NBA: The 25 worst players to ever win Rookie of the Year: 10. Emeka Okafor
There is a common thread among many of the players on this list. They are college standouts, players who not only were productive in college but on successful teams, often earning a level of fame before entering the league. When you ask the media to vote on an award, they may (even unknowingly) gravitate towards players they have covered.
Whether or not that happened to Emeka Okafor, he certainly follows the trend. The Texas native was a dominant force at UConn, winning National Defensive Player of the Year, Big East Player of the Year and Final Four Most Outstanding Player as he and the Huskies won a title his junior year. He then declared for the 2004 NBA Draft, where he was taken second overall by the Charlotte Bobcats.
Okafor picked up where he left off in college, averaging 15.1 points, 10.9 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game as a rookie. If you’re ready for a surprise, those 15.1 points would be the high watermark for his career. Okafor continued to toil away on losing teams, unable to change their fates. In a better ecosystem, there is a version of his career where he is an anchor on winning teams, fitting into his role; unfortunately, he never found that version.
The Rookie of the Year race saw Okafor beat out Ben Gordon of the Chicago Bulls and Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic. Gordon, Okafor’s old Connecticutt teammate, would go on to have a solid career, as would other players in the mix such as Luol Deng, J.R. Smith, Al Jefferson and Jameer Nelson. Howard is the clear best player of this class, followed by the versatile Andre Iguodala.