The OKC Thunder awaits Sixth Man Award announcement following news Ja Morant won Rookie of the Year.
The NBA announced the winner of the 2019-20 Rookie of the Year award is Memphis Grizzlies Ja Morant. It was the expected result and there weren’t any OKC Thunder players in the running although it will be interesting to see if Luguentz Dort makes one of the two All-Rookie teams.
Preseason the hype was focused on New Orleans Pelicans Zion Williamson with the majority expecting the athletic phenomenon to win. Instead, Williamson suffered repeated setbacks with injury and questions about his conditioning.
Prior to arriving in the bubble, there were social media posts of Zion looking cut and muscled. Then he had to leave Orlando to deal with a personal matter. He returned quickly but in his first seeding games in the bubble once again looked out of condition.
Ja Morant wins Rookie of the Year
Ultimately, the top prize went to the player who earned it as Morant led his Grizzlies all season with the type of leadership generally exhibited by veterans who’ve been in the association for at least a couple of seasons.
Morant got 99 out of 100 first-place votes with someone giving the other vote to Williamson (need to know who voted that way!).
The Grizzlies franchise cornerstone followed a similar path as another top NBA point guard – Damian Lillard playing for Murray State in College. He was the second pick behind Williamson in last summer’s draft. He made an immediate impact on the Grizzlies averaging 17.8 points, 7.3 assists, and close to a steal per game.
| Season | GS | MP | FGA | FG% | 3PA | 3P% | 2PA | 2P% | eFG% | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 67 | 31.0 | 14.0 | .477 | 2.7 | .335 | 11.3 | .511 | .509 | 4.6 | .776 | 0.8 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 7.3 | 0.9 | 17.8 |
| Career | 67 | 31.0 | 14.0 | .477 | 2.7 | .335 | 11.3 | .511 | .509 | 4.6 | .776 | 0.8 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 7.3 | 0.9 | 17.8 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/4/2020.
The games in the bubble didn’t count toward the voter’s consideration but it was clear Morant took another step and undoubtedly will spend his offseason working on improving his already stellar fundamentals.
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As much as the top finisher wasn’t a surprise the second-place finisher was. And, not because Kendrick Nunn wasn’t deserving. More so because of the debates that occupied so many national shows whether Williamson could catch Morant.
The Miami Heat guard became a pivotal contributor starting for the Heat and while teams figured a few ways to stop him later in the season his contributions were critical to the Heat’s success this season. Nunn finished with 204 points versus Williamson’s third-place 140 points.
This award was the fourth of six that have been handed out with Sixth Man of the Year and the Most Valuable Player still to be announced. OKC Thunder guard Dennis Schroder is in the running for Sixth Man.
Again, we’ll also await the All-NBA teams to see if Lu Dort makes the All-Rookie team and if OKC Thunder captain Chris Paul makes either or both of the All-NBA and All-Defense teams.