Does winning the Rookie of the Year Award really matter? For some, yes. Being crowned the best rookie is a sign of a good, if not an excellent career ahead of you. But if Utah Jazz big man Rudy Gobert is concerned, none of it matters, especially for his teammate in Donovan Mitchell.
Several believe that Mitchell should win top rookie honors. Te Philadelphia 76ers' Ben Simmons will likely take the award, but some believe that he's not a real rookie.
For Gobert, however, this does not really matter in the long run. As reported by Ben Dowsett of Basketball Insiders, the defensive stalwart said:
Rudy Gobert on the ROY race: “Do you remember who was rookie of the year in my class?” Pause. “Exactly.”
“Does it matter? In five years, we won’t remember who was rookie of the year. I hope [Donovan]’s gonna win, but I think he’s got way higher expectations.”
— Ben Dowsett (@Ben_Dowsett) April 11, 2018
Gobert speaks the truth. In the history of the NBA, several players did not win the said award but went on to become legends. The list includes the likes of Kobe Bryant (beaten by Allen Iverson), Charles Barkley (beaten by Patrick Ewing), Karl Malone (beaten by Patrick Ewing), Magic Johnson (beaten by Larry Bird), just to name a few. Time will only tell if Mitchell can be included in the list of great players who were not crowned top rookie.
And to answer Gobert's question, the Rookie of the Year of his class was Michael Carter-Williams. To be fair to Carter-Williams, he did deserve the award. He was racking up triple-doubles during his first season. Yet he was not able to maintain a high-level of consistency. After two years with the Sixers, he has jumped from team to team and has not performed up to par since.
Missing the top rookie honors is just a small piece of the pie. Not to be able to win it doesn't mean your whole rookie year is worthless. Just reflect on the careers of the greats mentioned above.
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