Ben Simmons, Who is Statistically Having the Best Rookie Season Since Oscar Robertson, and Some Guy From the Dunk Contest Are Beefing Over Who Should Be Rookie of the Year

I don’t want to have to hate Donovan Mitchell but here we are:



So, on the night the Utah Jazz blitz the defending champion Golden State Warriors and the Philadelphia 76ers notch their 15th straight win, the hot topic of discussion is an award Michael Carter-Williams once won that is now given out at an award show hosted by Drake. The NBA manufactures drama unlike any other league (and no, I’m not talking about Tristan Thompson type drama).

This back and forth debate full of shade all began when Ben Simmons sat down for an interview in which he was asked flat out, who should be Rookie of the Year. As any normal person would have, he chose himself:

I love when people get upset over answers like this. Realistically, what did you want him to say in this situation. If you asked Donald Trump who should be President, he most likely isn’t going to respond with, “Well I’d like it to be but I’ll tell you what, that Hillary Clinton is a hell of a candidate. She’s the best, you should vote for her”. The people who are upset Simmons chose himself are the people who reminded the teacher they had homework the night before.

From there, Donovan Mitchell got super butt hurt, subtweeted Ben and then told reporters how much he actually didn’t care:

https://twitter.com/netw3rk/status/983874272060846080

Nothing says, “I don’t care” quite like wearing a hoodie related to the topic you “don’t care” about into the arena to play the most polarizing super team in NBA history. Donovan Mitchell is the girlfriend who says their done arguing only to randomly pick the subject of the argument back up by starting, “I just think it’s funny how…”.

The best part about all of this, and what most people are saying, is that Mitchell helped Simmons’ case by wearing the hoodie. By that definition that he wore into the arena, Ben Simmons is a legitimate rookie and not a “redshirt” rookie. I really thought the “Joel Embiid didn’t play enough games to win Rookie of the Year so let’s give the award to Malcolm Brogdon” line of thinking was mind-numbingly stupid but this redshirt rookie theory takes the cake. Nothing gets you ready for the highest level of competitive basketball quite like watching film and not being able to develop your game because of an injury. If you ask any great professional, I am sure they will tell you that not working on your craft for a year and getting absolutely no repetition is really great for your development in your field. I think this analogy sums it up the best:




https://twitter.com/danecarbaugh/status/983402722262040576

https://twitter.com/danecarbaugh/status/983437338196897792

After the game, when asked about the hoodie situation, Simmons’ said, “If his argument is I’m not a rookie, if that’s the only argument he has, I’m in pretty good shape then”. To his credit, he is totally spot on with this. Ben has far and away been the more productive, consistent and efficient player this year and if a guy wants to go up against that by winning on a technicality then be that way. On top of winning on a technicallity, the only other counterpoint Mitchell possesses is his higher PPG average. It is here where we fall down a deep abyss I like to call the Russ Westbrook paradigm and remind everyone that scoring more points does not make you a more efficient scorer. I think my favorite development from this season, and there have been many, is Ben Simmons’ ability to create offense for himself without ever being confident in taking a jump shot. We are a few days removed from Simmons scoring 27 on his idol and looking like the only guy on the court other than the best player alive who could create his own shot. The kid is just special and no flimsy TNT award show is going to tell me otherwise.

Look, I know how this ends. This is Philly, we will be spurned. Somehow, we will go from Ben Simmons can’t be an All-Star because he is a rookie to Ben Simmons can’t be Rookie of the Year because he’s not a rookie. Somehow, someway the system will work against us that way but at the end of the day, eye on the prize: we are one win away from a 52 win, top 5 NBA regular season finish and I’d sacrifice any meaningless award for that.

By Aidan Powers | April 11, 2018