Who knows the NBA Rookie of the Year candidates better than Doin Work? Name one blog with more content about the Kings and Warriors. We’ve been gushing about Tyreke Evans and Stephen Curry all season long, so now that it’s down to a two-man race for the award, who better to weigh in on the subject than us? We’re breaking down the analysis into three categories which we feel make up the criteria for the award. The first is Stats – no explanation needed. The second is Team Performance / Influence – how well has the team played and how much is a result of the player’s impact? The third is Future Outlook – meaning whose resume is going to look better 20 years from now. Most voters will probably tell you that has nothing to do with the Rookie of the Year award, but that’s not true. Sportswriters love being right. They want to vote for the guy who’s going to have a couple MVP awards in his career so they can say, “I voted for him.” You think any writers out there are watching any Wizards’ games bragging that they voted for Mike Miller for ROY? Come take a trip with us up and down I-80 to see if the trophy is going to end up in Oakland or Sacramento this year….

STATS

Tyreke Evans (MCeezy)- The numbers don’t always tell the whole story, but I think in this case they do. Evans is averaging more than 20 pts, 5 reb, and 5 ast for the season. This fact has been well documented, including here, but in case you missed it, the only other rookies to do that are Lebron James, Michael Jordan, and Oscar Robertson. He’s in the top 20 in the league in Points, Assists, Steals, Minutes, and triple doubles. Sure, he has one, but no one who’s not named Lebron James has more. In fact, Evans’ last outing he came up one rebound shy of his second triple double. Curry’s got a slight edge in 3pt and FT%, as well as steals, but Evans’ overall numbers definitely trump those of Curry.

Stephen Curry (Chappy)- I have to concede that Tyreke’s numbers are superior to Curry’s, but in Curry’s defense, his first two months under Nellie were inconsistent to say the least. There were games when he’d play 35-40 minutes, and the next night he’d play 10-15. I’m not sure if it was Ellis saying that they couldn’t play together, but either way Nellie didn’t seem to trust him that much. Since the Warriors were struck furiously by the injury bug, Curry’s minutes went up and so did his production. Since December, he’s had close to the same numbers as Reke averging 20 pts, 4 rebs, 4 assists, and nearly 2 steals. He’s easily been the most improved rookie over the season. Continue reading