NBA News: Andrew Wiggins Set To Win Rookie Of The Year Award
Has been the standout rookie this season.
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Andrew Wiggins is all set to be named Rookie of the Year for the 2014-15 season, according to multiple reports, including ESPN and Yahoo. The award will be given on Thursday night at a news conference to be held in Minneapolis which will also be open to the public.
Wiggins was the No. 1 pick in the 2014 draft, picked up by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was then traded, along with Thaddeus Young and Anthony Bennett, to the Timberwolves while Kevin Love went the other way to join LeBron James with the title-contending Cavaliers.
Wiggins played all 82 games this season for a team whose players got consistently injured this season including the likes of Mo Williams, Ronny Turiaf, Ricky Rubio and Nikola Pekovic, among others. He averaged 39 minutes per game to with 16.9 points and 4.6 rebounds a game.
In the final 13 games of the Timberwolves season his performance was even better as he averaged 23.3 points a game to go with 10.0 free throws and 3.5 assists. Wiggins’ point average for the season puts him fifth on the all time list for rookies. The only players to have done better were Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, which goes to show Wiggins’ immense potential.
Other rookies in contention were the Philadelphia 76’ers’ Nerlens Noels, Orlando Magic’s Elfrid Payton and the Chicago Bulls’ Nikola Mirotic. However, Wiggins was named Rookie of the Month in the first four months of the season to pretty much ensure that he won the award at the end of the season.
“I don't even know who else would be in the conversation (for the award). He’s going to be an All-Star. He's a terrific player, a good talent and it looks like he's figuring out the NBA game. He's really going to be a good player," Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr was quoted as saying by ESPN in February.
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