The NBA season is about a week old, which means it’s a perfect time to check in on the latest crop of rookies. Since the season is so young, the Rookie of the Year chase remains mostly chalk. As of now, here are the five best rooks.
5. Jerian Grant, PG, Knicks
Grant may be a surprising name on this list, but he’s played well through New York’s first three games, and he is going to see the kind of minutes necessary to rack up stats. It’s conceivable that Jose Calderon’s defense devolves to the point where Derek Fisher’s options are to start Grant, or suit up himself. Bet on the former, and Grant putting up solid numbers on a mediocre team.
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4. Willie Cauley-Stein, F/C, Kings
Cauley-Stein is already an impactful defensive player for the Kings, which is very necessary when playing alongside DeMarcus Cousins. Cauley-Stein terrorized the Lakers for 17 points and nine rebounds, and performances like this will get him noticed. Unfortunately, there are a lot of mouths to feed on the Kings, so there will be more two-point efforts than explosions. Defense can get him playing time, but not necessarily ROY votes.
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3. Emmanuel Mudiay, PG, Nuggets
Mudiay looks incredibly explosive, and his court vision is immediately noticeable. His shooting is not nearly as broken as some feared either. Nuggets fans should be ecstatic about their future with Mudiay running the show, but he’s averaging 7.5 turnovers through his first few games. That’s shockingly high, and, as a rookie, he’s likely to be a turnover-prone player.
That definitely limits his ROY upside. He’ll put up big stats, but unless that turnover number gets chopped down, he’s going to watch someone else accept the award.
2. Jahlil Okafor, C, 76ers
Okafor is not a good defender, and he is playing for the worst team in the NBA. On the plus side, ROY is less dependent on the team’s success than other awards, and Okafor is going to get a tremendous amount of minutes for Philadelphia.
Okafor will almost definitely lead all rookies in scoring, and his big minutes will allow for him to collect a ton of rebounds too. His defense will make him look significantly worse than Towns though, and if Towns can put up solid scoring the defense will start counting against Okafor’s case.
1. Karl Anthony Towns, F/C, Timberwolves
Towns was the No. 1 overall pick, and through two games he’s shown why. Towns is averaging 21 points and 13 rebounds to go with two blocks on defense. In addition to being a terror near the rim, and a ferocious rebounder, he’s already proving he has shooting range out to 20 feet. Good luck guarding pick-and-rolls with Towns and Ricky Rubio, who is healthy and dropped 28 on the Lakers in the Wolves’ opener.
Draft slot matters in the Rookie of the Year voting, so if he can keep this up he will be a shoo-in.
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