Young vs Doncic: Race for ROTY

This year, we had a stacked draft class with players like the dominant center from Arizona, Deandre Ayton who has been quietly putting up great numbers, the big guy from Duke, Marvin Bagley who has been solid for Sacramento this year, but the headlines have been all about the two guys who were traded for each other, Luka Doncic and Trae Young.

On Draft Night, Luka Doncic was picked 3rd by the Hawks and Trae Young was selected 5th by the Mavericks. But a trade had already been made that would swap the two young talents. This proved to be a great move for both teams, who got the player that they wanted.

Luka Doncic: Luka Doncic is putting up veteran type numbers in his first year. Back when he was playing in the Euro-League, he won a title and was named MVP as a teenager. He had experience on a big stage and that is why he was picked so high. The Mavericks have had success with European players, like Dirk Nowitzki, who was drafted in 1999. And Doncic has proved that he is not just any rookie, he plays like a veteran and makes the right play almost every time. At the beginning of the year, the Mavericks looked like they may make it into the playoffs, but then a cold stretch pushed them to the bottom of the west where they have been for the 2nd half of the season. But Doncic is averaging 21.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, 5.9 assists while shooting 42.7% from the field and 32.6% from 3. Those are great all around numbers for a rookie and are like Lebron James rookie year numbers. At the start of the year, it looked Doncic would be named the 6th unanimous Rookie of the Year, but Trae Young has made the race really close.

Trae Young: Trae Young and John Collins have paired up to be one of the best young duos in the NBA this year. At the start of the year, Young struggled to keep up in the NBA, but in the 2nd half of the season, he is putting up great numbers and has made the race really close. Young was the only star on his Oklahoma team, but after getting nationwide attention, he sort of died down but was still one of the best shooters in the country with Curry like range. After being traded for Luka and going to Atlanta, he started off slow but has been on a hot streak and now has a real case for being Rookie of the Year. Young is averaging 19.1 points, 8 assists, 3.7 rebounds, shooting 41.9% from the field and 32.6% from 3. Those numbers are also great, but the 8 assists from a rookie are just astounding. As the leader of the team, being the point guard and floor general, Trae is involving everybody, and also getting himself some buckets.

But, at the end of the day, I have a flashback to last years Rookie of the Year race, between Ben Simmons and Donovan Mitchell. Mitchell was averaging 20.5 points, 3.7 assists, 1.5 steals, shooting 43.7% from the field and 34% from 3. Simmons, on the other hand, was averaging 15.8 points, 8.2 assists, 8.1 rebounds, shooting 54.5% from the field. These guys both put up great numbers and in my opinion, Mitchell should have won because he was the leading scorer on a playoff team, and he led them to the 2nd round. But Simmons had the better overall stats, and that is why he won. If we go back to this year, Doncic has more points, rebounds, FG% and they have the same 3PT%. So, if it is like the case of last year, Luka Doncic will win because he has better overall stats.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and next time’s topic will be another prospect post, this time on RJ Barrett, NBA’s next Superstar?