I am a believer that Tyreke should win the ROY hands down EVEN IF HE DOESN'T REACH 20-5-5! He has had a stupendous rookie season. The WHOLE season, not just the final month and a half. Curry wasn't even on the radar in Nov/Dec. Sure he has had some solid games, but when you are basically the second option on a team heading to the lottery,and you are a good shooter, you will rack up a lot of points. But Points should not be the only deciding factor for the ROY Voting. Stephan Curry does NOT play defense. He occasionally steals a ball, but he tries to STEAL because he is unable to GUARD! Most of the time, his steal attempts result in layups for the opposition. TYREKE PLAYS STELLAR DEFENSE! He is already one of the top defenders at his position in the entire league at 20 YEARS OLD! Most rookies suck at defense for the first 3 years of their career. Tyreke has EXCELLED at the defensive end AND has put up 20/5/5! That is the sign of an all around great rookie season. It is the reason Tyreke is the ROY in my opinion. I think that the basketball purists that have a vote will vote in favor of Tyreke solely on this fact. If Evans does get 20/5/5, then the Statistical voters will have to account for that as a sign that he has had an OVERALL better season than any rookie and vote for Tyreke. I guess it all depends on how many voters are subject to the HYPE MACHINE coming out of Golden State right now. Jennings is really the guy in 2nd place if you count the entire season's work(15.7/3.5/5.9). Curry has come on strong this last month and a half, but it isn't like his season numbers (16.5/4.2/5.7) are even comparable to Tyreke at this point (20.2/5.7/5.8). In every statistical category, Evans is BETTER! The critics who said Evans would never be a Point Guard are silent! So even the voters that DON'T WATCH GAMES will be faced with the numbers. Voters that DO watch games will have to admit that Evans is far and away a better overall player. If Curry were on an East Coast team like NY or NJ, the hype machine would be working overtime to push Curry over Evans because of the East Coast Bias that prevails in Sports Reporting. BUT since both serious candidates are on losing west coast teams, the Numbers (and not actually the better player) will be the deciding factor and Evans STILL wins that hands down. Just .1 rebounds from being the leader in the MOST IMPORTANT categories!!
#1 Evans - (20.2/5.7/5.8) 1.5 Steals FG% .374 MPG 37.4
#2 Jennings - (15.7/3.5/5.9) 1.3 Steals FG% .371 MPG 32.8
#3 Curry - (16.5/4.2/5.7) 1.8 Steals FG% .461 MPG 35.8
Curry is a better percentage shooter (yet Evans STILL scored more) and gets more steals because stealing is really his ONLY defense. He is too slight and short to defend straight up. If there were a stat that showed points ALLOWED, Curry would be near the tops in the LEAGUE in that stat. Evans gets his steals AND plays great defense. Jennings is SLIGHTLY better in assists, but it is so close that the point is moot (so much for Evans not being able to play the point!!). Evans played slightly more minutes (1.6) yet scored significantly more (3.7 pts more) that Curry.
I put Jennings ahead of Curry because he has more assists and actually plays decent defense. Also he is on a playoff team which should account for something.
So Evans scores more, plays more, has great assist numbers, and plays by FAR the best defense of the 3 legitimate contenders for the ROY. That is why most observers think that Evans is BY FAR the leading contender for the ROY. If Tyreke just keeps playing the way he has played all season, I can not see how they could possibly give the award to anyone other than Evans. Even with the late season push by Curry, he's on the West coast and so the East Coast Bias will work against him and he will most likely finish 3rd in the voting.
All the other numbers are right (how in the world did that happen?)
