ESPN.com's voters see Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard as the second most likely candidate to win the 2012-13 NBA Rookie of the Year award, trailing only the New Orleans Hornets' No. 1 overall pick and overwhelming favorite, Anthony Davis. After Lillard: Charlotte Bobcats forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Golden State Warriors forward Harrison Barnes, Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal and Toronto Raptors big man Jonas Valanciunas. Here's David Thorpe of ESPN.com on Lillard. ----------------------------------------- Lillard showed us all during the Las Vegas summer league games that he is among the most talented point guards to enter the league in the past five seasons. He is even more polished than Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook when they first arrived in the NBA, yet more explosive than most any other of the previous rookie point guards that we have seen. If he gets the green light to make plays, like John Wall, Westbrook, Rose and Kyrie Irving, then undoubtedly we'll see a great number of stellar scoring and passing nights from Lillard. Next to a post presence like LaMarcus Aldridge and veterans like Nicolas Batum and Wes Matthews, Lillard will be able to generate offense through his teammates more than most rookies will be given the chance to. This means his chances at scoring more efficiently are strong. He has the potential to average 16 points and six assists per game with a steal or so thrown in there, too. And though he's not the shooter Irving is, with the weapons around him Lillard can get enough open looks from deep to possibly average better than 35 percent. ----------------------------------------- -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter