Each and every NBA Rookie of the Year race comes back to opportunity.
Pursuits of the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy are not about wins and losses. They are, in most cases, not even about superior efficiency. They're about opportunity, about volume, about playing time and the stat lines into which that exposure translates—which, in the grand scheme of everything, doesn't bode well for those who begin their careers on good teams.
Superstar potential exists outside of the lottery (h/t San Antonio Spurs), that much we know. But the requisite exposure, the freedom that comes with being treated as an immediate asset, seldom does.
Expansive roles aren't even guaranteed inside the lottery. More than half the league makes the playoffs, and those odds invariably leave teams chasing postseason appearances despite being looped alongside rebuilding squads and blatant tank jobs—the Phoenix Suns of the last two years, for example.
Every so often, the right rookies—grandfathered into the right situations—come along and buck this stereotype. But they do so as exceptions, not as blueprints for future neophytes on ...
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Article written by Dan Favale
Does Playing on a Good Team Hinder NBA Rookie of the Year Chances?
November 2nd, 2015 by Dan Favale Leave a reply »
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