Back in April, I gave my picks for Rookie of the Year and the All Rookie Teams. Here’s my reaction to the selections.
2022 Rookie of the Year: Scottie Barnes- Toronto Raptors
- Like I said in my last Rookie Notes article, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Scottie Barnes ended up winning Rookie of the Year over Evan Mobley. However, I still picked Mobley to win, and it was based on defense because their offense was pretty much even (Barnes- 15.3 PPG, 3.5 APG, 49.2% FG. Mobley- 15.0 PPG, 2.5 APG, 50.8% FG). To me personally, the defensive end is ultimately where Mobley beat out Barnes for this award when it came to rebounding (Mobley- 8.3 RPG, Barnes- 7.5 RPG), not fouling (Mobley- 2.1 fouls per game, Barnes- 2.6 fouls per game), and blocked shots (Mobley- 115, Barnes- 55). Scottie did end up collecting 24 more steals than Evan (Barnes- 80, Mobley- 56), but Mobley blew him out of the water on his best defensive attribute by having 60 more blocks than Barnes (Mobley- 1.7 BPG, Barnes- 0.7 BPG).
2022 All Rookie 1st Team:
Scottie Barnes- Toronto Raptors
Evan Mobley- Cleveland Cavaliers
Cade Cunningham- Detroit Pistons
Franz Wagner- Orlando Magic
Jalen Green- Houston Rockets
2022 All Rookie 2nd Team:
Herb Jones- New Orleans Pelicans
Josh Giddey- Oklahoma City Thunder
Bones Hyland- Denver Nuggets
Ayo Dosunmu- Chicago Bulls
Chris Duarte- Indiana Pacers
- Again, all deserving spots on this list and I ended up having 9 of 10 rookies make the team. Although, one small change I would make is Davion Mitchell over Bones Hyland. Ayo Dosunmu could be in this discussion as well, but he shot much better from the field than these two (Dosunmu- 52.0% FG, Mitchell- 41.8%, Hyland- 40.3% FG) and that ended up being the deciding factor for me over Mitchell & Hyland. Now for the Mitchell over Hyland argument. Mitchell was arguably the best guard defender in the 2021 class, averaging less fouls in way more minutes than Hyland (Mitchell- 1.9 fouls per game in 27.7 MPG, Hyland- 2.2 fouls per game in 19.0 MPG). And on offense, Hyland shot a better percentage from three point land (Hyland- 36.6% 3-PT, Mitchell- 31.6% 3-PT), but Mitchell averaged more PPG, APG, and shot a better percentage from the field (Mitchell- 11.5 PPG, Hyland- 10.1 PPG, Mitchell- 4.2 APG, Hyland- 2.8 APG, Mitchell- 41.8% FG, Hyland- 40.3% FG). Also Davion was 1 of only 3 rookies to dish out over 300 assists (Cade Cunningham- 356 assists, Josh Giddey- 345 assists, Mitchell- 313 assists).
Final Thoughts:
At the end of the day, I have no problem with how the Rookie of the Year & All Rookie Teams voting went. However, when you look at it from every aspect of the game on both ends, Evan Mobley & Davion Mitchell did more than Scottie Barnes & Bones Hyland this season.
