Chương 98: Selected as the All-Rookie First Team
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As the second pick of the 2003 golden generation, Milicic had a dream start. He had a good hand but played all four twos and two kings at once.
His poor performance led him to miss the selection for the All-Rookie Team, and he was not even chosen for the All-Rookie Second Team.
After the first round of the playoffs, the league began announcing awards for various events.
The first to be announced were the names of the All-Rookie First and Second Teams.
There was basically no suspense about the five players in the All-Rookie First Team: Wang Chong, James, Anthony, Wade, and Bosh.
The first three are all excellent players who averaged more than 20 points per game during the regular season. They all played at an All-Star level and showcased their strength well.
Although Wade's statistics are slightly behind these three, his average of 16.2 points, 4 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game is still impressive.
Bosh is the one who achieved the least among these five.
His regular-season statistics were 11.5 points and 7.4 rebounds. The Raptors had a record of 33 wins and 49 losses, ranking 11th in the Eastern Conference, which was also the worst among the five.
The reason he was selected for the All-Rookie First Team was because of support from his peers.
Aside from Wang Chong and the others, the performance of other rookies in the 2003 class wasn't that outstanding. In fact, the only other player who scored in double digits was the Bulls' Hinrich, who averaged 12 points and 6.8 assists per game. However, with a shooting percentage of 38.6% and the Bulls' record being worse than the Raptors, Hinrich fell to the All-Rookie Second Team.
Joining him on the second team are Josh Howard, Udonis Haslem, Marquis Daniels, and others.
In fact, besides the slightly well-known players on the second team from the 2003 class, there are many outstanding players, such as Kaman from the Clippers, David West from the Hornets, Boris Diaw selected by the Hawks, and Leonardo Barbosa selected by the Spurs. They are all excellent players who will make a name for themselves in the league in the future.
However, in their rookie season, either because they had not fully matured or due to issues with the team's tactical position, these players did not demonstrate enough strength and, naturally, were not selected for the All-Rookie Team.
Fans are actually not very interested in the selection of the All-Rookie Team, even though this year's team has three players averaging 20+ points per game, which has never happened in the league before.
Not to mention three rookies averaging 20+ points per game; even two rookies achieving this is rare. The most recent was in the 1992-93 season when O'Neal and Mourning averaged 23.4 points, 13.9 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks, and 21 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks, respectively, in their rookie seasons. O'Neal won the Rookie of the Year award that year with even better statistics.
Going further back, there was Jordan and Olajuwon in the 1984-85 season.
Olajuwon averaged 20.6 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks per game, while Jordan averaged 28.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game.
Jordan, who delivered the best rookie performance since the NBA merger, beat out the No. 1 pick, Olajuwon, and won the Rookie of the Year Award.
Therefore, fans have different opinions about who among the three players from the 2003 class will win the honor of Rookie of the Year.
Some people think Wang Chong will get it because his efficiency is the highest among the three, and he is also very likely to become the first rookie in the 2003 class to win the championship.
Some believe it will be Anthony. Unlike Wang Chong, he helped the Nuggets return to the playoffs without any particularly outstanding teammates. This alone is enough to prove his excellence.
Of course, more fans believe James will win the MVP of the Rookie Challenge.
Although his efficiency is not as good as Wang Chong's, and his team's performance is not as good as Anthony's, he has a high exposure rate. As "The Chosen One" and a major draw for the league, his popularity alone gives him a natural advantage in the selection.
After all, the Rookie of the Year, like the regular season MVP, is selected by sports journalists across the United States and Canada. Since it's a media vote, there is an element of capital influence.
James naturally has a huge advantage in this area.
However, the final results of the Rookie of the Year award will be announced simultaneously with the regular season MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and other awards, during the Eastern and Western Conference Finals.
After the first round of the playoffs, only the All-Rookie Team, the All-NBA Team, and the All-Defensive Team were announced.
The Lakers once again had a great showing in the All-NBA Team selections.
O'Neal and Kobe were both selected to the All-NBA First Team. This is the third consecutive year that both have been selected to the All-NBA First Team and the sixth consecutive year overall.
In the early years, Kobe was ranked second for several consecutive years because he could not compete with Iverson. However, in the past two years, he has come from behind and firmly surpassed Iverson.
Including this season, although Iverson averaged 26.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 6.8 assists per game, which was better than Kobe, the 76ers' poor record and Iverson's absence from many games due to injuries (he only played in 48 games) caused him to miss out on being selected to the All-NBA Team.
Lakers fans were hoping Wang Chong would be selected to the All-NBA Team, even if only to the third team. That would mean the Lakers would have three players on the All-NBA Teams simultaneously.
But such an idea is clearly unrealistic, and he was indeed not selected to the All-NBA Team.
Although Wang Chong's personal statistics are not bad, averaging 20+6 with a 50% shooting percentage, there is still a slight gap compared to the players who made the All-NBA Third Team.
The two forwards on the third team, Paul Pierce, averaged 25.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 4.4 assists, and Jamal Mashburn averaged 21.6 points, 6 rebounds, and 5.6 assists. Their statistics are better than Wang Chong's, and they are the absolute core leaders of their respective teams, quite different from Wang Chong, who plays behind the Shaq and Kobe duo.
Moreover, it is extremely rare in the league to be selected to the All-NBA Team in one's rookie season. Only seven players in the league's history have achieved this, the most recent being Tim Duncan, who entered the league in 1997.
Furthermore, Duncan got it right away. He was selected to the All-NBA First Team and the All-Defensive Second Team as soon as he debuted, showing strong dominance on both offense and defense. In his second year, he was directly selected to the All-NBA First Team and the All-Defensive Second Team, leading the Spurs to win the 1998-99 season championship and being crowned Finals MVP. His starting point was quite high.
By the way, Duncan was selected as an All-Star reserve in his rookie season, which is something James, known as the strongest No. 1 pick, failed to do.
The difference between the two may lie in the support from the media, capital, and the league.
End of this chapter.
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