Engrave that hardware: Who is the NBA's Rookie of the Year?

[HMFFL]

We continue engraving names into the NBA's end of the season hardware. Up next: the Rookie of the Year award. You can cast your vote below, but first a quick look at the kid candidates.

Kevin Durant, Sonics. Stats: 20 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.0 spg, 42.5% fg in 34 mpg. Some people say Horford deserves the ROY over KD because he's on a team in the playoffs. Um, OK. But if that's the case, then why didn't Andrew Bogut take the '05 award over Chris Paul? (Because it's ridiculous!)

Al Horford, Hawks. Stats: 10.1 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.0 bpg, 50.2% fg in 31 mpg. Dirty. Work. Al leads all rookies in rebounding and ranks in the top-10 among all big men, cleaning more glass than Amare, KG and Shaq.

Luis Scola, Rockets. Stats: 9.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.2 apg, 0.7 spg, 51.3% fg in 24 mpg. Let's be honest: no rook below those top two is winning this award. With that said, Scola's had a solid year, becoming a key player on 50-win playoff team. He'll be fun to watch in the post-season.

Al Thornton, Clippers. Stats: 12.5 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.1 apg, 0.6 spg, 42.8% fg in 26 mpg. Throwaway the first two months of the season, and Baby Al's numbers have been incredible. His 39 points against the Grizz in late March was the highest scoring total for a rookie since '06.

Thaddeus Young, Sixers. Stats: 7.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 0.7 apg, 0.9 spg, 53.9% fg in 20 mpg. This kid is going to be something else. He takes good shots, makes sound decisions and is a palms-to-the-floor type of defender.

Honorable mentions: Jamario Moon, Raptors; Juan Carlos Navarro, Grizzlies; Joakim Noah, Bulls.

Link

I'm not seeing many writers mention how many double-doubles Al has. I guess it's just better to ignore.

[raleigh]

Some people say Horford deserves the ROY over KD because he's been the better all-around player.

FYP

[JoshB914]

Well if Horford is the best all-around player why would he not get it? KD is going to steal ROY based on hype and nothing else.

[tbhawksfan]

Well if Horford is the best all-around player why would he not get it? KD is going to steal ROY based on hype and nothing else.

There's the hype and there's the 20ppg. But, the second leading scorer on the team gets only 13.4 ppg. Durant is putting up 17 shots a gme to get those ppg for 42%FG. The Sonics second leading FG/game is just over 10 FGA a game. The hawks have 4 playersover 11.5 FGA a game.

Al's getting 10ppg on 8 shots at over 50%FG. And he's getting his points inside . Then, there are the 9.7 boards a game ranking him 12th in the NBA in that very big stat..

I vote Al for ROY.

[JoshB914]

Yeah Durant is a better score than Al. Too bad that PPG is the only thing people are going to look at. KD is going to be great, but he didn't have a good season until the past two months, when he has been scoring AND shooting an impressive percentage.

[Huskies1947]

Kevin Durant

[JoshB914]

Anyone that watched the game tonight should know who the ROY was.

[daveisceltics]

Anyone that watched the game tonight should know who the ROY was.

I didn't know Sam Cassell was a rookie.

[Skyhawk1]

ROY is that guy that has a clean block on Garnett and still talk trash back to him after a stupid ref calls it a foul. ROY is that guy that averages pretty much a double double every night. ROY is that guy who plays with intensity and passion. ROY is that stud that leaves it all on the floor. ROY is that guy who'll help his team make the playoffs. THANKS for AL !

[Hawkamanic81]

He can gave 24 points to KG in about 28 minutes of playing time. Not very impressive MR.Horford.

[tha best]

He can gave 24 points to KG in about 28 minutes of playing time. Not very impressive MR.Horford.

its kg no one can stop except maybe duncan and a young shaq

[cfan79]

Durant gets the edge because of his stats. But I have to give Horford his props though. He didn't back down against one of the best power forwards in the game. Both have bright futures ahead of them.

[Hawkamanic81]

-= original quote snipped =-





its kg no one can stop except maybe duncan and a young shaq

KG is averaging 18PPG this year. It's not like he is lighting it up.

[cfan79]

KG is averaging 18PPG this year. It's not like he is lighting it up.

He doesn't have to take a lot of shots. Boston's got 3 all stars on their team. Plus a solid bench and 2 young starters who are playing better then people thought they would, even me.

[JoshB914]

Durant gets the edge because of his stats. But I have to give Horford his props though. He didn't back down against one of the best power forwards in the game. Both have bright futures ahead of them.

See this is where I think there is a misconception. Durant's only superior stat is scoring and we know that is flawed because he takes so many shots.

Horford actually has better overall stats with his far superior rebounding and shooting percentage.

Horford went head-to-head with KG last night and didn't back down. He had a great game and played with fire and confidence that you don't see from a rookie. I have a feeling all those voters are going to wish they could cast another ballot after watching Al in the playoffs.

[cfan79]

I see what you're saying JoshB914, but you have to look at Durant's team though. Atlanta has a much better team built around Horford. Thus Durant has to do the lionshare of the scoring.

[JoshB914]

Yes Durant has a bad team around him. But why should he get credit for having an average season on a bad team? If you ask me, Horford playing an integral part in a playoff race is more impressive. Just my opinion though, KD is going to be a fantastic player.

[HoopsGuru25]

It seems like people are blaming Durant's team for him playing like crap for a good part of the year. It's tougher to get good looks on a worse team but that doesn't mean you have to suck at everything else(which Durant has done). He's a terrible defender, terrible rebounder,and he's also one of the worst passers considering how often he has the ball in his hand . It's been said...he's only 19 so he's going to get ALOT better(as shown by shooting over 50 % from the field in March).... but couldn't I just use the "his team sucks"excuse for Jamal Crawford? Do people really think players like Chris Paul and Elton Brand played as poorly as Durant has despite getting drafted by awful teams?

[JoshB914]

I agree with the fact that being on a bad team has hurt KD. However, then people want to turn around and say the fact that he is "carrying in the team" is a positive. Well if you want to argue that as legit criteria for the award, than Durant has not done a good job as that team is awful.

I'm not saying that it's fair to judge a rook on what role he plays, but if you are, KD hasn't exactly been good at it. People want to hand him theRoy just because he stepped into a difficult role, but shouldn't he have to step into the role and do a nice job?

[conleyorbust]

It seems like people are blaming Durant's team for him playing like crap for a good part of the year. It's tougher to get good looks on a worse team but that doesn't mean you have to suck at everything else(which Durant has done). He's a terrible defender, terrible rebounder,and he's also one of the worst passers considering how often he has the ball in his hand . It's been said...he's only 19 so he's going to get ALOT better(as shown by shooting over 50 % from the field in March).... but couldn't I just use the "his team sucks"excuse for Jamal Crawford? Do people really think players like Chris Paul and Elton Brand played as poorly as Durant has despite getting drafted by awful teams?

I think to an extent people are getting carried away with not wanting to say that he won't be as good as everyone originally predicted and instead of saying that he had a rough transitional year (with some very bright spots) they are trying to make excuses as to why he wasn't as stunning as many predicted.

I don't really have an official position because its hard to say which player is "better" since they play different positions and have different roles but I feel pretty confident in saying this: if a coach needed one of these players on his team over the course of this season alone, he would pick Horford. Thats because he, like Lebron, Okafor, Paul and Roy, can contribute in a variety of ways and brings an element of dependability to almost every game whereas Durant brings the prospect of a defenseless/reboundless 35pt game but a more likely prospect of a 4/17 shooting night with little else to speak of.

I think that the dependability and versatility of Horford are big parts of his strength and should be considered a little more.

Does anyone really disagree with my thought that most coaches in the league would rather have had Duran't contributions this season over Horford's? If so why?