M. Haubs of The Painted Area offers his thoughts on why Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard is his choice for the 2013 NBA Rookie of the Year award.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1. Damian Lillard, Portland
2. Anthony Davis, New Orleans
3. Andre Drummond, DetroitALL-ROOKIE TEAMS
First Team
Damian Lillard, Portland
Anthony Davis, New Orleans
Andre Drummond, Detroit
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Charlotte
Jonas Valanciunas, TorontoSecond Team
Bradley Beal, Washington
Dion Waiters, Cleveland
Harrison Barnes, Golden State
Maurice Harkless, Orlando
Pablo Prigioni, New YorkA little bit of a strange year for rookies, in that I had no problem giving Damian Lillard my ROY vote, yet I tend to think that about five of his fellow rookies will end having better NBA careers. But Lillard wins on the strength of what Hubie Brown calls "attendance", and age, really. Don't get me wrong, Lillard was impressive in shouldering a big load for the Blazers, as a lead guard who averaged nearly 39 minutes while playing in all 82 games.
But, at age 22 with three-plus years of college play under his belt, Lillard is a more polished product than the promising youngsters in the class, such as potential stars Anthony Davis (just turned 20) and Andre Drummond (19), as well as Bradley Beal (19), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (19) and Jonas Valanciunas (20). Indeed, if there were a 2012 re-draft, Davis and Drummond would surely go 1-2, with Beal right behind them.
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter