Karl-Anthony Towns has officially been named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year for the 2015/16 season in a unanimous vote, the Timberwolves announced today (via Twitter). A 20-year-old out of Kentucky, Towns was named Western Conference Rookie of the Month each month this season.
Towns was the top pick in the 2015 draft and immediately moved into Minnesota’s starting lineup. He started all 82 games and averaged a double-double with 18.3 points and 10.4 rebounds per night.
Towns quickly won the respect of Wolves veteran Kevin Garnett, who praised the rookie center for his IQ and understanding of the game. Sometimes [it’s] a little difficult teaching him because he is so smart,” Garnett said. “I guess that’s a young thing. But he gets a lot of things you teach him very quickly.’’
Towns’ Rookie of the Year nod represents the second consecutive time a player from the Timberwolves organization has earned the honor. Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins was named Rookie of the Year in 2015.
ESPN’s Marc Stein (Twitter links) first reported on Sunday that the Wolves were expected to announce that Towns had been named Rookie of the Year at a news conference Monday, adding that it wouldn’t be surprising if the final vote was unanimous.
Here is this year’s full list of vote-getters for the award, along with their point totals:
- Karl-Anthony Towns (Timberwolves): 650
- Kristaps Porzingis (Knicks): 363
- Nikola Jokic (Nuggets): 59
- Devin Booker (Suns): 49
- Jahlil Okafor (76ers): 34
- Justise Winslow (Heat): 7
- Emmanuel Mudiay (Nuggets): 4
- Myles Turner (Pacers): 3
- D’Angelo Russell (Lakers): 1
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
I just gotta say props to Nikola Jokic. Feel like it’s safe to say prior to the season not one person could have guessed Jokic would be 3rd in rookie of the year voting.
so with these unanimous votes I assume that the award voting has been ceded to the politburo? seems a large amount of groupthink going on these days, or the talent is so watered down that no one can make the case for a choice outside the consensus
Between this and the MVP, this was the one lock to be unanimous. Towns was without a doubt the best rookie in the league this year. In my opinion, it would’ve been crazier if Towns didn’t get a first place vote as opposed to Curry not getting a first place vote. While both definetly deserved to win their respective awards, Towns was much better than Porzingas or Jokic and should’ve been unanimous. Curry (in my opinion) should’ve won but not with the unanimous vote. The big problem with MVP is walking the fine line of the player with the best numbers and the player who meant the most to his team. Curry had the best year in terms of stats, but its hard to argue that he meant more to his team than say LeBron, Kawhi, and Durant/Westbrook.
Back in the winter, it was looking like a close race between Towns and Porzingis. It turned out not to be.
No problems with the top 3 – but a little surprised that Turner only got 3 votes and Norman Powell got nothing.
Powell, like Josh Richardson, wasn’t in the rotation long enough. Turner had that injury and they didn’t use him as much as they could have/should have until later