With the regular season over, it’s safe to say that the 2016 draft class has been very underwhelming. It’s been so bad that the frontrunners for the Rookie of the Year honors in Joel Embiid and Dario Saric were both drafted in 2014 and were only forced to miss a couple of years for various reasons.
Before being shut down for the season, Embiid was already primed to bag the top freshman honor. His numbers are splendid; no doubt about it. 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 2.5 blocks per game while shooting 36.7 percent from three would’ve easily been enough. But being limited to 31 games puts his chances into question.
However, while all the voters are doubting, the seven-foot Cameroonian isn’t short on confidence.
He’s not technically out of the race, indeed. But his closest competitor, and it’s really down to the two of them, is teammate Dario Saric. Since Embiid went down, the versatile Croatian has been on fire, with his all-around game being on full display.
Ultimately, whether Joel Embiid or Dario Saric gets the nod as Rookie of the Year, the true winner here are the Philadelphia 76ers.
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