OKC Thunder: Josh Giddey throws his hat in ROY race

No. 3 – Chris Duarte – Indiana Pacers

The old adage of “next man up” is in play for rookie Chris Duarte. The youngster took the top spot in most of the first-week rankings and for good reason.

That he’s a more mature rookie has certainly helped but that doesn’t take away from him actually stepping up and delivering. At 24 he’s a full five years older than Giddey which speaks to his calmness and sense of self. On the other hand, it also highlights how mature our OKC point guard is at only 19 years of age.

Duarte has accepted an increased role for Rick Carlisle necessitated by the absences of first Caris LeVert then Malcolm Brogdon as the team required another guard to step up.

That said, the book is somewhat out on Duarte who averaged 20.3 points in his first week shooting an incredulous 45.8 percent from deep on eight attempts. In the second week, his scoring dropped to 15.8 points and his 3-point efficiency dipped to 31.8 percent on 5.5 attempts.

A logical reason for the dip was the Pacers played the Raptors twice and while they rank eighth defensively the truth is the Raps are probably closer to the top three defenses in the league. (For those looking for a great display of defense check out the Knicks – Raps game from Monday).

Regardless, Duarte has been impressive and will be a viable contributor for the Pacers all season regardless of the role he plays. Getting him 13th was a great pick-up by Indy.