The league announced its All-Rookie Teams this afternoon. Michael Carter-Williams of the Philadelphia 76ers received 125 unanimous first team votes. The first team also includes Victor Oladipo, Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Mason Plumlee.
Carter-Williams, who won the Rookie Of The Year award earlier this month, averaged 16.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 6.3 assists in his first season. Oladipo started 44 games, averaged 13.8 points and flashed the potential of being a strong two-way player for years to come. Burke and Hardaway Jr. had impressive stretches as rookies and Plumlee was a key contributor for the Brooklyn Nets as they rebounded from a slow start to make the playoffs.
The second team includes Kelly Olynyk, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Cody Zeller, Steven Adams and Gorgui Dieng and shows just how shallow the pool of rookies was this season. Dieng was a bench warmer for most of the season in Minnesota until after an injury to Nikola Pekovic forced him into a starting role where he averaged a double-double in April. That was enough to make him one of the top ten rookies of this season according to the voters.
But maybe all is not lost for this rookie class. Sometimes it takes several years for the best player of a particular draft class to emerge. Case in point:
All-Rookie Team of the famed Class of ’96: Shareef, Camby, A.I., Steph, & Toine. 2nd Team: Ray, Kittles, Kobe, Travis Knight & Matt Maloney.
— Andrew Ungvari (@DrewUnga) May 22, 2014
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