Sportszone Rookie of the Year Voting (fwd)

[Andy Shaw <shaw@au-bon-pain.lcs.mit.edu>]

   Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1997 16:57:22 -0400
   From: Phe Meas <pmeas@user1.channel1.com>

   > Allen Iversen was the runaway winner in the poll.  After him it was
   > Stephon
   > Marbury, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Antoine Walker, and then Kerry
   > Kittles.  If
   > people want humble like you suggest; why the hell would anyone vote
   > for
   > iversen?

   I think they all deserve their positions/standings. I am not saying I
   don't like Walker, but truly what other place do you see him besides
   4th? Walker is very talented, but Shareef Abdur-Rahim is much better.

This is stupid.  Why is Abdur-Rahim better than Walker, let alone "much
better"?  Abdur-Rahim scored one point more per game, while getting two
less rebounds and one less assist per game.  Walker has a much bigger
upside than Abdur-Rahim -- that should be clear to anyone watching both of
them.

   Marbury and Iverson are both more athletic and more talented than
   Walker.

What?  Walker is extremely athletic, and very talented.  You are comparing
two point guards against a power forward.  Walker has great hands and is
very quick off the floor, and is both quick and fast.  His main weakness is
shooting, which is curable.

   Don't automatically give him the Rookie of the Year award simply
   because he's a Celtic and you're a fan of the Celtics. Sometimes you
   have to admit the truth. If Iverson, Marbury, & Rahim weren't in the
   league this year, then the award will definitely go to Walker.

Again, pretty stupid assessment.  Below, I've shown the ranking of the top
rookies by Tendex.  Antoine is 2nd, based purely on stats.  I tend to agree
with this ranking ... Iverson deserves ROY, but I'd prefer to build around
Walker, and I think he has the most potential of the recruiting class.

- -Andy

>From Doug Steele's NBAstat's Web site, ranked by Tendex:

          Scoring Statistics
   Player           Pos  G M/Gm  FGm  FGa  PCT  3m  3a  PCT  FTm  FTA  PCT  AVG
 1 iverson,allen     PG 76 40.1  625 1504 .416 155 455 .341  382  544 .702 23.5
 1 walker,antoine    SF 82 36.2  577 1355 .426  52 159 .327  231  366 .631 17.5
 1 abdur-rahim,shar  PF 80 35.0  550 1214 .453   7  27 .259  387  519 .746 18.7
 3 marbury,stephon   PG 67 34.7  355  871 .408 102 288 .354  245  337 .727 15.8
 5 kittles,kerry     SG 82 36.7  507 1189 .426 158 419 .377  175  227 .771 16.4
 3 camby,marcus      PF 63 30.1  375  778 .482   2  14 .143  183  264 .693 14.8
 3 allen,ray         SG 82 30.9  390  908 .430 117 298 .393  205  249 .823 13.4


          Rebounding Statistics
   Player             AS AS/g  ST ST/G  TO TO/g  BK BK/g  TND  OR OR/g  TR TR/g
 1 iverson,allen     567  7.5 157  2.1 337  4.4  24  0.3 20.0 115 1.5  312  4.1
 1 walker,antoine    262  3.2 105  1.3 230  2.8  53  0.6 17.2 288 3.5  741  9.0
 1 abdur-rahim,shar  175  2.2  79  1.0 225  2.8  79  1.0 16.6 216 2.7  555  6.9
 3 marbury,stephon   522  7.8  67  1.0 210  3.1  19  0.3 16.3  54 0.8  184  2.7
 5 kittles,kerry     249  3.0 157  1.9 127  1.5  35  0.4 15.3 105 1.3  317  3.9
 3 camby,marcus       97  1.5  66  1.0 134  2.1 130  2.1 14.9 131 2.1  394  6.3
 3 allen,ray         210  2.6  75  0.9 149  1.8  10  0.1 11.7  97 1.2  326  4.0