http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...owns-minnesota-timberwolves-voted-rookie-year No surprise. KAT had a tremendous rookie year. Really historic. I predict he'll be in the conversation for best big man in the game within a year or two. They have a tremendous young core up there. It'll be fun watching the West Finals in five years or so between Minnesota and Los Angeles.
Well, f***! Now I know better than to bet on something determined by subjective NBA voting and infuenced by the coaching of Boron. Time to dig up our bet and take my medicine.
I don't think there was ever a doubt, and he deserved for it to be unanimous no question. I think Russ getting only 1 3rd place vote is kind of a joke though, surprised it was Israel Guttierez considering he's on the other side of the country and probably didn't see many Lakers games. Also surprised Chris Broussard actually has a vote in this, surprised he didn't sneak LeBron in a vote.
I think Jokic getting 3rd place is an absolute joke. I would take every player on that list except Mudiay over Jokic...And tbh, I only see 3 players on this list that are clearly ahead of Russell: KAT, KP and Booker. This is an absolute joke and I hope D'Angelo uses this as motivation to kill it next year. 9th place? Are you kidding me?
How are KP and Booker clearly ahead of D'Angelo? They've done nothing that D'Angelo hasn't done other than having more opportunities. Booker averaged less assists, rebounds, and slightly more points. Porzingis numbers are slightly better, but he only shot 42 percent and he was basically the #1 option with Melo's decline and missing time. I just don't see that argument.
I think Booker, D'Angelo, and Porzingis are all in the same boat right behind Towns. Each has star potential. The reason D'Angelo isn't rated with them is because he was disappointing relative to his draft spot. Porzingis was a surprise and Booker was a huge surprise considering his age. Not to mention the whole stupid phone scandal... Anyway, I can see D'Angelo being 4th. Having him below Jokic is something I don't agree with even if Jokic showed some legit talent.
I don't see how D'Angelo was dissapointing at #2. The fact is KAT was so ahead of everyone else that anyone else including D'Angelo. He had a tough start to the year, but afte that he was very good. He had an incredible March. He had about as good a second half of the season as any rookie outside of Towns. It's very impressive considering everything he had going against him in his rookie season. I'm not sure what else anyone wanted from D'Angelo. His numbers are right in line with what you typically get from a rookie point guard drafted high.
The point guard position is the hardest to learn in the NBA. So, DAR has time in his favor. These freshmen awards don't mean anything anyway after five years.
I said relatively disappointing. At #2 he did not distinguish himself greatly from #4 and #13 in his draft class. That is important in this voting process.
This was a very deep last draft. Towns, Russell, Okafor, Mudiay, Porzingis, Booker, Winslow, etc. Just because that was the case doesn't make D'Angelo's very solid rookie season a dissapointment. I don't care what the other guys did 13, 3, and 3 in 28 minutes in the type of offense that we had is very good from a rookie point. We're talking about a kid who was constantly berated in the media by his coach and constantly yanked for every mistake and to still put up those kind of numbers well just shows what kind of player he's gonna be.
yeah, 19 year old pgs don't generally take the league by storm. russell looked quite good last year, imo. it's his attitude/off-court stuff that worried me. his play was maybe a bit ahead of what i expected.
Of course! I gotta search for our bet. I tried the other day but the LB search function kept freezing. You wanna help me find it? NVM, found it
