<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Dwight Howard one-upped Emeka Okafor in the 2004 NBA Draft. Orlando selected him No. 1, leaving Charlotte to take Okafor at No. 2. If Howard wants to win the rookie of the year award -- and he says he does -- he likely will have to beat out his rival again. "Winning the rookie of the year, yeah, that's one of my goals," Howard said.</div> Full Story: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/bask...-sports-special Well, it's still a little early for talks of ROY, but if Dwight plays as well as he did during the camps/preseasons, he stands a chance. Regardless, Orlando just needs him to develop his game and help the Magic win ballgames.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Ice:</div><div class="quote_post">Full Story: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/bask...-sports-special Well, it's still a little early for talks of ROY, but if Dwight plays as well as he did during the camps/preseasons, he stands a chance. Regardless, Orlando just needs him to develop his game and help the Magic win ballgames.</div> I think he has a good shot at it. Although the Rookie of the year award lost it's validity in my mind. Melo played an overall better season than LBJ but LBJ still got it.
As Ice said if he continues to play like he's playing now and kicks it up a notch he should have a shot at it, but it's too early right now to even think about that.
I don't think that Emeka is really going to compete for the award. He is on an expansion team, he doesn't have much of an offensive game either and as a result, he isn't going to get hyped up that much. I think that the guy that is really going to surprise a lot of people in contending for the award is Ben Gordon. Think about it, they want to make him a big part of the offense in Chicago, Chicago is a major market city and he's going to be surrounded by other excellent young players. I'm going out on a limb here, but if I had to guess who would win the award right now, I'd say it's going to be Gordon. Howard's preseason play however, has made me consider changing my mind.
He's beginning to show that he can be a consistent double-double type of player. If he could show signs of that this year (say a dozen or so double-doubles along with a consistently strong showing night in and night out) he's got a great chance at R.O.Y..
Certainly a possibility. However, preseason only means so much. Too early to jump to conclusions. The big question mark is that is he physically or mentally strong enough for an 82-game NBA season? If he is, then he's definitely in the running for ROY.
I'm not sure I would even call Howard an underdog for ROY. So far in preseason he's played great and exceeded expectations, and if he starts there is no reason why he can't win ROY. If he puts up a double double he will be hard to beat. If he can continue his current form into the season, and keep it for 82 games, then he has a good shot at ROY. He has the supporting cast to help him get it aswell.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Think about it, they want to make him a big part of the offense in Chicago, Chicago is a major market city and he's going to be surrounded by other excellent young players. I'm going out on a limb here, but if I had to guess who would win the award right now, I'd say it's going to be Gordon.</div> Newsflash: Ben Gordon is not even the second best rookie on his own team. Have you been following the preseason games with the Bulls? Luol Deng and Andres Nocioni have a lot better changes to win the Rookie of the Year award than Ben Gordon. The market you play in and your type of game doesn't affect your chances. Orlando isn't exactly a booming market, but Mike Miller won the award in 2000. Memphis is the smallest market in the NBA, and Gasol had a boring game as a rookie, but he won the award in 2001. Everyone knows that Okafor is a defensive minded player, so they'll be looking at that side of his game more often than his offensive game. It's not like he'll be completely looked over because his offensive game isn't up to par with Howard's. Besides, his offensive game is really underrated. Sure, he's a great defender, but that doesn't mean he's not also a decent scorer. Just because scoring is not the best part of his game it doesn't mean that it's not there. Anyway, if you want a darkhorse candidate then look no further than Nick Collison. He's been criticized for his Preaseason performance, but he's really working his way up slowly. He hasn't played a game in a year, none the less on the NBA level. I'm sure that once he gets into the swing of things he has a legitimate chance. Outside of Okafor, Howard, and Collison, a lot of people are also looking at Luol Deng and J.R. Smith who have both been awarded starting positions for their respected franchises. They've both been lighting it up in the preseason; however, the preseason can often be missleading. If I had to trust my guy, once the regular season starts, J.R. Smith's stats will deflate because Baron Davis will be getting more time and touches. Deng looks like he's in a pretty consistant position to make a run at Rookie of the Year. With that being said, it looks like a four man race at this point between Howard, Okafor, Deng, and Collison (maybe even Igoudala as well).
It's definetely possible for Howard to get the ROY. He's played above even my expectations in preseason. I was expecting maybe 12 and 6 at best. The thing that worries me the most is that he's too aggressive defensively and commits too many dumb fouls and takes himself out of the game because of foul trouble. He needs to just stay in and take each scenario he gets into a learning experience. He doesn't have to be a scorer this year, just crash the boards and play defense. I can't wait for this season to start.
Okafor's game was 19 and 10 with only 1 block. So both players looked great to start their careers. It's going to be a fun race to watch and we can just hope that Dwight wins it.
