Miami Heat: AUCH Roundtable on the Rookie Of The Year ladder

Marcos Chisholm(@marcosgchisholm)

Right now the atmosphere around the NBA is failing to make note of how crowded the Rookie of the Year race is eventually going to be. Sure, Ja Morant and Eric Paschall are likely going to continue shining on squads that are desperately looking for more answers as they trail most Western Conference teams in the standings.

However, Zion Williamson has completely slid under the radar since his knee injury resurfaced, in spite of having posted 23.3 points per game in just 27.2 minutes per during the preseason. It’s also worth mentioning Zion netted a whopping 120.3 offensive rating through this period, the highest out of any rookie that averaged more than 20 minutes per game before the regular season.

Considering his return is expected before the halfway mark of this season, it becomes very possible to see how the most hyped NBA prospect since LeBron James can steal the show and make it difficult for other rookies to bask in the limelight just before ROTY voting takes place. Throwing the Miami Heat’s highly touted rookie class into the mix only makes the race even harder to judge.

While Kendrick Nunn ranks ahead of Tyler Herro in most major statistical categories, Herro’s numbers still closely rival his teammate’s. Both are averaging close to 15 points per game, three assists per game, three rebounds per contest, a steal, and 30 minutes per contest this season.

However, Nunn is engaged in a higher amount of isolation, spot-up shooting, and PnR ball-handling action than Herro — which has opened the floodgates for high scoring performances against teams like Atlanta, Minnesota, and Cleveland. As a result, Nunn has been able to remain on the ROTY radar since the beginning of the season with ease, currently ranking no. 2 in the NBA.com Rookie Ladder.

Eventually, we have to ask ourselves: what type of candidate has typically won the ROTY? Recent winners such as Luka Doncic, Damien Lillard, Kyrie Irving, Blake Griffin, and Karl Anthony-Towns all contribute to the inevitable trend of a playmaking star with a high usage rate for an up and coming team.

This includes someone who has shown promise to become the face of their respective franchise after missing the playoffs the year prior and while Miami fell short of landing a postseason spot in the final week of the 2018-2019 regular season, neither Kendrick Nunn or Tyler Herro are the faces of a Miami franchise that is paying Jimmy Butler $140 million over four years. For better or worse, Ja Morant and Zion Williamson fit this recurring narrative more than other candidates, and Kendrick Nunn can walk away with respect if he finishes third in voting against the top two draft picks from this year.

Me(@ksaidwhat)

While there are quite a few dynamic rookies making waves this season in the NBA, for me, the Rookie Of The Year race is of the four-horse variety. In case you hadn’t figured it out yet, two of those mustangs reside in South Beach.

Tyler Herro and Kendrick Nunn of the Miami Heat are both worthy candidates and competitors, but Ja Morant has the built-in ability of being his team’s leader, arguable best player, and the point guard, which means he always has the ball in his hands. He has the inside track to actually winning the award because of that factor alone. We tend to give more credence to those things that we can see with our eyes and Ja Morant will have the most impact or impact plays in that fashion.

Rui Hachimura of the Washington Wizards is a flat out stud, so he could sneak up above the two Heat rookies. This would be because they have to share the ball more with others and share the vote amongst themselves, likely splitting it in the process.

Eric Paschall and RJ Barrett are both slightly outside the conversation, as they have both been far too inconsistent as of now. That is what my outlook on the Rookie Of The Year conversations looks like.

The conversation is surely not over, as we are but just a quarter of the way through the season. While the Miami Heat will continue to feature their two touted young dynamos on this list, the other teams that boast players that were mentioned will continue to look to help them build upon their somewhat successful seasons thus far as well.

Regardless of how it all plays out, we can’t wait to see it happen. This has been another AUCH roundtable and we thank you for checking it out!