Malcolm Brogdon

Poll: 2017 NBA Rookie Of The Year

It has been a somewhat underwhelming year for NBA rookies. No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons has missed the entire season due to a foot injury, while other top selections from the 2016 draft – such as Brandon Ingram, Jaylen Brown, Kris Dunn, and Buddy Hield – have shown promise but haven’t provided consistent production throughout the season.

With the regular season winding down, a small handful of viable candidates for the NBA’s 2017 Rookie of the Year award have emerged, and none of them are 2016 first-round picks, which is somewhat unprecedented in recent history.

Since the turn of the century, 18 players have been named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year, including co-winners Elton Brand and Steve Francis in 2000. Of those 18 players, 17 were drafted in the first round a year earlier — the only exception is Blake Griffin, a first overall pick who missed his first NBA season and won the award in his second year. Additionally, all 18 Rookies of the Year were top-11 picks, with Michael Carter-Williams (11th) and Amar’e Stoudemire (ninth) representing the lowest-drafted winners.

This year, the top three contenders for Rookie of the Year don’t meet the criteria noted above. Joel Embiid was a top pick, but he missed his first two NBA seasons before finally making it onto the court this season. Dario Saric was selected outside of the top 11 (12th), and spent two seasons playing overseas before arriving stateside. And Malcolm Brogdon, the top non-Sixer in contention for the award, was selected in the second round last year, 36th overall.

Of those top three candidates, a group that includes two players drafted in 2014 and a 2016 second-rounder, Embiid was easily the most impressive on a per-game basis, averaging a staggering 20.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG, and 2.5 BPG in just 25.4 minutes per contest. However, injuries derailed his season once again, and he was limited to just 31 regular season games, making it tough to vote for him.

His teammate Saric emerged as a top contender for Rookie of the Year in recent months, bringing his season-long averages up to 12.9 PPG and 6.3 RPG after a slow start. Since January 24, around the time Embiid played his last game of the season, the Croatian forward has averaged an impressive 16.9 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 2.9 APG in 36 contests.

In Milwaukee, meanwhile, Brogdon has been a steady contributor for the Bucks all year, chipping in 10.3 PPG, 4.3 APG, 2.8 RPG, 1.1 SPG, and a .404 3PT%. According to Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com, who spoke to about a dozen voters around the league, Brogdon has “real support” to win Rookie of the Year, though some voters still like Embiid, and Saric may have an overall lead.

What do you think? Is one of those three players is deserving of the Rookie of the Year award this year, or should another rookie take home the hardware? Submit your vote below and then jump into the comments section to share your thoughts!

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Celtics Notes: Ainge, Brogdon, Yabusele

With Cleveland losing tonight, Boston has reclaimed sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference. Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck is thrilled with how the team is playing and he’s pleased with the direction of the franchise, as A. Sherrod Blakely of Comcast Sportsnet relays. “There’s no reason to put a ceiling on the season,” Grousbeck said. “I think this season already looks good to me. I love our coach. I love our young players. I love our draft picks and our potential cap room [this summer]; all of our fans. So I’m already happy with where the team is going.”

Here’s more from Boston:

  • The Celtics knew Malcolm Brogdon would be available in the second-round, but chose to pass on him because of the team’s surplus of guards, as GM Danny Ainge tells Comcast Sportsnet. Boston had the No. 31 overall and No. 35 overall picks but traded them to Memphis for a future first-rounder. Milwaukee selected Brogdon with the No. 36 overall pick last June.
  • No. 16 overall pick Guerschon Yabusele has officially joined the Maine Red Claws, the D-League affiliate of the Celtics, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com tweets. Yabusele played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association this season. The CBA’s season concludes earlier than the NBA’s, which gives Yabusele a chance to run with Boston’s D-League to close the season.

Contract Details: Raptors, Bucks, Knicks, Spurs

The Raptors officially announced earlier today that their deal with undrafted free agent Jarrod Uthoff is done, and Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders has the details on that agreement. As Pincus outlines, it’s a two-year, minimum-salary pact with a $50K guarantee in year one. If Uthoff earns a spot on the regular-season roster and remains on the team beyond January 10, his first-year salary will become guaranteed. In that scenario, he’d have $100K of his 2017/18 salary guaranteed if he’s still on the roster past next July 25.

Pincus has specifics on a few more contracts from around the NBA, so let’s round up some of those updates…

  • Second-round pick Malcolm Brogdon received a three-year deal with the Bucks that will be worth more than the minimum for the first two years. Those first two years are also fully guaranteed, per Pincus, who suggests that the total three-year value is just below $3MM.
  • The Knicks formally signed undrafted rookie Ron Baker to a one-year contract on Monday, and the guaranteed portion of that deal is worth $75K, according to Pincus.
  • Argentinian forward Patricio Garino got a two-year, minimum-salary deal from the Spurs that includes a $100K guarantee in its first year, Pincus reports. San Antonio should have a roster spot or two open heading into the season, so it’s worth noting that other players contending for those openings have slightly guarantees that are slightly higher (Bryn Forbes, $125K) or lower (Ryan Arcidiacono, $75K) than Garino’s.

Bucks To Sign Thon Maker, Malcolm Brogdon

The Bucks plan to sign first-round pick Thon Maker and second-rounder Malcolm Brogdon today, tweets The Vertical’s Shams Charania.

Maker, the 10th pick in last month’s draft, will receive a four-year rookie contract, according to Charania. He reportedly impressed Bucks officials during the Las Vegas Summer League with his speed, effort and defensive prowess.

The Sudanese native was a surprise selection at the 10th spot, considering his lack of experience against top-notch competition. Maker, 19, spent last season at Orangeville District Secondary School in Ontario, Canada. He also played for two high schools in Louisiana and one in Virginia. His draft eligibility had been in dispute, but the NBA ruled that he graduated from high school in June of 2015.

Brogdon, a 6’5″ shooting guard out of Virginia, will receive a three-year deal. He was the highest second-round pick still left unsigned. Brogden averaged 18.2 points and shot better than 39% from 3-point range in his senior season with the Cavaliers.

 

Workouts Update: Suns, Hornets, Kings, Grizzlies

Two prominent power forward prospects had individual workouts with the Suns this weekend, writes Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Croatian star Dragan Bender and Washington freshman Marquese Chriss both were in Phoenix for unannounced sessions that may influence the Suns’ thinking with the No. 4 pick. Coro adds that Bender worked out for Minnesota, which holds the fifth selection, on Thursday and will visit Boston, which has the No. 3 choice, early this week.

In addition, Phoenix held a workout Saturday for three players who may be options with the 13th pick: Michigan State power forward Deyonta Davis and shooting guard Denzel Valentine, along with small forward Timothe Luwawu of France. Also at the session were Louisville center Chinanu Onuaku and Arizona State center Eric Jabobsen.

There’s more workout news as draft day draws closer:

  • The Hornets, who have the 22nd pick, will welcome six players for a workout today, the team tweeted. The session will feature Virginia shooting guard Malcolm Brogdon, High Point combo forward John Brown, South Carolina small forward Michael Carrera, North Carolina power forward Joel James, UNLV shooting guard Patrick McCaw and Virginia center Mike Tobey.
  • The Kings are also planning to bring in six players today for a workout, the organization announced. Participants will be Arkansas-Little Rock point guard Josh Hagins, Arizona point guard Gabe York, Kansas small forward Brannen Greene, Oakland shooting guard Max Hooper, UC Santa Barbara combo guard Mike Bryson and Utah small forward Jordan Loveridge. The Kings hold pick No. 8.
  • The Grizzlies have a workout scheduled this afternoon with Texas A&M combo guard Alex Caruso, Oregon small forward Elgin Cook, Kansas center Cheick Diallo, Memphis power forward Shaq Goodwin, Baylor small forward Taurean Prince and LSU combo guard Tim Quarterman. Memphis has the 17th pick.
  • The Raptors, who own picks No. 9 and 27, will hold a workout today for Syracuse shooting guard Malachi Richardson, tweets Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv.
  • The Bulls held a workout Friday, tweets Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops. Attending were Maryland center Diamond Stone, UNLV center Stephen Zimmerman, Toledo power forward/center Nathan Boothe and Northern Iowa point guard Wes Washpun. The Bulls have the 14th pick.

Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Raptors, Embiid, Kuzmic

The ESPN analytics department has used its NBA draft projection model to evaluate this year’s class, and found that the average draft grade for the top 50 college prospects this year is the highest it has been since the model began tracking in 2001. As Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com writes, that high average grade for the top 50 NCAA prospects suggests that this is a deep class, which is good news for a team like the Celtics — Boston holds eight of the 60 picks in the 2016 draft. The C’s surely won’t keep all those picks, but if there are still plenty of prospects drawing interest in the second round, it should increase the trade value of those selections.

Armed with those eight picks, the Celtics figure to strongly consider draft-and-stash prospects, a scenario that Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com examines. As Petraglia details, Austin Ainge is open to the idea of drafting a prospect who will continue to play overseas rather than coming to the NBA immediately.

“[Draft-and-stash talks] will be finalized kind of after you draft a kid, sit down and determine a plan of action, but those discussions go on all the time, year-round, contract situations, age, different levels of maturity and in the players’ game, all those come into play,” said the Celtics director of player personnel. “It’s a partnership with the player, his representatives and the team to try to make the best decisions for him.”

Here’s more from out of the Atlantic:

  • The Raptors, who hold a pair of first-round picks, have been busy working out prospects. According to the team (Twitter links), Julian Jacobs (USC), Rasheed Sulaimon (Maryland), Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia), Justin Edwards (Kansas State), Brice Johnson (UNC), and Jalen Reynolds (Xavier) worked out for Toronto on Monday, with David Walker (Northeastern), Michael Gbinije (Syracuse), Alex Poythress (Kentucky), Troy Williams (Indiana), Daniel Ochefu (Villanova), and A.J. Hammons (Purdue) working out for the club today.
  • Joel Embiid won’t be playing for the 76ers‘ summer league team this year, but Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer was impressed with how the oft-injured big man looked during a workout on Monday.
  • Ognjen Kuzmic, a former Warriors second-round pick who played 37 games with the club from 2013 to 2015, has agreed to play for the Knicks at the Orlando Summer League, his agent tells international basketball journalist David Pick (Twitter link).

And-Ones: Maxiell, Maker, Hernangomez

Former NBA player Jason Maxiell has inked a deal to play ball in the Philippines with Tropang TNT, international journalist David Pick reports (on Twitter). The 33-year-old power forward last played in the NBA during the 2014/15 campaign when he appeared in 61 games for the Hornets and averaged 3.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in 14.4 minutes per outing.

Here’s the latest from around the league:

  • The Nuggets have workouts scheduled on Wednesday for Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia), Juan Hernangomez (Estudiantes), Demetrius Jackson (Notre Dame ), Diamond Stone (Maryland ), Tyler Ulis (Kentucky), Stephen Zimmerman (UNLV), the team announced via press release.
  • The Jazz have workouts planned on Wednesday with Chase Fischer (BYU), Dejounte Murray (Washington), Max Hooper (Oakland) and Brandon Taylor (Utah), the team announced.
  • Thon Maker is expected to work out for the Spurs in the near future, Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News relays (via Twitter).
  • The Knicks, Wizards and Suns have worked out former UConn guard Sterling Gibbs, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders relays (on Twitter).
  • Hernangomez, who is the No. 26 overall player in this year’s draft according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, indicated that whether or not he joins the NBA next season depends on which team selects him, Kennedy tweets.

And-Ones: USA Basketball, Felder, Bentil, Draft

Following this morning’s report that Stephen Curry would skip the 2016 Olympics in Brazil for health reasons, the Warriors and Curry issued a statement confirming that decision. And, as ESPN’s Marc Stein tweets, Curry isn’t the only USA Basketball star who won’t be available this summer due to injury. Stein says that Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis, John Wall, and LaMarcus Aldridge, who is dealing with a recent finger/hand injury (Twitter link), also won’t be a part of Team USA’s roster.

As we wait to see which other players may drop out of the 2016 Olympics due to health or safety concerns, let’s round up some odds and ends from around the NBA…

  • Former Oakland University point guard Kay Felder is working out for the Lakers today, and has a workout with the Pistons lined up for next Wednesday, tweets Vincent Ellis of The Detroit Free Press.
  • Former Providence forward Ben Bentil will work out for the Magic this Friday after having worked out for the Hawks and Bulls, a source tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv (Twitter link).
  • Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon and Louisville’s Chinanu Onuaku are among the draft prospects whom Sam Vecenie of CBSSports.com views as potential second-round steals later this month. Vecenie also identifies three other players who fit that bill.
  • Former Michigan State forward Deyonta Davis has hired BDA Sports for representation, according to Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal (Twitter link). Hoops Rumors readers voted on Sunday to send Davis to Chicago with the 14th overall pick in our community mock draft.
  • In other player representation news, Serbian bigs Miroslav Raduljica and Ognjen Kuzmic have hired agent Chris Patrick of Relativity Sports for representation, per HoopsHype (Twitter link).

Draft Rumors: Sixers, C’s, Kings, Bucks, Jazz

As we passed along earlier today, ESPN’s Chad Ford said during a radio appearance that he believes the Sixers will gauge the trade value of Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor this offseason, with the team perhaps preferring to move Okafor instead of Noel. In Ford’s view, it’s unlikely that both players will be back in Philadelphia next season.

Ford and Marc Stein have now published a full-fledged report on the subject at ESPN.com, citing league sources who say the 76ers will explore trading Noel or Okafor during the lead-up to next month’s draft. While the report reiterates that Okafor is more likely than Noel to be moved, Ford and Stein stress that Philadelphia is considering a wide range of possibilities. In a tweet, Ford adds that the Sixers are looking into getting a top-six pick back for Okafor, since they’re really hoping to land a young guard.

As we wait to see how serious Philadelphia is about trading one of their top picks from the last two years, let’s check in on a few other draft rumors and updates…

  • As the Sixers explore trade possibilities with their previous top picks, they’re also weighing which player to select first overall this year. According to Ford (Twitter link), Ben Simmons is the current frontrunner over Brandon Ingram. Ford places the odds of a Simmons pick for Philadelphia at 60-40.
  • The Celtics, Kings, Bucks, and Jazz appear to be the lottery teams most likely to trade their picks, tweets Ford.
  • Along with Oklahoma’s Isaiah Cousins, whose scheduled workout with Phoenix was previously reported, five prospects are working out for the Suns today, according to the team (Twitter link). Those players are Wade Baldwin (Vanderbilt), DeAndre’ Bembry (St. Joseph’s), Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia), Dorian Finney-Smith (Florida), and James Webb III (Boise State).
  • The Grizzlies have a workout scheduled on Tuesday, May 31st for the following six players, per a press release from the team: Eli Carter (Boston College), Alex Hamilton (Louisiana Tech), A.J. Hammons (Purdue), Taurean Prince (Baylor), Mike Tobey (Virginia), and Troy Williams (Indiana).

Pacific Notes: Hornacek, Bogut, Lemon Jr.

Jeff Hornacek, who is reportedly set to become the Knicks new head coach, was sabotaged during his tenure with the Suns by injuries and a toxic environment created by the trade demands of Markieff Morris, Marc Berman of The New York Post writes. “There were circumstances around him that caused us to not meet expectations more than his style of coaching or ability to coach,’’ Mark West, Phoenix’s vice president of player relations, told Berman. “If you look at a thin slice of the pie and not the whole body of work, [Knicks president] Phil Jackson is smarter than that. I’m sure he didn’t judge it over Jeff’s career in basketball. He was in a tough spot. It unraveled. We won 48 games his first year, lost some of those players that helped achieve those goals, and it went the other way.”

Discussing what Hornacek has to offer as a coach, West said, “He has a combination of different influences since being in the league — Cotton Fitzsimmons with the up-and-down, run-and-gun the Suns played — and playing for Philly in the East, more grinding, half-court set-it-up. With Utah, it was a blend of both. The best thing about Jeff is incorporating different styles, but he’s better coaching the up-and-down. He’ll morph the team to what they need to do.’’

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

  • The Clippers held workouts today for A.J. English (Iona), Gary Payton II (Oregon State), Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia), Danuel House (Texas A&M), Marshall Plumlee (Duke) and Josh Scott (Colorado), Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times relays (via Twitter).
  • The Warriors saved $4MM in luxury tax penalties as a result of Andrew Bogut not being named to the NBA’s All-Defensive team, Bobby Marks of The Vertical notes (on Twitter). Golden State’s tax bill for 2015/16 is now $14.9MM and Bogut’s cap hit for next season drops to approximately $11MM, Marks adds.
  • The Clippers are bringing in point guard Walter Lemon Jr. for their veteran mini-camp, Michael Scotto of Bleacher Report tweets. Lemon Jr. spent last season with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Pacers’ D-League affiliate, averaging 13.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 24.7 minutes per outing.