his assists per game have risen from 5.7 the first month to 6.2 over the last two plus months and his assist-to-turnover ratio has gone from 1.68 to 2.79. It is heartening to see that he is not letting his poor shooting affect his development in other areas.
Jonny Flynn, Minnesota Timberwolves – Flynn’s season has been similar to that of Jennings, only his decline has not been quite as bad. He is still good for 13/14 points and 4 or 5 assists a night, he just is not shooting as well as he did earlier in the season. An interesting thing to note is while his overall field goal percentage has dropped his 3-point percentage has remained roughly the same throughout the year.
Darren Collison, New Orleans Hornets – I am giving Collison the slight edge over Omri Casspi here simply because he is on pace to be February’s rookie of the month. Collison’s play has been off the charts this month averaging 20.8 points and 8.9 assists including a triple-d0uble in a win over the Pacers.
Omri Casspi, Sacramento Kings – Casspi has been a pleasant surprise for the Kings this season. Not much was expected out of Casspi this season, but, the Israeli sharp-shooter is averaging 11.9 points per game and hitting .385 percent of his 3-pointers. The 6′ 9″ Casspi has Kings fans reminiscing of the days when they had another lean sharp-shooter hoisting up threes by the name of Peja Stojakovic.
