The NBA playoffs are really heating up now. No one in the West has punched their ticket to the conference semifinals, while three teams have in the East. In fact, both Denver and Dallas are in danger. The Nuggets are down 3-2 to Utah, and Game 6 will be away for them, while Dallas is in the same situation, except they're playing the Spurs. The playoffs are taking up most of the attention, but now is the time when most of the NBA awards are given out. My 2009-2010 NBA Rookie of the Year pick was Blake Griffin. As you know, Griffin missed the entire season with a knee injury. In a post before the season started, I had Tyreke Evans and Jonny Flynn as players to contend for the award. Flynn had a solid rookie year, averaging 13.5 PPG and 4.4 APG. However, Evans prevailed and was named Rookie of the Year today.
Evans was definitely deserving of the award in my mind. After Evans, Stephen Curry finished second in the voting while Brandon Jennings of Milwaukee finished third. Curry averaged 17.5 PPG and lead all rookies in assists with 5.9 per game and steals with 1.9, while Jennings averaged 15.5 PPG and 5.7 APG. Both of these rookies put up great numbers, but neither of them had seasons like Evans did. The former Memphis Tiger finished the year averaging 20.1 PPG 5.8 APG and 5.3 RPG. He was just the fourth player to average 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in his rookie season. The other three players had fairly decent careers: Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson and LeBron James. Evans impressed me this season because he stayed at a high level of play consistently in all 72 of his games. In every month (except the first three games in November), he averaged 19.4 points or more and 5 assists or more.
I really like how he plays the game. He's not afraid to shoot, but he's willing to make the extra pass (even on the Kings). Evans is definitely a player we'll be watching for many years to come. He was also the second straight Rookie of the Year to play one year of college basketball for John Calipari. Last year, Derrick Rose won the award after leading Memphis to the National Championship game in his freshman year. Once again, Calipari has coached another freshman point guard phenom: John Wall is the likely #1 overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft and may win the award next year. Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats will also bring in the #4 recruit on ESPNU 100, Brandon Knight, in the fall. It looks like the next decade will be full of talent that played college ball for Calipari, but for now, Tyreke Evans is in the spotlight.
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