NBA: The 25 worst players to ever win Rookie of the Year: 9. Damon Stoudamire
It can be easy to frame the discussion of the worst players to win Rookie of the Year in a way that reflects negatively on these players. Yes, their careers were not up to the standard one expects from an award like this. In almost every case other players from their rookie class have had better careers. Yet what we should be doing is giving them respect for playing above their talent level and beating out other candidates for the award. It is, at the end of the day, an accomplishment that has to be earned.
Damon Stoudamire absolutely earned his award, even in the midst of a strong field, strong in-the-moment and from a full-career perspective. Stoudamire was an All-American at Arizona under legendary coach Lute Olson and was drafted seventh overall in the 1995 NBA Draft. “Mighty Mouse” as he was called on account of being just 5’10” took over as the starting point guard from day one for the expansion Toronto Raptors.
Stoudamire got all the shots he could handle, and he poured in 19 points and 9.3 assists running the show north of the border. Although he was inefficient on 2-pointers he did hit 39.5 percent of his 4.8 3-pointers per game. Stoudamire would win Rookie of the Year that season, but would never have a better season. He was a longtime starting point guard who had to settle into roles with fewer shots involved.
The best player in the rookie class long-term has been Kevin Garnett, now in the Hall of Fame, but as one of the first players ever to make the leap from high school directly into the NBA it took him a while to catch his stride. He would have won Sophomore of the Year more-than-likely. Garnett received just one first-place vote and finished sixth in voting.
The true competition came from grown man Arvydas Sabonis, eligible for the award at 31, who received 17 first-place votes. First overall pick Joe Smith also received votes, as did scoring phenom Jerry Stackhouse of the Philadelphia 76ers. For Stoudamire to put forward a season strong enough to beat out all of them was impressive to saw the least.