Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard early front-runners for Rookie of the Year

Though their basketball pedigrees are far different, New Orleans Hornets big man Anthony Davis and Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard appear to be two of the top contenders for the 2012-2013 NBA Rookie of the Year.

Even the casual basketball fan has likely heard of Davis. Playing for legendary recruiter John Calipari at Kentucky, Davis was the National Player of the Year and a consensus All-American while leading the Wildcats to an NCAA title. Entering the draft process, Davis was already a lock to be the #1 pick in the draft, whose combination of length, athleticism and basketball I.Q. has been nearly unparalleled in recent memory.


After being selected #1 overall by the New Orleans Hornets, Davis replaced an injured Blake Griffin on the U.S. Olympic team. Even though he may not receive big minutes for Team USA, the experience practicing and playing against the best basketball players in the world will do wonders for his development. While his offensive game still needs some refinement, Davis has shown some excellent defensive instincts, and uses his length and athletic ability to make a huge impact on the defensive end of the floor.

The good news for Davis is that while he's clearly the most highly touted player on the Hornets roster, he'll hardly have to go it alone. New Orleans was able to re-sign restricted free agent shooting guard Eric Gordon, who was the centerpiece of the Chris Paul to the Clippers trade a season ago. When healthy, Gordon is among the top five shooting guards in the league, and combines a solid perimeter game with the ability to attack the basket. Joining those two will be #10 overall pick Austin Rivers of Duke. Rivers is a bit of a combo guard, and will need to work on his shot selection and decision-making, but is another talented piece among a solid young nucleus.

Lillard was a two-time Big Sky Conference Player of the Year at mid-major Weber State, but was largely an unknown commodity before the combine. While he may not possess Derrick Rose or Russell Westbrook athletic ability and explosiveness, he's not far behind either. Prior to the Las Vegas Summer League, there were (legitimate) questions how Lillard would handle the transition from a mid-major to the NBA.

Lillard was selected sixth overall by the Portland Trail Blazers, and was also the first point guard taken in the draft. In four Summer League games, Lillard was arguably the best backcourt player there, posting averages of 26.5 points (on 43.8% shooting), 4.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists. He's also shown a great feel using the pick-and-roll, and has a good balance of outside shooting and penetrating ability. While he'll no doubt endure some growing pains in his rookie campaign, Lillard appears to have the physical and mental make-up of an NBA starter. Lillard will also have the benefit of playing with one of the better power forwards in the game in LaMarcus Aldridge, and that tandem could become one of the more lethal pick-and-roll/pick-and-pop combinations in the league.

Barring some sort of injury, both players will be starters from the opening of training camps in a couple of months. With solid scorers like Gordon, Rivers and Ryan Anderson, Davis will likely make his mark as a rookie on defense and the glass, while Lillard should be able to put up solid scoring and assist numbers, as he'll have Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews on the wings to space the floor, along with LaMarcus Aldridge in the post.

While there are definitely other players that could overtake these two for top rookie honors (Charlotte's Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Washington's Bradley Beal), at this (very early) stage of the game, Davis and Lillard seem to be at the head of their class.

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