Charlotte
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
With the debate for Rookie of the Year seeming to settle in on Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon, with top overall pick Dwight Howard the third choice, wouldn't it seem that the best and most heartwarming choice would be to pick the two former UConn teammates as co-Rookie of the Year?
There seems to be little controversy that Gordon has probably helped his team more, and certainly he has been part of a surprise team up in Chicago with many wins. His fourth-quarter production is nearly legendary. And his stats are solid.
There also seems to be little dispute that Okafor's numbers are great for a rookie, and that they would have been essentially the same if not better had he been surrounded by more talent or veterans. Indeed, if you think of the future and you have to pick one of these two guys to build around, you'd most likely take Okafor.
Though boy-oh-boy wouldn't it be great to be able to have both. There's no longer any mystery as to why UConn won it all last year. They had two Rookie of the Years.
NEXT GAME
The Bobcats (15-57, fourth in the Southeast) host the LA Clippers (33-41, fourth in the Pacific) TONIGHT. The game starts at 7:00pm Eastern and will be broadcast on NBA League Pass.
TEAM NOTES
Jason Kidd, the 1995 co-Rookie of the Year, weighs inon this year's NBA Rookie of the Year debate with a vote for Emeka Okafor.
INJURY UPDATE
Theron Smith(knee), Kareem Rush(knee), and Tamar Slay(foot) are all on the injured list.
Rick Bonnell ofThe Charlotte Observerwrites: Matt Carroll understands the cliché description: Slow white guy with shooting range, so all he can do is make 3-pointers. He'd love for NBA opponents to keep thinking of him this way. Carroll, a reserve shooting guard for the Charlotte Bobcats, keeps getting to the foul line because opponents think he's chained to the 3-point line.
David DuPree ofUSA Todaywrites: Rookie of the year is an award that should be given not on potential or just sheer numbers but on all-around play and what obstacles the player faces and how he overcomes them. True, no rookie has had a more profound effect this season on his team winning than Ben Gordon of the Chicago Bulls, but my choice for rookie of the year is Emeka Okafor of the Charlotte Bobcats.Twice as many readers, however, in response to this week's question of who should be rookie of the year, picked Gordon over Okafor. Orlando's Dwight Howard was third.