<div align="center"> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Charlotte forward Emeka Okafor has won the NBA's Rookie of the Year award, narrowly beating best friend Ben Gordon of Chicago Bulls , a Bobcats source told The Associated Press. The award will be announced on Wednesday. The Bobcats have called a news conference for what they have only called "a major announcement." Okafor, the No. 2 overall pick in the NBA draft, led all rookies in scoring (15.9 points per game) and rebounding (10.9 rpg) and was second in his class behind Atlanta's Josh Smith in blocks (1.71). He also ranked second in the NBA with 3.8 offensive rebounds per game</div> Source</div>
Wow..I thought Gordon would win it for sure. This pretty much secures that Gordon wins 6th man.. EDIT: nevermind, just figured out that gordon already won it before i posted this
Makes sense, the NBA wants to promote the new franchise, regardless of whether or not Gordon is more deserving. As for Emeka's offensive output he's the focal point right now, it's to be expected.
Good for Emeka. It was down to either him and Ben for the ROY and I'm not surprised at all. Everybody probably already expected Okafor to win the ROY and Gordon to win the 6th Man Award anyway.
He definitely deserved it. Ben Gordon was an over-hyped candidate whose rookie campaign was nowhere near Okafor's level.
He deserved it. Gordon did good, but not good enough for him to be given the 6th man and ROY award in the same season. Okafor deserved it just as much as him, and led his team to a fair amount of wins himself.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">Makes sense, the NBA wants to promote the new franchise, regardless of whether or not Gordon is more deserving. As for Emeka's offensive output he's the focal point right now, it's to be expected.</div> Do you think Gordon is more deserving?
I pretty much agree with og15 that both candidates were very close, and since only one could win one award, the fact that Gordan was a favorite for another award was actually detrimental to him. The voters probably did split it, too; realizing that Gordon would win the 6th man award, figured that since it was very tough to make an absolutely clear choice for the ROY, lean towards Okafor as their top choice with Gordon 2nd and Howard after them.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MrJ:</div><div class="quote_post">Do you think Gordon is more deserving?</div> Well, he is at least AS deserving as Okafor. Okafor is putting up good numbers on a team that doesn't have anyone else who can, to me it's not all that impressive. The Bulls wouldn't be where they are without Gordon's fourth quarter play. I can remember a couple times where Gordon won the game with clutch play. Emeka's team wasn't in playoff contention....ever, let alone homecourt contention. Yes, I am aware that Gordon has more help.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">Okafor is putting up good numbers on a team that doesn't have anyone else who can, to me it's not all that impressive.</div>I geuss I see it the exact opposite way. He's the only guy you really have to stop, and teams just don't do that. Plus, I would always give it to a starter over a 6th man.
I think Gordan and Howard are more deserving than Okafor. They just seem to be better players based on the first year. Okafor is a good rebounder, but not very good offensively (look at his fg%). Perhaps I put more emphasis on team success, talent, and potential than most.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting briang8818:</div><div class="quote_post">I geuss I see it the exact opposite way. He's the only guy you really have to stop, and teams just don't do that. Plus, I would always give it to a starter over a 6th man.</div> Why? Gordan has been more productive than Okafor in the fourth quarter. You think the first quarter is somehow more important than the fourth quarter? Or is it a matter of total minutes played?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">Well, he is at least AS deserving as Okafor. Okafor is putting up good numbers on a team that doesn't have anyone else who can, to me it's not all that impressive. The Bulls wouldn't be where they are without Gordon's fourth quarter play. I can remember a couple times where Gordon won the game with clutch play. Emeka's team wasn't in playoff contention....ever, let alone homecourt contention. Yes, I am aware that Gordon has more help.</div> I feel you, but Okafor has just about no one whereas Gordon has everyone. The Bobcats were in contention in breaking the 9-73 record. Okafor had the tough task of leading a brand new expanison team. He had no veterans other than a 29 year old Brevin Knight. That being said, if Gordon was on the Bobcats, they wouldn't have a much better record if better at all. While Gordon's 4th quarter play is impressive, other than scoring, what does he do? He manages to get 24.4 minutes a game and put up 15.1 points, but he also averages 2.27 turnovers in that span as well which is good enough for 6th in the NBA in turnovers per 48 minutes despite not getting more than 25 minutes a game! Emeka Okafor averages 15.1 points, 10.9 rebounds a game (good enough for 4th in the NBA) and 1.7 blocks. I?m not at all getting at him for not averaging more rebounds or blocks because I understand about how they play entirely different positions, but my point is Okafor dominates in the categories he should be dominating. In addition, he broke Shaq?s record for most straight double-doubles in a game. I think Gordon is a very good rookie and if Okafor wasn?t around, he would undoubtedly get the ROY award for sure, but Okafor has done more to deserve the award in my opinion.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MrJ:</div><div class="quote_post">I feel you, but Okafor has just about no one whereas Gordon has everyone. The Bobcats were in contention in breaking the 9-73 record. Okafor had the tough task of leading a brand new expanison team. He had no veterans other than a 29 year old Brevin Knight. That being said, if Gordon was on the Bobcats, they wouldn't have a much better record if better at all. While Gordon's 4th quarter play is impressive, other than scoring, what does he do? He manages to get 24.4 minutes a game and put up 15.1 points, but he also averages 2.27 turnovers in that span as well which is good enough for 6th in the NBA in turnovers per 48 minutes despite not getting more than 25 minutes a game! Emeka Okafor averages 15.1 points, 10.9 rebounds a game (good enough for 4th in the NBA) and 1.7 blocks. I?m not at all getting at him for not averaging more rebounds or blocks because I understand about how they play entirely different positions, but my point is Okafor dominates in the categories he should be dominating. In addition, he broke Shaq?s record for most straight double-doubles in a game. I think Gordon is a very good rookie and if Okafor wasn?t around, he would undoubtedly get the ROY award for sure, but Okafor has done more to deserve the award in my opinion.</div> Very good points. Exactly my thoughts. I also want to emphasize the fact that Emeka is the only person the other team has to worry about and yet he still averages a double double as a rookie... That is impressive to me. How many rookies rank #4 overall in the NBA in double double? How many rookies ranked 2nd in the NBA in the offensive rebonding category? How about doing it all while holding the burden of a franchise player on a brand new franchise as a rookie. Okafor works extra harder than anyone (as evident in the fact that he's 2nd in O-Rebs) and he is the clear ROY to me. Don't get me wrong, Ben Gordon is an awesome rookie also but Okafor's got his numbers this year. Dwight Howard is clearly the inferior player to Emeka this year. He has had much more help, his stats is worse than Emeka, and while he might have more potential in the long run, we are talking about Rookie of the YEAR. Not Rookie with most potential. Ben Gordon.. I think MrJ pretty much sums it all up for me.
Congrats to Okafor for winning ROY. He definetely deserved it, he was the most deserving rookie this year. I'm just happy my team has the rookie with the highest ceiling, Dwight will be the best in this class and will be a beast in the future. Here's a biased article about why Dwight should have won it. http://www.411mania.com/games/news/article.php?news_id=7648
