Last night, the NBA had its first-ever awards show and it
was a good night for the Milwaukee Bucks. Giannis Antetokounmpo was named the
NBA’s most-improved player. Antetokounmpo’s teammate Malcolm Brogdon made
history in more ways than one. The University of Virginia product became the
first player who was not drafted in the first round to win the league’s Rookie
of the Year award in the common-draft era. He also became the first player to
win the award without ever winning Rookie of the Month in his own conference.
Seems crazy that the recipient of the Rookie of the Year
award could never be named the best rookie in his conference in any single month,
right? That’s because it is. Brogdon beat out Sixers teammates Joel Embiid and
Dario Saric for the award. To be nice, this year’s rookie class was weak.
Embiid had the best numbers by far, but played just 31 games in 2016-17. Saric’s
averages for the season were still better than Brogdon’s, but the Croatian came
on late in the year and for most of the first half of the season was an average
player for the Sixers. Brogdon was a bench player for most of the season for
Milwaukee starting in just 28 of the 75 games he played in. These were the
three finalists for the award.
In a year where no rookie stood out during the entire
season, Embiid only playing 31 out of 82 games should not have been the reason
he did not win. His 20.2 points per game almost exactly doubled Brogdon’s 10.2
for the season. Embiid also averaged 7.8 rebounds per game and 2.5 blocks per
game. His blocks per game were more than any player other than Rudy Gobert. The
only rookies to ever match Embiid’s rookie year per game averages in points,
rebounds and blocks were Tim Duncan, Alonzo Mourning, Hakeem Olajuwon,
Shaquille O’Neal, David Robinson and Ralph Sampson.
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| Mitchell Leff/Getty Images |
While all six of those big men played more than 31 games in
their rookie years, all of them also averaged far more minutes per game as
rookies than Embiid’s 25.4. For Embiid to put up those averages for the season,
while playing on just over half the game each night, makes it seem insane that
anyone else would win Rookie of the Year, especially someone that had a season
like Brogdon had. None of the previously mentioned hall of fame caliber big men
had range out to the three-point line. Embiid also shot 36.7 percent from
beyond the arc this past season.
Then consider Brogdon was on the floor for more minutes per
game, 26.4, than Embiid and it really is astounding that an average season like
Brogdon’s would be rewarded just because it was a full season over Embiid’s injury-shortened
season. This past season proved exactly what every scout and draft expert
claimed about Embiid three years ago when the Sixers selected him third
overall. He is a player that can do just about everything on the floor and
someone that has a chance to be a generational talent, provided he stays
healthy. He showed just about all his ability this season, but also got hurt
again. However, there just wasn’t anyone even close to as impactful as Embiid
was when he was on the floor this season, which is why playing only 31 games
should not have been held against him. It says a lot about the type of player
Embiid is for him to be that good with such little playing time. Had he played
the rest of the season, and been surprisingly poor, his numbers for the entire
year are almost certainly still better than Brogdon’s and he probably wins the
award. Therefore, it seems odd that Brogdon’s quantity would trump Embiid’s
quality. But, one thing’s for sure. If Embiid can stay healthy, he’ll have a
much better career than Brogdon, which in the end, is all that matters.
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