Welcome back to the weekly rookie ladder update! Each week this season we will look at the race for the top five slots on the Rookie of the Year ballot, cutting the recording period every Sunday.
With everyone back in the lineup the race for will likely be normalizing as the middle of the season draws near. In week 12 of the NBARookie Ladder standings, most of the class is back on the court and showing their fan bases exactly what they have been missing.
Week 12 NBA Rookie Ladder: 5. Omer Yurtseven
5.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.0 assists
Shooting splits: .468/.143/.634
For at least one more week, Omer Yurtseven holds onto his place on the rankings. Perhaps no one across the league has benefitted more from the continued absences of so many players than the rookie from Georgetown.
He has moved into the starting lineup and has led some of the more manic members of the fanbase to imagine his fit in the future next to Bam Adebayo.
Since moving into the starting lineup, Yurtseven is averaging 12.0 points, 15.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. That would be good enough to lead the league in rebounding across the course of the full season.
Yurtseven has four straight games of 16 or more rebounds. He makes almost no impact as a rim protector, unfortunately, but the defensive-minded Miami Heat have found ways to make that work around him and put their rookie in a position to succeed consistently.
Josh Giddey and Jalen Green will be tough to keep off this list, but Omer Yurtseven does it for another week one rebound at a time.