Why Atlanta Hawks rookie Trae Young should be a front-runner to win the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award
There has been a growing trend within the NBA which indicates that team success is the first criteria used to determine the NBA Rookie of the Year award. For instance, Malcolm Brogdon was awarded the trophy over Dario Saric because the Milwaukee Bucks reached the playoffs during the 2016-17 season.
In fact, ESPN NBA Insider Amin Elhassan stated that Saric vs. Brogdon was a wash during an interview with Rich Quinones of ESPN 97.3.
"He proceeded to say “Saric averaged more points, but Brodgon played more meaningful basketball on a winning team and lead rookies in Assists”."
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While Amin’s statement was factually correct, it was also misleading because Saric and Brogdon both topped one another in a fair share of statistical categories. Saric had more blocks, rebounds, free throw and field goal attempts. On the other hand, Brogdon played more minutes, had more steals along with a higher two and 3-point percentage.
This trend continued the following season as Ben Simmons received 81 more first-place votes than Donovan Mitchell on his way to winning the award. A contributing factor to the significant discrepancy in the voting was the fact that Philadelphia captured a higher playoff seed and won four more games than Utah.
ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk wrote an article giving his perspective on why Ben won the award. He used ESPN Stats & Information to illustrate how Simmons was only the seventh player in league history to win the award while helping the team obtain 50 or more wins. As a consequence, Donovan Mitchell became the second player in NBA history to not win the award when leading a team to more than 45 wins while averaging over 20 points per game.
Even though one can argue that Ben Simmons and Donovan Mitchell should have shared the NBA rookie of the year award. Both players experienced team success with their respective organizations and had great statistical seasons.
Ben Simmons helped Philadelphia obtain 52 wins and the 3rd seed in the East averaging 15.8 points with 8.2 assists and 8.1 rebounds. On the other hand, Donovan Mitchell was a crucial component in the Jazz winning 48 games and capturing the 5th seed in the West as he averaged 20.5 points with 3.7 assists and 3.7 rebounds.
However, if the top candidates for rookie of the year are unable to obtain team success, voters will choose the player who had the greater statistical season. For example, Karl- Anthony Towns and Kristaps Porzings couldn’t help their organizations get into the playoffs during the 2015-16 season. As a consequence, Towns won the award because he averaged four more points and 3.2 more rebounds than Porzings.
Therefore, Trae Young should be the front-runner to win the award this season as none of the top candidates are projected to reach the playoffs. Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino has DeAndre Ayton, Marvin Bagley, Luka Doncic and Colin Sexton missing the playoffs. Subsequently, the award will be given to the player who can compile the higher numbers and Young has the best chance to amass stats.
The Atlanta Hawks organization has already stated that they are absolutely in love with Trae Young’s ability to run the pick and roll.
According to CBSSports, Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk said:
"“You just don’t see kids his age who can run pick and roll so naturally, who can make plays and find guys on the move with both their left and right hand.”"
Due to this, Young is projected to have the ball in his hands for a significant portion of games which will help him amass points and assists. For example, the pick and roll will allow Trae study the opposing defense to determine what is the right play on a specific possession.
In that offensive system, Young can bring the ball up to the 3-point line and call for a screen. Once the pick is set, Trae can pay attention to his defender to determine the course of action. If the defender stays under the screen, he can either shoot the ball immediately or go over the screen to shoot a mid-range jumper.
If the defender fights over the screen, he can go over it as well and drive towards the basket to score or pass the basketball depending on whether a double team comes.