NBA Final Awards Ballot: Who gets to bring home the hardware?

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NBA Rookie of the Year – LaMelo Ball

Honorable Mentions: Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton

Quarter-Pole Choice: LaMelo Ball

Halfway Point Choice: LaMelo Ball

Three-Quarter Pole Choice: LaMelo Ball

The case for LaMelo Ball has been the same all year and there is no reason for it to change now. He was a driving force on a team that made it to the NBA play-in and led all rookies in assists (6.1) and steals (1.6) per game, finished second in points (15.7) per game and second in rebounds (5.9) per game. Digging deeper he was number one in defensive rebounds per game among rookies (4.7) and boasted respectable shooting splits of .436/.352/.758. Winning as a rookie is not to be expected but it can set the winner of this award apart and when the other two finalists come from teams playing for ping pong balls it is the final needed note.

Anthony Edwards made a late charge, turning into a different player under Chris Finch. In the second half of the season, he averaged 23.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game on shooting splits of .454/.349/.762. Edwards simply dug himself too much of a hole with the first half and his surge over the second half was not enough to catch up to Ball for me.

Tyrese Haliburton was never flashy but he did everything right for a team that never seems to do much of anything right. He averaged 13.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. He was more efficient than his contemporaries (.472/.409.857) and played with a level of maturity that Ball and Edwards did not. But it is tough to make the argument for the “winning player” when Ball outperformed him in every statistical category and led his team to more wins.