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NBA Awards Watch: The Final Ballot

By Brad Rowland

OAKLAND, CA - MARCH 29: Stephen Curry at ORACLE Arena on March 29, 2016 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement.
OAKLAND, CA - MARCH 29: Stephen Curry at ORACLE Arena on March 29, 2016 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. /
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OAKLAND, CA – APRIL 05: Karl-Anthony Towns at ORACLE Arena on April 5, 2016 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement.
OAKLAND, CA – APRIL 05: Karl-Anthony Towns at ORACLE Arena on April 5, 2016 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. /

Rookie of the Year

  1. Karl-Anthony Towns, PF/C Minnesota Timberwolves – With all due respect to the other candidates, I don’t see a conceivable argument for anyone else. Towns looks like a player that will develop into the best player in the league in short order, and the numbers in his rookie year are preposterous. The former Kentucky star finished the season averaging 18.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game while playing only 32.0 minutes per contest, and Towns was clearly improving on a daily basis in the second half of the year. Moreover, he was wildly efficient, posting a 59% true shooting while making a respectable 34% from three-point range, and Towns possesses the tools to become an uber-elite defender. In short, he is the complete package and Karl-Anthony Towns will enter next season as a top-20 player in the league in the minds of most people. That is terrifying.
  2. Kristaps Porzingis, PF/C New York Knicks – The hype train slowed for Porzingis as the season went along, but that had as much to do with New York’s struggles and the emergence of Towns as it did with his individual play. Porzingis still completed a fantastic rookie campaign with strong numbers (14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.9 blocks per game) and despite struggles with his jump shot, he was able to be far more effective in year one than anyone imagined. It will be interesting to see how he progresses moving forward, especially with some uncertainty as to who his coach will be, but Porzingis has scary tools on both ends and even if he isn’t in the class of Towns, that isn’t an indictment on his long-term ceiling.
  3. Nikola Jokic, C Denver Nuggets – Wait… who? You were probably expecting to see Jahlil Okafor, D’Angelo Russell or even Devin Booker in this slot, but Jokic has been better than them all. In fact, the advanced numbers would tell you that Denver’s prized big man should actually finish ahead of Porzingis. I declined to do that based on workload, with Jokic playing more than 300 fewer minutes over the course of a season with a smaller offensive role, but the big man was fantastic for the Nuggets. He averaged 16.5 points and 11.6 rebounds per 36 minutes while posting a 58.2% true shooting, and even if you weren’t watching this Denver team on a nightly basis, those numbers speak for themselves. Jokic probably doesn’t have the ceiling of Porzingis, but he’s already a very, very nice NBA player that should be recognized as such.

Next: Most Valuable Player

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