Ben Simmons And Donovan Mitchell Set The Bar For Rookie Of The Year Races

The Rookie of The Year Award doesn’t matter. As Deandre Ayton and Luka Doncic establish themselves as clear frontrunners this season, we also have to acknowledge that the award means nothing in the grand scheme of their careers. It doesn’t give them an immediate pay raise on their contracts, nor is the award isn’t a predictor. Michael Carter-Williams won it in 2013 over Victor Oladipo. Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t even make the top three.

Despite that, the 2018 Rookie of the Year race took a largely pointless award and made it matter. It was a perfect storm — here was Ben Simmons, the rookie who was also not a rookie, running away with the honor on a Sixers team that found itself ahead of schedule. Joel Embiid was already proving to be a star, but Philadelphia’s roster was still young and needed time to grow. Simmons stepped in and exceeded expectations immediately, demolishing smaller players and running the break with ease. He could feast down low while Embiid could pop out high, creating one of the NBA’s most unique duos.

From the start of the season, it was clear just how much better Simmons was than the group of rookies against whom he played. Maybe it was thanks to sitting out a year due to injury and getting a chance to take in the game — Simmons had spent a year around the NBA, while the rest of the rookies did not get that luxury. Of course, Simmons didn’t really see that as a major advantage.

“It’s so funny reading comments and stuff like that saying I’m not a rookie.” Simmons told Dime last season before a game against the Magic. “I had an extra year, but at the same time, it’s difficult to come back from an injury and be better than you were before, and having that extra year kinda helped to an extent. At the same time, you don’t really have that preparation until you hit the floor and actually compete against guys in the NBA.”

It was the extra year that created this weird opportunity for a second rookie to enter the fray. In came Donovan Mitchell, the young guard and a “true” rookie out of Louisville. Like Simmons, he burst onto the scene as one of the best players of an upstart team. Utah was expected to take a step back after Gordon Hayward left for Boston, and instead, Mitchell came in and led the team in scoring. He had the ball in his hands whenever the Jazz needed a bucket and even added to his own emerging stardom by winning the Dunk Contest.

What was originally Simmons’ award to lose became a topic of discussion. Both players rose to the occasion: Simmons dropped 27 points on the LeBron James-led Cavaliers with 15 rebounds and 12 assists, only for Mitchell to respond with 22 points in 26 minutes of a Jazz blowout over the Warriors. These two were battling for playoff positioning, and as individuals, they battled each other for the award.

Did it partly become A Thing because fans and the media spoke about it extensively? You could certainly argue that, but we eventually learned how much winning the award meant to the two guys. Take, for instance, this fashion choice by Mitchell.

Simmons fired back, reducing Mitchell’s Rookie of the Year argument down to being an article of clothing and nothing more.

For Mitchell, this little clothing stunt resulted in an explosion for his own personal brand. Did he embrace the chance to be petty and wear a hoodie that took a shot at his rival for the award? Yes. It was also a perfect marketing opportunity for Adidas. They were able to take the Jazz’s young budding star and make him a part of their brand. They could sell “Rookie?” merchandise and fans of Mitchell would go out and buy it. That must have been successful because Mitchell now has his own signature shoe line through Adidas. It’s not a direct correlation, but an argument can be made that this race is what led to Mitchell’s eventual shoe deal.

Being Rookie of the Year meant something to these two, which is exactly why for the first time in 22 years, the race for the award was actually exciting. Simmons and Mitchell wanted it, which was reflected in how they played on the court for playoff teams and how they carried themselves off of it. Despite the fact that Simmons ran away with it in the end, the last time the award was this exciting was when Jason Kidd and Grant Hill split it following the 1994-95 NBA season. Even then, those two were on bad teams that didn’t even sniff the playoffs. Simmons and Mitchell, meanwhile, backed up their individual brilliance by playing major roles in the success of the team overall.

That exact reason is why it’s hard to look at the current Rookie of the Year race and get the same level of excitement. Doncic is insane, he is arguably the best player on the Mavericks and Dallas is in the playoff hunt, even if they might not get there in the end.

Ayton’s main problem is he’s on a bad basketball team. The Suns are one win ahead of the worst record in the NBA, and even though Ayton is putting up phenomenal numbers, doing it on a subpar team can be written off as empty calories. This doesn’t mean he has no chance at winning the award over Doncic, but the added subplot of “young guys leading great teams” isn’t there. This is your run of the mill Rookie of the Year race, which illustrates why Simmons vs. Mitchell was so special.

Those two set the bar at an impossibly high level. For now until the end of time, we’re going to compare how the race for Rookie of the Year compared to this one. Ben Simmons and Donovan Mitchell caught lightning in a bottle, and if that never happens again, at least we had their battle in 2018.