With Ben Simmons likely to spend a great deal of the campaign on the bench with injury, here’s an updated look at projected NBA Rookie candidates for 2016-17.
The Philadelphia 76ers are trying to recover from osing first overall pick Ben Simmons to a foot injury. That injury will likely keep him out for the first half of the NBA season. The team has mastered the exhibition of patience awaiting many prized assets over the course of Sam Hinkie’s radical rebuild. Still, the further setback of yet another injury following delayed arrivals of Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid and Dario Saric was a tough pill to swallow.
Despite the hurdle, however, the team remains very optimistic over this year’s opportunity. Their first taste of veteran leadership on the court at the season opener is now history. Meanwhile, their young talents should have a myriad of opportunities to establish themselves as legitimate forces at the next level. The team’s rookie class, especially, is a group worth watching.
Simmons appears to be trending towards a mid-season return, but Philly still wields three highly talented first year players in Embiid and Saric, as well as this year’s 24th overall pick, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. There’s a certain level of uncertainty surrounding all three of them this year. But that seems to be the case with entire rookie class as a whole.
The talent level from the 2016 NBA Draft season did not match up as touted as previous drafts. Some believe this lack of depth forced NBA experts to overstate the potential of some of the most hyped youngsters. Without further ado, here’s the Top 10 Rookie of the Year candidates entering the 2016-17 season: