Sacramento Kings’ rookie sensation Tyreke Evans has won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award after having a phenomenal season this year.  Evans was the top rookie in a very talented rookie class, beating out the Golden State Warriors’ talented rookie Stephen Curry and the Milwaukee Bucks’ star rookie Brandon Jennings.  Evans received 67 first-place votes on his way to a total of 491 points, where as Curry finished second with 43 first-place votes for a total of 391 points.  Jennings finished third with 12 first-place votes and a total of 204 points.  Some people jumped on the Stephen Curry bandwagon towards the end of the season, since he played great down the stretch of the season and won the Rookie of the Month award for the Western Conference in three of the final four months of the season.  People can’t forget that Curry only averaged 9.8 points in the first month of the season, where as Evans put together a full season of great play.  Evans never averaged less that 19.4 points in a month, and his final averages were 20.1 points, 5.8 assists, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.5 steals while shooting 46% from the field.  In my opinion Evans was the easy choice for this year’s Rookie of the Year, even though Curry played just as well if not better in the final months.  Evans was the leader of his team all season and he became just the fourth rookie in the history of the NBA to average over 20 points, 5 assists, and 5 rebounds.  He is now a member of a very impressive and exclusive club, with the three other players being Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson, and LeBron James.  It is safe to say that Evans will be one of the top players in the NBA for years to come and he has brought some much needed excitement to Kings’ fans.

Tyreke Evans, Omri Casspi and Jon Brockman all joined the Kings last June and they are a outstanding group. 20-year old shooting guard Tyreke Evans will likely be the NBA Rookie of the Year. He played in 72 games (all starts) for the Kings this season and he averaged 37.2 minutes, 20.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Evans becomes only the 4th player in NBA history to average over 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists per game as a rookie. The other three are Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson and LeBron James! That is some pretty nice company that Evans is keeping. 21-year old small forward Omri Casspi played in 77 games (31 starts) for the Kings this year and he averaged 25.1 minutes, 10.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Casspi was a little put off by his cut in playing time saying that he wouldn’t mind playing for another team next year. The Kings would be smart to keep him as he has a really nice upside. 23-year old power forward Jon Brockman played in 52 games (4 starts) for the Kings this year and he averaged 12.6 minutes, 2.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. He shot 53.4% from the floor but most of his shots were coming from close range.

Tyreke Evans has had a great rookie season for the Sacramento Kings this year, but there is another rookie in the state of California that is starting to gain some ground on him.  Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors has improved rapidly over the course of the season, and has solidified his spot at number two for the Rookie of the Year Award.  Still, Tyreke Evans has been much more consistent than Curry and was an impact player the first game of the season.  Curry took a little while to adjust to the speed and physicality of the NBA, but now that he has he is putting up some impressive numbers.  Unfortunately for both rookies, they are on some bad teams.  However, since they are on some bad teams it has given them the opportunity to get a lot of playing time and gain valuable minutes.  Evans season is more impressive than Curry’s though, despite Curry’s flashy and great play the past two months.  Evans has the consistency (and the scoring average) over Curry, so he will likely still win the ROY Award.  This season Evans is averaging 20.3 points, 5.4 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.5 steals.  While Curry’s numbers are nearly identical to Evans in most categories, he is only averaging 16.0 points compared to Evans’ 20.3.  Both Evans and Curry will be stars in this league for years to come, but Evans has had the better rookie season.

SG/PG Tyreke Evans is the current favorite to win the Rookie of the Year Award in the NBA. He has played in 52 games (all starts) for the Kings this season and he is averaging 37.1 minutes, 20.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game. With Kevin Martin now in Houston I look for Evans to really excel the rest of the season as they didn’t seem to play well together. Small forward Omri Casspi has really be a find for the Kings. He has played in 55 games (26 starts) for the Kings this season and he is averaging 28.1 minutes, 11.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. Power forward Jon Brockman was recently injured but he has played good basketball for the Kings also this season. Brockman has played in 44 games (4 starts) for the Kings this season and he is averaging 13.6 minutes, 3.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game. He is shooting an impressive 51.1% from the floor this year.

The Kings will be without rookie forward Jon Brockman for the next 2-4 weeks due to a sprained MCL in his right knee. Brockman has played in 44 games (4 starts) for the Kings this season and he is averaging 13.6 minutes, 3.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game. The Kings are going to miss Brockman a little bit as he brings good effort and rebounding off the bench.