He is definitely a step below the top three of Simmons, Tatum and Mitchell but most likely the best of the rest so #4 rookie in the league.
Dennis Smith is no slouch either. Smith, Markkanen and Tatum virtually had the same season in terms of last year (even though Tatum did it on the strongest team). This award is not named "which rookie stepped up tin the playoffs, "which rookie will have the best career" or "which rookie has the most talent".
But often times that is part of a writer's thinking. It's sort of like voting for the best new artist for the Grammys. Writers often try and go for the player they think will be the best down the road as well. Everyone knows Markkanen and Smith aren't in Tatum's class as a player even if their numbers were similar for their rookie season. So Tatum will always get the edge.
Good point. Another to consider: It seems to me that with these regular-season awards, there's a sort of "momentum" that forms around certain players before the regular season even begins—I'm not sure who starts it; I'm not sure we can pin down who starts it—and the awards are sort of already decided at the beginning of the season.
This year, for example, lots of people were pegging Harden early on to win MVP (at least, that's how it seemed to me). Sure, other names were suggested—LeBron, Durant, Curry—but I got the sense that this award was already basically decided, and the only way it wasn't gonna be Harden was if, say, Harden suffered a major injury, or maybe if another player averaged 40 points a game. It's almost like people don't want to name the same player MVP too many times, even if he deserves it basically every season (LeBron), or like people think it's so-and-so's "turn" to win the award.
I don't know. The whole awards thing doesn't sit well with me, especially with a nonrookie winning ROY and Stevens getting, what? third place?
Topic: The writer that didn't vote Jason Tatum All Rookie team revealed... (Read 3931 times)