{"id":67176,"date":"2018-02-17T13:30:37","date_gmt":"2018-02-17T19:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=67176"},"modified":"2018-02-17T18:56:27","modified_gmt":"2018-02-18T00:56:27","slug":"players-weigh-in-who-is-the-rookie-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/players-weigh-in-who-is-the-rookie-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Players weigh in: Who is the Rookie of the Year?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>by Nathan Smith<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Medill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n<p>LOS ANGELES \u2014 Two players have jumped out ahead in NBA Rookie of the Year race, but most of their peers can\u2019t decide which one is in the lead.<\/p>\n<p>Donovan Mitchell, the top scorer for a Jazz team rolling into the All-Star break on an 11-game winning streak, and Ben Simmons, the 76ers do-everything forward, were the go-to answers for first- and second-year players participating in the Rising Stars Challenge when asked who, if given a vote, were their favorites.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d have to flip a coin between Ben or Donovan,\u201d Kings point guard De\u2019Aaron Fox said after the U.S. Team practice. \u201cBen fills up a stat sheet, but Donovan\u2019s had multiple 40-point games.\u2026 I don\u2019t think you can go wrong with either of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pacers big man Domantas Sabonis called it \u201ca close, close race\u201d between the two. Kings guard Buddy Hield called them equals, highlighting Mitchell\u2019s scoring and Simmons\u2019 skill as a facilitator. The Knicks\u2019 Frank Ntilikina and the Grizzlies\u2019 Dillon Brooks cited both players without much elaboration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it depends what you feel like is most valuable,\u201d Hawks forward Taurean Prince said. \u201cIf we\u2019re going off stats, I feel like, obviously, Ben Simmons is at the top of the board. If we\u2019re going off most need for your team, I feel like my guy Donovan could take it. It just depends what your outlook is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among players who forced themselves to choose between the two, Mitchell had a decided edge. Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Kings and Jamal Murray of the Nuggets sided with the Louisville product, making no mention of Simmons. Hawks center John Collins was Mitchell\u2019s most emphatic supporter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just think his play has been more consistent,\u201d Collins said. \u201cBen had a hot start, then he had a nice little middle. But there\u2019s just been a couple dead spots here and there. I think Donovan\u2019s just been hot and stayed hot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Collins, who has the rookie class\u2019s top player efficiency rating (PER), shrugged off the suggestion that he could choose himself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would\u2013but if we\u2019re being realistic\u2013you know what I\u2019m saying. Got to give it to one of those guys,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n<p>Simmons\u2019 Philadelphia teammate Dario Saric defended the Australian point forward\u2019s credentials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis ability, his size, his wingspan and his ability to pass the ball, you know, not so many people in the NBA who can do that,\u201d Saaric said.<\/p>\n<p>A few players broke from the consensus. Bulls point guard Kris Dunn favored his teammate Lauri Markkanen, citing the Finnish forward\u2019s 33-point explosion against the Knicks in January.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019d he hit, eight threes that game?\u201d Dunn said, \u201cYou\u2019re not finding too many people who can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Celtics forward Jayson Tatum offered the most self-assured opinion on the award race.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMyself,\u201d said the rookie from Duke.<\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">John Collins takes questions from reporters (Daniel Comer\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Nathan Smith Medill Reports LOS ANGELES \u2014 Two players have jumped out ahead in NBA Rookie of the Year race, but most of their peers can\u2019t decide which one is in the lead. Donovan Mitchell, the top scorer for a Jazz team rolling into the All-Star break on an 11-game winning streak, and Ben [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":467,"featured_media":67177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4047,31,3987],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nbaallstar2018","category-sports","category-winter-2018"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Players weigh in: Who is the Rookie of the Year? - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/players-weigh-in-who-is-the-rookie-of-the-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Players weigh in: Who is the Rookie of the Year? - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Nathan Smith Medill Reports LOS ANGELES \u2014 Two players have jumped out ahead in NBA Rookie of the Year race, but most of their peers can\u2019t decide which one is in the lead. 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