The Mavericks’ Luka Doncic seemed to have the Rookie of the Year award locked up after his dazzling performances the first half of the season.
Doncic still appears to be the favorite, but a couple of players have narrowed the gap.
Doncic jumped right into Dallas’ starting lineup and has averaged an impressive 21.1 PPG , 7.4 RPG and 5.6 APG and 1.1 SPG in 62 games. The 20-year-old from Slovenia is so talented that Dennis Smith Jr. realized quickly he’d never be the primary play-maker again in the Mavs’ attack. The Mavs wound up trading the second-year guard to the Knicks as part of the blockbuster that delivered another young star, Kristaps Porzingis, to Dallas.
Doncic’s numbers have actually gone up recently, in large part because the trade left the current roster pretty barren. He averaged 24.4 PPG, 9.4 RPG and 7.4 APG in February and has posted 22.4 PPG, 8.4 RPG and 4.4 APG in five March outings.
The Hawks looked foolhardy for dealing away Doncic for point guard Trae Young and a future first-rounder on draft night last June. The deal doesn’t seem so lopsided now, as Young has come on strong in the past month-and-a-half. Over the last 22 games, Young has averaged 23.5 PPG and 9.0 APG. Young has moved up to fifth in the league in assists per game, trailing only Russell Westbrook, Kyle Lowry, LeBron James and Ben Simmons.
The splashy debuts of Doncic and Young has made it easy to forget that Deandre Ayton was considered a no-brainer choice as the top pick last summer. The Suns’ poor season has masked Ayton’s solid start in the league. He’s averaging 16.6 PPG and 10.3 RPG. Ayton hasn’t been a shotblocking force (0.9 per game) and like many young big men, tends to get into foul trouble. He’s increased his production during Phoenix’s improved play lately, averaging 18.3 PPG in six March games while committing a total of just five turnovers.
That leads us to our question of the day: Is Luka Doncic still the clear choice as Rookie of the Year? Has either Trae Young or Deandre Ayton pulled even with Doncic or even surpassed him?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.
T.R.A.E. it’s actually close but go hawks♂️
T-Young pulled even. rest of the season should determine btwn him and Doncik
The Don got it locked up had that s locked up in October. Young 2nd place, Ayton 3rd.
pretty much lol…its been locked up but Trae’s looked great lately
Mitchell Robinson. Top 3 VORP, WS/48, WS, BPM. Just saying. Better than Doncic and Trae in that regard. Only Ayton is comparable.
All that shows is that those stats are ridiculous.
At the end of the year… add up BPM, VORP and WS and highest total aligns with the MVP. Has been that way most years that I’ve checked back to 2000.
Broken clocks are correct twice a day too. Any stats that say Mitchell Robinson has been better this year than Luka or Trae are ridiculous. No offense to Robinson, he seems like he might be a solid NBA player for a while, but he is nowhere close to those two this season.
I predicted 1Ayton & 2Alexander, and uncertain about unseen foreigners (Doncic), so I wasn’t way off. But Ayton doesn’t react well on D and Alexander hit the rookie wall.
Doncic over Young, because Young cannot be hidden on defense.
I like the Doncic/Young rivalry, even as part of a larger Dallas/Atlanta rivalry, starting from a similar place.
In the last 1 1\2 years, both teams are bad. In the last 10 full years, ATL has 441 wins, DAL 437.
9 playoffs, 5 r8s, 1 r2. . . vs: 7 playoffs, 2 r8s and a title in a stronger WC.
Before that, roughly, ATL was weak in the 00s and DAL weak in the 90s.
2018, the trade and the drafting of the top two rookies, both playmakers.
SGA?
I prefer last names. It’s hard to keep initials straight. I see them and I have to pause for a ten-count thinking.
The Gilgeous part of his name feels left out though. But Gilgeous-Alexander does take a while because of the hyphen so I understand.
Doesn’t really matter. The goal with the #3 pick in very good draft with a top 4 is to get a player that you can “happily” max after his RSC. You either got that guy or you didn’t. Because if you don’t get him, then you have a choice to overpay, probably overpay, maybe overpay or lose him.
The top 2 talents in the draft (Ayton and Doncic) look like that type of player (with some margin). So does J. Jackson. That’s it right now. Young isn’t close, yet, and I doubt he gets there. His athletic profile will make it hard.
Atlanta had a player like that right there, and traded out of him. They were compensated, but still screwed up.
Gotta wait until their #5 & #8 position plays out to call it a mistake. That Dallas(6+) pick could move up their own pick.
I know he doesn’t have a chance at winning, but how bout some love for Kevin Huerter
he’s checked out or has been passive the last month…basically since Trae has gone off. But Huerter looked great last night. Huerter fun to watch tho for sure; went to hawks game a couple of months ago and Huerter was the main jersey my son wanted and we got
He’ll definitely be All Rookie, probably second team. Excellent for any player drafted outside the top ten.
#1 Ayton
#2 Doncic
#3 Trae
#4 MBIII
#5 JJJ
#6 Mitchell Robinson
#7 Sexton
#8 SGA
#9 Mikal Bridges
#10 Huerter
I’d put Bridges ahead of Sexton for sure!
Sexton is like the is dead last in VORP. Seriously unless youre LBJ if you finish 1st in VORP you’ve got the MVP. BPM and WS just verify the calc.
VORP tends to overrate centers though, somehow, like BPM & ORtg-DRtg. Anyway I doubt Robinson unseats them voting-wise.
Sexton is enjoyable but has a ways to go.