ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
You wish you could hand out multiple ROY trophies because the Class of 2008 was so unexpectedly deep. We're so grateful because that doesn't happen very often any more.
The landscape here, though, looks a lot like the MVP situation.
Similarity No. 1: Lots of us media types have been trying to convince ourselves all season that this race is closer than it really was.
Similarity No. 2: A three-slot ballot is a problem because that doesn't leave nearly enough room for all the qualified candidates underneath our winner, starting with O.J. Mayo, Russell Westbrook, Brook Lopez, Kevin Love and Eric Gordon … and with several more under-the-radar rooks who've made you look.
Just to name one handful: Rudy Fernandez, D.J. Augustin, Anthony Morrow, Anthony Randolph, Marreese Speights and Marc Gasol. And another half-dozen: Courtney Lee, Jason Thompson, Mario Chalmers, Michael Beasley, Nicolas Batum and that Greg Oden kid.
Rose, though, stands out even as we comb through all that surprising depth. Playing the hardest position to learn and shouldering the biggest expectations/responsibility in the field as a No. 1 overall pick asked to start at point guard from Day 1, he's been fairly steady throughout the usual roller-coaster season in Chicago, averaging 16.6 points on 47.2-percent shooting to go with 6.2 assists per game as the Bulls suddenly find themselves surging into the playoffs.
Of the league's top six rooks, furthermore, only Rose has been in a start-to-finish playoff campaign, which gives his statistical production added weight because the games have been more meaningful.
I sense that I'll be in the minority putting Mayo at No. 2, since I keep reading and hearing that his numbers (18.3 points and 38 minutes per game) are empty numbers because the Grizzlies are so bad. Rarely do I hear Mayo get any credit for the way he refused to give into obvious fatigue as the season deepened and how he's handled himself in a tough situation with an overmatched group barely older than the Tigers. So he's getting some from us.
The last spot came down to Westbrook and Lopez, who looks like an absolute steal as a No. 10 pick, having exceeding all Year 1 expectations. Yet he finished fourth with me because, for all of Lopez's shot-blocking prowess and underrated offense, I wanted to see better rebounding than one board every four minutes on a team that really needs rebounders.
Harsh? Maybe. Especially when Lopez showed enough to suggest that the Nets have themselves a center for the present and the future.
But Westbrook might have surprised us even more than Lopez did with his versatility, productivity and that ridiculous athleticism. So he sneaks into the No. 3 spot. Barely.
STEIN'S BALLOT
1. Rose
2. Mayo
3. Westbrook
October prediction: Greg Oden
