New Orleans Pelicans: Does Zion have a chance at Rookie of the Year?

1. How well does Zion play as opposed to Ja Morant?

Williamson is a freight train of a human being. That’s been well-established. Barring injury and poor fitness, he’s going to get his in this league, night in and night out.

But much like the eighth spot in the West, the Rookie of the Year award won’t simply be handed to him, especially when his competition is Ja Morant.

Coming into the draft and throughout this season, Morant has been compared to Russell Westbrook, and for good reason. Watch two minutes of the young guard’s highlight tape and you’ll understand why. His bounce, court vision, ability to score from the point guard position and the tenacity at which he plays the sport — they all reflect, in one way or another, the 2017 MVP.

The talent passes more than the eye-test as well. He’s putting up numbers in the box score, and he’s doing it consistently. As previously mentioned, the Murray State product is averaging 17.6 points and also dishing out 6.9 assists per game, and he’s done it over 40 more games than Williamson.

Not to mention, if Morant leads Memphis to the playoffs with a more difficult schedule than the Pelicans and he continues to put up those numbers as a rookie, it’ll be almost egregious to argue for anyone but him.