Fellow rookies showed New York Knicks shooting guard RJ Barrett serious respect in the NBA’s annual rookie survey.
The NBA’s annual rookie survey is always a fun diversion during the quiet summer. New York Knicks rookie RJ Barrett is coming to Madison Square Garden with high expectations.
Apparently, some of his peers believe he will live up to the hype. Barrett finished third in Rookie of the Year predictions with 5% of the vote—tied with former Duke teammate and current Atlanta Hawk Cam Reddish.
Barrett and Reddish only trailed Memphis’ Ja Morant (27%) and, of course, Zion Williamson (35%) of the New Orleans Pelicans. For what it’s worth, the rookies have only correctly predicted the Rookie of the Year once in 10 tries.
While these predictions should be taken with a grain of salt, there’s one question we can’t ignore: Which rookie will have the best career?
Barrett finished tied for fourth on the list with 5% of the vote once again. However, Zion Williamson also finished with 5% of the vote. Reddish (19%), Morant (16%), and Atlanta’s De’Andre Hunter (11%) all finished with more votes than Williamson.
That’s bizarre considering the hype around Zion and the fact that about one in three rookies picked him to win the Rookie of the Year.
Perhaps there was something in the phrasing of the question that led some to believe that Williamson was exempt. It’s hard to know exactly what caused Zion to fall into fourth place.
In another small tidbit for Knicks fans, Ignas Brazdeikis didn’t crack the top five, but he received votes for the best rookie shooter. General manager Scott Perry is hoping to follow up his Mitchell Robinson selection in 2018 with another second-round steal.
