Forget the record: Deandre Ayton should absolutely win Rookie of the Year
By Adam Maynes
Statistical comps to other 2018-19 rookies
Even though Ayton did not average those 20 points per game (which alone would have probably put him over the top for the award), he was fourth in rookie scoring per game at 16.3 points per game, behind four point guards (Luka: 21.2, Young: 19.1, Collin Sexton: 16.7).
More importantly: he was fourth in FGA, which in and of itself doesn’t matter to voters, however his FG% should: Ayton averaged 58.5% from the field (easily best among all rookies who attempted at least 5.0 field goals per game with Jaren Jackson Jr. second who averaged 50.6% – Mitchell Robinson actually led all rookies with 69.4%, however he only attempted 4.4 shots per game), with Sexton at 43.0%, Luka at 42.7%, and Young at a measly 41.8%).
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Get Ayton that decent starting point guard and those couple of extra field goal attempts come and that 20 points per game would have been written in stone.
Of course you would expect a good center to average about 10 rebounds a game, which Ayton did at 10.3, which was not only best in the league among rookies, but 13th in the entire NBA.
Second among rookies was Luka at 7.8 per game, which is admittedly extremely impressive, especially when considering that along with his 21.2 points per game, he also averaged 6.0 assists (Young led all rookies with 8.1), easily the one category that Ayton had no ability to compare with the top rookie point guards, as he lagged far behind with 1.8 per game – a stat that centers usually do not accelerate at anyway as they are the ones generally receiving the dish rather than doing the dishing themselves).
That said, Ayton averaged .86 steals per game (10th among rookies), just a hair behind Young’s .89 and not far behind Doncic’s 1.07 (Mikal Bridges led all rookies with 129 steals for an average of 1.57 while De’Anthony Melton was second among rookies at 1.36).
One stat that fans would have hoped to have seen Ayton excel at more than the guards is blocked shots where Ayton lagged, averaging only .94 – 7th among rookies.