NBA award ballots: MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and more
NBA award ballots: Rookie of the Year
Christopher Kline
- Cade Cunningham, DET
- Evan Mobley, CLE
- Scottie Barnes, TOR
Cade Cunningham started the season on the injured reserve, then got off to a terrible start shooting the ball. And, after all that, he still deserves Rookie of the Year. No rookie reached higher heights than Cunningham, who by season’s end had the lowly Pistons playing near .500 basketball for a month. Cunningham averaged 21.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 6.5 assists after the All-Star break. He’s the best rookie, and therefore wins the award.
The next two are somewhat obvious. Evan Mobley was the co-defensive anchor of an elite Cavs defense for most of the season, providing a level of defensive versatility unique to only a handful of 7-footers. Scottie Barnes stuffed the stat sheet for a really good Raptors team, and deserves his flowers too.
Lucas Johnson
- Scottie Barnes, TOR
- Evan Mobley, CLE
- Cade Cunningham, DET
It was a close race but Scottie Barnes comes out on top for me in Rookie of the year thanks to his team’s late-season surge. He’s arguably the best two-way player from his draft class who’s on a top-end Eastern conference team.
Evan Mobley had a strong case but him getting injured near the end of the regular season took him out of the race. Cade Cunningham has a strong case but he was allowed to put up big numbers on a bad team and he started out the season slow which hurts his case.