Who is the early NBA Rookie of the Year?
We are all familiar with great rookie classes such as the one from 1996, with Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Allen Iverson, and Ray Allen or the one from 2003, which included names like LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Bosh. Since then, we witnessed a lot of amazing drafts, but none of them was so exciting as the one from this year, at least for the European fans.
This is due to the fact that Luka Doncic, the young star of Real Madrid, decided to join the NBA. In the night of the draft, Doncic was selected third by the Atlanta Hawks but they immediately traded him to Dallas Mavericks, for Trae Young.
Therefore, my best candidates for winning the NBA Rookie of the Year award are Luka Doncic, DeAndre Ayton and Trae Young. It is difficult to compare these three players because they have very different styles of play. Doncic is an athlete that can play all position from 1 to 4, but his most preferred one is the point guard spot. In opposition, Ayton is a classical center that likes to work inside the box. The third one, Young, is similar to Doncic but he is more of a pass-first player.
After 10 games, I will try to compare their stats in order to decide which one deserves to be awarded at the end of the season. So, Doncic leads in points, with an average of 19.8, while Young and Ayton score 19.0 and 15.9 points. The number one pick dominates the rebound category, where he has more than the other two combined (10.9 – 9.7, for Doncic and Young). At the same time, Trae Young with 8.1 assists/game wins that section. So, we observe that each one of that three players is best at one of the three main categories. After looking into more specific details, I saw that DeAndre Ayton is the most efficient player, while Luka Doncic is more precise at shooting the ball.
Of course, it is very early in the season to draw a conclusion, but my guess is that in the end, the Euroleague experience will be a decisive factor which will give Luka Doncic the edge over DeAndre Ayton or Trae Young.
David Istrate
