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2017 Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Portland Trail Blazers

April 26th, 2017 at 5:00pm CST by Luke Adams

After an unexpected second-round playoff run a year ago, the Trail Blazers underwhelmed in 2016/17, sneaking into the playoffs as a No. 8 seed and failing to win a single postseason game. The Blazers did unearth a gem when they acquired Jusuf Nurkic in a February trade, but the team’s cap situation will make it very difficult for the front office to make major upgrades to the roster this summer.

Here’s where things currently stand for the Trail Blazers financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2017:

Guaranteed Salary

Player Options

  • None

Team Options

  • None

Non-Guaranteed Salary

  • Festus Ezeli ($6,733,000) — Partial guarantee. Guaranteed portion noted above.1
  • Pat Connaughton ($1,471,382)2
  • Tim Quarterman ($1,312,611)
  • Total: $9,516,993

Restricted Free Agents

  • None

Cap Holds

  • No. 15 overall pick ($2,365,560)
  • No. 20 overall pick ($1,859,400)
  • No. 26 overall pick ($1,465,920)
  • Total: $5,690,880

Projected Salary Cap: $101,000,000

Maximum Cap Room: –$38,119,655

  • Portland has an extraordinary amount of money tied up in guaranteed salaries for next season. If the Blazers were to waive all their players on non-guaranteed salaries, the club’s remaining salaries for 2017/18 – along with cap holds for first-round draft picks – would total $139,119,655, a figure that would be well above the tax line. Trades to clear some salary are possible, but the Blazers are a virtual lock to remain over the cap this offseason.

Footnotes:

  1. Ezeli’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after June 30.
  2. Connaughton’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 25.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders and The Vertical was used in the creation of this post.

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2017 Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Indiana Pacers

April 25th, 2017 at 3:31pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers made some big splashes on the trade market and in free agency a year ago, but the new-look roster didn’t take the step forward the team was hoping for. Heading into the 2017 offseason, Indiana finds itself in a tough spot, with the future of star forward Paul George – who has just one guaranteed year left on his contract – up in the air.

Here’s where things currently stand for the Pacers financially, as we kick off our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2017:

Guaranteed Salary

Player Options

Team Options

Non-Guaranteed Salary

  • Kevin Seraphin ($1,974,159)3
  • Glenn Robinson III ($1,471,382)4
  • Joe Young ($1,471,382)5
  • Rakeem Christmas ($1,421,382) — Partial guarantee. Guaranteed portion noted above.2
  • Georges Niang ($1,212,611) — Partial guarantee. Guaranteed portion noted above.1
  • Total: $7,550,916

Restricted Free Agents

  • None

Cap Holds

  • Jeff Teague ($13,200,000) — UFA
  • C.J. Miles ($8,708,555) — If player option is declined
  • Lavoy Allen ($7,600,000) — If team option is declined
  • Aaron Brooks ($3,240,000) — UFA
  • No. 18 overall pick ($2,028,360)
  • Total: $34,776,915

Projected Salary Cap: $101,000,000

Maximum Cap Room: $32,491,518

  • If the Pacers were to waive all their players on non-guaranteed salaries, decline their team option on Allen, have Miles turn down his player option, and renounce their UFAs, they would have $64,430,407 on their cap for seven roster spots (six guaranteed salaries and a first-round pick). The team would also have to account for five minimum-salary roster charges for empty roster spots. The total on their books in that scenario would be $68,508,482.

Footnotes:

  1. Niang’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after either July 1 or July 15 (conflicting information available).
  2. Christmas’ salary becomes fully guaranteed after either July 1 or August 1 (conflicting information available).
  3. Seraphin’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after August 1.
  4. Robinson’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 1.
  5. Young’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 1.

Salary information from Basketball Insiders and The Vertical was used in the creation of this post.

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NBA Salary Guarantee Dates For Summer 2017

April 25th, 2017 at 9:00am CST by Luke Adams

Nearly every NBA team has at least one player on their books with a non-guaranteed salary or a partially guaranteed salary for the 2017/18 season. In the majority of those cases, the team has the ability to waive the player and get off the hook for that entire salary before it becomes guaranteed. However, many of those decisions will be due well before next year’s regular season gets underway.

Below, we’ve broken down the upcoming salary guarantee dates for many players currently on non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts for 2017/18. Not every player on a non-guaranteed deal is included here — if a player’s contract doesn’t include any early salary guarantee dates, and won’t become fully guaranteed until January 2018, we’ll look at his deal at a later date.

For now, we want to get a better idea of which teams will have to make decisions on salary guarantees during or before the free agent period. So if a player’s non-guaranteed contract becomes fully or partially guaranteed during the months of June, July, or August, that’s noted below.

When his deadline date passes, we’ll note below if a player was waived. If he remained on the roster, receiving his guarantee, that’s noted with a ✔️ symbol. However, since teams and players can agree to push back guarantee dates, we’ll wait for confirmation one way or the other on those guarantees — if a player simply remains on the roster, without any updates, we won’t necessarily assume his deal has become guaranteed.

With the help of contract information from The Vertical and Basketball Insiders, here are this summer’s upcoming salary guarantee dates by team:

Atlanta Hawks

  • Mike Dunleavy: $5,175,000 salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 1. Currently partially guaranteed ($1,662,500). (Waived)

Boston Celtics

Brooklyn Nets

  • Joe Harris: $1,524,305 salary becomes fully guaranteed after June 30. (✔️)
  • Sean Kilpatrick: $1,524,305 salary becomes fully guaranteed after June 30. (✔️)
  • Quincy Acy: $1,709,538 salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 16. (✔️)

Charlotte Hornets

Read more

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Weekly Mailbag: 4/17/17 – 4/23/17

April 23rd, 2017 at 11:43am CST by Arthur Hill

We have an opportunity for you to hit us up with your questions in this, our weekly mailbag feature. Have a question regarding player movement, the salary cap or the NBA draft? Drop us a line at HoopsRumorsMailbag@Gmail.com. Here are this week’s inquiries:

Do the Pacers have any interest in adding Carmelo Anthony to help Paul George stay in Indiana? I will trade Thaddeus Young, Monta Ellis and a future first-round pick for Carmelo. — Jason Tom

The Knicks haven’t gotten any better offers that we’ve heard about, so let’s examine your proposal. Ellis’ trade value is down after a subpar year. Plus, he’s signed for $11.23MM for next season and has a player option worth $11.7MM for 2018/19. Young will make nearly $14.8MM next year and has an option worth nearly $13.8MM for the following season. But he’s only 28 and wouldn’t be a bad fit next to Kristaps Porzingis. The future first-rounder could carry some value if George leaves in free agency after next season. Substitute C.J. Miles (if he opts in) or Lavoy Allen for Ellis, and the Knicks might have some interest. Of course, the bigger question is whether Anthony would waive his no-trade clause to go to Indiana, and the answer is probably not, unless he becomes desperate to get out of New York.

If the Sixers get the Lakers’ pick at No. 4, which player would you go for? — Babyboy, via Twitter
This would be the worst-case scenario for the Lakers, and the best for the Sixers, who own L.A.’s pick if it falls out of the top three. It will also be an indication of how much Philadelphia believes in Ben Simmons running the point. Both Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and Chad Ford of ESPN.com have Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball and Josh Jackson as their top three picks. That leaves De’Aaron Fox and Dennis Smith, both highly regarded point guards, along with international prospect Frank Ntilikina. The Sixers will also have their own pick later in the lottery, so it’s likely they would take the best player available at No. 4. Jayson Tatum is a possibility, but Malik Monk would fill a long-time need in the backcourt.

Is NBA expansion happening? Are the SuperSonics set to return? — Scott, via Twitter

The latest news on the Sonics is that the Los Angeles-based Oak View Group has a $564MM plan for renovations to KeyArena, the team’s former home. The project could be completed by October of 2020, in time to host an NBA or NHL team for the 2020/21 season. The 55-year-old arena is expected to be named a historic landmark this year, according to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, which means its unique roof and other elements would have to be retained in any renovation. A committee will make a recommendation in June whether to renovate the arena or throw its support behind a new facility. The city is willing to invest to bring the SuperSoncis back, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver recognizes the value of the Seattle market. The only obstacle is that the league has no immediate or long-term plans for expansion. But when it happens, Seattle is almost guaranteed to get its team back.

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Hoops Rumors Originals: 4/15/17 – 4/22/17

April 22nd, 2017 at 1:00pm CST by Austin Kent

The Hoops Rumors team was busy pumping out original content this week and we’ve broken it all down for you here. Take a look at some of our favorite pieces and let us know what you think.

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NBA 2016/17 Dead Money By Team

April 21st, 2017 at 3:28pm CST by Luke Adams

An NBA club’s team salary can generally be divided up into two parts — the salaries and bonuses that teams are paying to the players currently on their roster, and “dead money,” which represents cap hits for players no longer on the team.

Dead money can take a number of forms. It can represent the cap hit or buyout total for a player who was waived earlier in the season; it can be a cap hit for a player who was waived in a previous year, perhaps via the stretch provision; it can even be the cap hit for a 10-day contract that has expired.

It’s virtually impossible to avoid carrying at least a little dead money on your books, but a couple teams nearly did it in 2016/17 — the Jazz and Raptors each finished the regular season with less than $300K in dead money on their respective caps. Conversely, the Sixers led the way with more than $23MM in dead money on their books for this season.

A large or small amount of dead money on a team’s cap doesn’t necessarily signal good or bad cap management, but it can reflect a club’s cap situation. For instance, the Trail Blazers didn’t carry much dead money on their cap this season, but that’s because they couldn’t afford to — Portland finished the year less than $5K away from the tax line, so waiving anyone and adding to that dead money total could have created problems.

The Sixers, on the other hand, finished the season with plenty of cap room despite carrying more than $23MM in dead money. They were so far below the cap to start the year that they could afford to eat some salary and waive veterans like Andrew Bogut ($10.5MM+) and Carl Landry ($6.5MM) in order to add young players, without it hurting their bottom line.

While correlation doesn’t necessarily equal causation, it’s worth noting that only one of this year’s playoff teams (Indiana) was in the top 12 in the NBA in terms of dead money. Of the 18 teams that carried the least dead money, 15 made the postseason.

Listed below are the dead money figures on NBA teams’ caps in 2016/17. For more details on how these salaries break down, be sure to check out our Salary Cap Snapshots for ’16/17.

Most 2016/17 dead money by NBA team:

  1. Philadelphia 76ers: $23,486,925
  2. Brooklyn Nets: $17,986,178
  3. Phoenix Suns: $12,533,729
  4. Dallas Mavericks: $11,497,934
  5. Minnesota Timberwolves: $10,111,402
  6. Los Angeles Lakers: $8,564,524
  7. Indiana Pacers: $8,387,667
  8. Sacramento Kings: $7,807,829
  9. New Orleans Pelicans: $6,697,399
  10. New York Knicks: $6,017,749
  11. Detroit Pistons: $5,398,678
  12. Miami Heat: $5,296,896
  13. Oklahoma City Thunder: $4,358,585
  14. Denver Nuggets: $4,165,795
  15. San Antonio Spurs: $3,505,381
  16. Houston Rockets: $3,430,160
  17. Milwaukee Bucks: $3,128,117
  18. Atlanta Hawks: $2,634,954
  19. Memphis Grizzlies: $2,614,263
  20. Golden State Warriors: $2,473,745
  21. Portland Trail Blazers: $1,984,005
  22. Charlotte Hornets: $1,837,499
  23. Orlando Magic: $1,701,127
  24. Washington Wizards: $1,551,805
  25. Boston Celtics: $1,550,240
  26. Cleveland Cavaliers: $1,458,181
  27. Los Angeles Clippers: $1,412,964
  28. Chicago Bulls: $494,500
  29. Utah Jazz: $275,000
  30. Toronto Raptors: $206,500

Note: These figures are not official, but are based on reliable salary data from The Vertical and Basketball Insiders, as well as our own data.

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2017 NBA Award Picks: Most Valuable Player

April 21st, 2017 at 2:01pm CST by Hoops Rumors

With the 2016/17 NBA regular season in the books, we’re making our picks for the year’s major awards. The Hoops Rumors writing team has weighed in with our selections below, but we also want to know which players, coaches, and executives you think are most deserving of the hardware this season, so jump into the comments section below to share your thoughts.

We’re wrapping things up today with the award for Most Valuable Player. Here are our picks:

Arthur Hill: Russell Westbrook (Thunder)Russell Westbrook vertical
This has a chance to be one of the closest MVP votes ever. Westbrook and James Harden both turned in extraordinary seasons, and either could be a runaway winner in a normal year. The case for Harden is that the Rockets won more games than the Thunder (55 to 47) and Harden was more efficient. He led the league with 11.2 assists per game while averaging 29.1 points. His True Shooting numbers were better than Westbrook’s and he put up his numbers in fewer possessions. However, by averaging a triple double, Westbrook did something that hasn’t been accomplished in 55 seasons. He also displayed his value in the offseason, agreeing to an extension when it looked like the Thunder might crumble after losing Kevin Durant. Harden’s season was special, but Westbrook’s was historic. He’s the real MVP.

Austin Kent: Russell Westbrook (Thunder)
I wasn’t entirely convinced that I would tip my hat in Westbrook’s direction until the final weeks of the season. At the end of the day however, there were three things that, together, made giving the award to anybody else troublesome. Had Westbrook only averaged a triple-double, I would have easily been able to justify giving the award to Harden, but he did so while also leading the league in scoring and minimizing the win differential between the two teams to just eight games.

The Rockets were a better team this season and Harden has been a certifiably MVP-worthy candidate, but Westbrook obliterating league history is more deserving of recognition. Even if Westbrook has a tendency to chase stats, is fortunate enough to play with big men who aren’t afraid to defer rebounds, and still barely topped a record set by somebody who didn’t even know he was setting a record in the first place, what he did is among the most impressive things our generation will ever see on a basketball court. Seriously, with the exception of a hypothetically stat-crazed Miami Heat-era LeBron James, I can’t think of a single player in the last 20 years who could pull off Westbrook’s accomplishment even if they were, like Westbrook, hellbent on doing exactly that.

We had a handful of players who made valid cases for the MVP award this year — that part isn’t up for debate. I’ve just decided to give the nod to the one who managed to make his case while simultaneously pulling off a feat that five years ago was virtually unimaginable.

Chris Crouse: Kawhi Leonard (Spurs)
Picking an MVP this year means splitting hairs. All are deserving, though only one can get the top vote. LeBron is the best player in the world, but his defense slipped this season and his numbers weren’t as impressive as some of the other candidates. Harden nearly averaged a triple-double, but he was overshadowed by Westbrook, who accomplished the feat.

Westbrook put up unbelievable stats, though it begs the question: is one star more valuable than another because of opportunity? His historic usage percentage (41.7%) allowed him to put up historic numbers. Westbrook took nearly 2,000 shots this year. Harden took 1,533, while James and Leonard put up roughly 1,300 apiece. Westbrook basically did what Drew Brees has been doing in the NFL over the last several seasons: achieve major statistical milestones as a result of opportunity without elevating his team to greatness. Brees hasn’t won the MVP award because voters realize it’s a passing league, and with the NBA trending toward high-pace-and-space style offenses, I think we’ll find that tremendous stats will become the new normal in this league.

Leonard didn’t put up gaudy stat lines as frequently as the other candidates, but he didn’t cost his team as many possessions either. Leonard had only 154 turnovers on the season. Westbrook gave the ball to the other team 438 times. Harden did it a league-worst 464 times. LBJ had 303 turnovers himself. And it’s not like Leonard had the ball that much less than some of the other candidates (Leonard had a 31.1 usage percentage, while Harden had 34.2 and James had 30.0). Having also factored in Leonard’s efficiency, Win Shares (he’s second in the league in WS per 48 minutes behind only Kevin Durant) and suffocating defense, I have to go with the San Antonio star in this extremely tight race for MVP.

Dana Gauruder: Russell Westbrook (Thunder)
I can’t fault anyone who favors Harden. He also had a spectacular season after changing his role. What Westbrook did – averaging a triple-double – is mind-boggling in an era where star players routinely take nights off. The Thunder needed him to dominate virtually every night to make the playoffs and he delivered.

Luke Adams: Russell Westbrook (Thunder)
A common argument in the case for Harden over Westbrook is the fact that the Rockets exceeded their expectations in 2016/17 by a greater margin than the Thunder did. That’s true, but that’s only because expectations for Westbrook in Oklahoma City’s post-Durant era were sky high. We expected Westbrook to go on a rampage and put up massive numbers like he did during Durant’s absence in 2014/15 — we weren’t sure what to expect from Harden and the Rockets after a disastrous 2015/16 season.

The fact that Westbrook still managed to exceed our expectations this season is one reason why he deserves the Most Valuable Player award. He also made huge shots in clutch situations time after time, and managed to carry a roster that was dead-last in the NBA in outside shooting (.327 3PT%, including .321 for players besides Westbrook) to a No. 6 seed in the Western Conference. And, yeah, he averaged a triple-double too. Incredible seasons from Harden, Leonard, and LeBron made this decision a brutal one, but Westbrook deserves the MVP nod for a singular performance that we’ll remember for years to come.

Who is your pick for Most Valuable Player? Share your choices and your thoughts in the comments section below!

Previously:
April 13: Executive of the Year
April 14: Coach of the Year
April 17: Most Improved Player
April 18: Sixth Man of the Year
April 19: Defensive Player of the Year
April 20: Rookie of the Year

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Poll Results: 2017 All-NBA Teams

April 21st, 2017 at 12:51pm CST by Luke Adams

In an NBA season packed with incredible performances and remarkable statistical achievements, we wanted to let you make the call on which 15 players are most deserving of All-NBA recognition.

On Tuesday, we opened voting for the All-NBA First Team. We moved on to the Second Team on Wednesday, and then opened the polls for the Third Team on Thursday. The results of those polls are in, so let’s check them out.

All-NBA First Team

All-NBA Second Team

All-NBA Third Team

Your top vote-getters in the final round of polling that didn’t quite earn spots on the Third Team: Damian Lillard (Blazers), Kyrie Irving (Cavaliers), Draymond Green (Warriors), Gordon Hayward (Jazz), DeMarcus Cousins (Kings/Pelicans), and Nikola Jokic (Nuggets).

My All-NBA choices would look pretty similar to yours, with a couple small changes here and there — I’d likely move Gobert up to the Second Team, and would find room for Green on the Second or Third Team, most likely at the expense of George. All in all though, I think when the official All-NBA selections are announced, they’ll look a lot like these teams.

What do you think? Do you disagree strongly with any of these choices? Expecting major discrepancies when the official All-NBA teams are announced? Let us know in the comments section!

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Poll: 2017 All-NBA Third Team

April 20th, 2017 at 11:00pm CST by Luke Adams

In an NBA season packed with incredible performances and remarkable statistical achievements, we’re letting you decide which 15 players are most deserving of All-NBA recognition.

On Tuesday, we opened voting for the All-NBA First Team, and 24 hours later, we had clear answers for which five players you believe deserve spots on that team. On Wednesday, we published polls for the Second Team, and we have now have our five players for that squad too. In this case, the vote was a little closer, particularly at center, where Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert went down to the wire in the race for a spot on the Second Team.

Here are the voting results so far:

All-NBA First Team

All-NBA Second Team

While your First Team choices consisted mostly of this year’s top MVP candidates, your Second Team picks were heavy on the best players from this year’s best teams — the NBA-leading Warriors got two spots on the Second Team, while Thomas, the top scorer from the East’s No. 1 team, earned one of the guard spots.

We’re moving on today to the All-NBA Third Team, so cast your votes below for the two guards, two forwards, and one center that you believe are most deserving of being named to that squad. You’ll have until about 12:00pm CT on Friday before we close this round of voting and round up the final results. You’ll also have the opportunity to select two players apiece in the guard and forward polls, so be sure to take advantage of that.

Who should be on the All-NBA Third Team?

Guards:

Note: This poll was reset after a top candidate was initially omitted. If you voted in our original poll, please feel free to re-submit your vote.

Who are your All-NBA third team guards?
John Wall 32.60% (620 votes)
DeMar DeRozan 16.40% (312 votes)
Damian Lillard 14.35% (273 votes)
Kyrie Irving 12.99% (247 votes)
Klay Thompson 8.25% (157 votes)
Chris Paul 7.41% (141 votes)
Mike Conley 2.94% (56 votes)
C.J. McCollum 2.89% (55 votes)
Kyle Lowry 2.16% (41 votes)
Total Votes: 1,902

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote on the All-NBA Third Team guards.

Forwards:

Who are your All-NBA Third Team forwards?
Jimmy Butler 30.57% (1,024 votes)
Paul George 23.79% (797 votes)
Draymond Green 21.19% (710 votes)
Gordon Hayward 17.07% (572 votes)
Kevin Love 2.60% (87 votes)
Blake Griffin 2.57% (86 votes)
Paul Millsap 2.21% (74 votes)
Total Votes: 3,350

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote on the All-NBA Third Team forwards.

Center:

Who is your All-NBA Third Team center?
Rudy Gobert 42.20% (725 votes)
DeMarcus Cousins 23.40% (402 votes)
Nikola Jokic 10.54% (181 votes)
Marc Gasol 9.66% (166 votes)
Hassan Whiteside 7.92% (136 votes)
DeAndre Jordan 3.84% (66 votes)
Brook Lopez 2.44% (42 votes)
Total Votes: 1,718

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote on the All-NBA Third Team center.

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2017 NBA Award Picks: Rookie Of The Year

April 20th, 2017 at 1:11pm CST by Hoops Rumors

With the 2016/17 NBA regular season in the books, we’re making our picks for the year’s major awards. The Hoops Rumors writing team has weighed in with our selections below, but we also want to know which players, coaches, and executives you think are most deserving of the hardware this season, so jump into the comments section below to share your thoughts.

We’re keeping things going today with the award for Rookie of the Year. Here are our picks:

Chris Crouse: Malcolm Brogdon (Bucks)Malcolm Brogdon vertical
As a Philadelphia resident, I wanted to go with Joel Embiid. He’s clearly the most talented player in the rookie class and he was running away with this award while only playing half of the Sixers’ back-to-backs. However, a knee injury ended his season, limiting the big man to only 31 games and a total of 786 minutes. How many minutes would have been enough to win the award? 1,000? 1,500? I’m not sure, but part of being considered the best of the year is being available and the Cameroon native wasn’t.

Brogdon was there for a Milwaukee team that needed a contributor. He gave coach Jason Kidd a solid defender and a player who could be counted on. Dario Saric had a slightly higher scoring average, but he wasn’t nearly as efficient as the Virginia product and he didn’t help to elevate his team as Brogdon did with the Bucks. Brogdon’s 4.1 Win Shares is by far tops among all rookies (Willy Hernangomez was the only other rookie above 3.0). Despite having two local candidates, I can’t argue with The President’s numbers; he gets my vote.

Austin Kent: Joel Embiid (Sixers)
The efficiency and off-court high jinks are just two components of what makes Joel Embiid so special. A third component – and in my opinion the most important one – is the immediate impact he had on a Sixers culture that was so deep in the basement they may as well have been relegated to the D-League. Embiid stepped on the court in October and changed all that overnight. This isn’t a byproduct of desperation, wishful thinking, or confirmation bias — nobody here had anything resembling high hopes for the man who seemed easily more myth than reality, a borderline punchline before he’d even set foot on the court.

I like that Brogdon is a contributing role player on a playoff team and that Saric proved he can fill the stat sheet when half the Philly roster is away on sabbatical, but to me the Rookie of the Year award serves as a way of flagging the most exciting of the league’s latest batch of fresh faces. I’m not going to hold the fact that a company with no rational incentive to start risking a years-long process chose to play it safe and shut its best asset down prematurely.

Dana Gauruder: Malcolm Brogdon (Bucks)
If Embiid had played at least half the Sixers’ games, this would be a no-brainer. Saric put up good numbers on a bad team. Brogdon was a huge surprise, contributing right away and helping the Bucks get through the first half of the season without Khris Middleton.

Arthur Hill: Joel Embiid (Sixers)
The only argument to make against Embiid winning the award is that a cautious Sixers medical staff limited him to 31 games. Otherwise, he was the best scorer, rebounder, shot blocker and overall defender in his rookie class. Embiid’s numbers – 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots per game – tower over the field before taking into account that they were achieved on a minutes restriction. Adjust those on a 36-minute basis and they become 28.7, 11.1 and 3.5 — good enough to be considered for MVP, not just Rookie of the Year. Although it would be unprecedented to give a trophy to someone who played less than half a season, I’ll take 31 games of excellence over anyone else in the field.

Luke Adams: Malcolm Brogdon (Bucks)
A first-half Rookie of the Year award for Embiid and a second-half trophy for Saric would probably make the most sense, but since Rookie of the Year is a full-season award, Brogdon’s consistency and durability give him the edge. While he may not turn into as impressive a pro down the road as Embiid or Saric, Brogdon’s ability to step into a regular rotation role for a playoff team and hold his own (10.2 PPG, 4.2 APG, 1.1 SPG, .404 3PT%) makes him a worthy – albeit not particularly flashy – Rookie of the Year winner.

Who is your pick for Rookie of the Year? Share your choices and your thoughts in the comments section below!

Previously:
April 13: Executive of the Year
April 14: Coach of the Year
April 17: Most Improved Player
April 18: Sixth Man of the Year
April 19: Defensive Player of the Year

Still to come:
April 21: Most Valuable Player

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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