Raptors forward Scottie Barnes has won the 2021/22 NBA Rookie of the Year award, the league announced in a press release. Barnes finished in first place over fellow finalists Evan Mobley and Cade Cunningham who finished in second and third place, respectively.
Barnes, who earned 48 first-place votes and 378 total points, narrowly edged out Mobley for the award. The Cavaliers‘ big man had 43 first-place votes and 363 total points. The 15-point difference is the smallest margin of victory for Rookie of the Year since the current voting format started 19 years ago.
Cunningham, the Pistons‘ starting point guard, had nine first-place votes and 153 total points for a solid third-place finish. Jalen Green, Franz Wagner, and Herbert Jones were the only other rookies who received votes — none of them earned a first-place vote, and none had more than two total votes.
The 20-year-old Barnes averaged 15.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists for Toronto this season, shooting 49% from the floor and 30% from deep. He also provided versatile defense and helped the Raptors finish with the fifth-best record in the East at 48-34.
Barnes was drafted by Toronto No. 4 overall last year. He ranked third in points per game, third in rebounds per game and seventh in assists per game among all rookies this season. He also finished with the second-most steals in the group (80 in 74 games).
The NBA still hasn’t revealed the winners for most of this season’s awards, including Most Valuable Player — Defensive Player of the Year (Marcus Smart) is the only other award that has been announced to date. The full list of finalists for each award can be found here.
Well deserved!
Scottie ROY! it’s a trip how his career has gone compared to his HS teammate/fellow ACC ROY Vernon Carey Jr. I still think Carey can be a player in the league but it’s obv that Scottie will. Versatility is the main difference bw those 2 & versatility is very important in today’s NBA
that being said Mobley probably wins this if not for his late season injury & Clevelands late season swoon. I also think Mobley will be the better pro compared to Scottie. Great draft class overall tho, the NBA’s future is ridiculously bright, even with guys like Bron/CP/Melo on their last leg
If anything I figured that Mobley’s injury would have actually improved his chances. I know it’s rookie of the year and not MVP but you could tell how much different the Cavs were without him.
I’m a biased Cavs fan and think it should have been Mobley. But both of them had legitimate cases for the award (Cade did too but I saw him as third), so it really could have gone to any of them.
That said, this class could end up being special when it’s all said and done. Those three and Green could end up being franchise players, Giddey isn’t far behind, and Kuminga could be one down the line too. But then you’ve got Herb Jones, Wagner, Suggs, Duarte, Dosunmu, Mitchell, and others. This class has a few future superstars and a ton of solid starters and rotation players.
I strongly feel like Jalen Johnson has all-star games in his future. Cam Thomas could definitely be a future 6MOY. Delano Banton, Jose Alvarado, Alpo Sengun, Trendon Watford & Isaiah Jackson are all guys that are gonna be big time players for a long time too. 1 kid to watch is Primo in San Antonio. I could see him having a DGarland type progression over the next cpl seasons
Oh yeah, I definitely could have named even more. But good call on Primo. He’s probably the classic “two years away from being two years away” but the upside is huge and the Spurs know what they’re doing with player development. I think he’s a long term bet but I could definitely see him working out too.
Indeed, just a brilliant class
Made this post about 2 weeks ago but re-draft id go
1- Mobs
2- Barnes
3- Cade
Mobley’s passing abilities really impressed me. Had the ease of a 10 yr vet and the crispness of a 19 yr old supernova
Apparently Barnes had 48 first place votes and Mobley had 43 first place votes – closest ROY vote ever.
What about Kidd & Hill tying for 1st in 95?
*in the history of the current voting format
Scottie is franchise player for Raps. Kudos for Masai in skipping on Suggs after all those consensus Yahoos. Next step for Masai is to move Siakam.
I don’t understand Raptor fans. Siakam was great this year. The Raptors would be a lottery team without him. He shoots decent from deep for a big. He can defend 3-5 and can hold his own when onto a guard. Hell he ran the point at times when VanVleet was out.
Upvote for everything until Siakam move. Raps have practically no bench, need to work on that instead
Called it!!!!!!!
And so many of y’all tried calling me out.
Not only did I say Scottie will win but Evan second and Cade third
Who won the BUST of the Year Award?
It was very close, but I would have gone with Mobley myself, real exciting race for the ROY!
Toronto finished with 13 wins in the last 17. CLE finished 4 games back. Stats were nearly equal.
Call it motivation for 22/23!