Making the Case for: Dario Saric winning ROY

As the regular season is starting to wind down and the voting for the various awards get started, one of the yearly awards is drawing a debate unlike any other. While the MVP race is still wide open and will go down the wire, the Rookie of the Year is almost settled in most pundit's minds, and with good reason: Joel Embiid has been head and shoulders above the rest of the rookies this year. However, with the Sixers ruling him out for the rest of the year, and having played in only 31 games, I feel that it should disqualify him from being rookie of the year, due to the limited minutes and games that he played during the year.

In his stead I submit a case for his teammate, Dario Saric to be this year's Rookie of the year. Why do I think he should win the award over his more celebrated teammate? Well, let me present my case.

1.) He has played enough games

While seemingly inane, I find it necessary for an award winner to have played enough games during the season to be eligible for an award. As Tracy Mcgrady said in NBA's The Jump with Rachel Nichols, a player can play a limited number of games, average 30 [or more] points per game, but that would not necessarily make him the scoring champion. I have the same logic in mind. All the other awards look at a player's level of production over the span of a season.

As of this writing, Dario Saric has played in all of the 76ers games. That has to count for something. It shouldn't be the only reason he wins [and it isn't], but it has to account for something.

2.) He's past the rookie wall

While the "Rookie Wall" is an arguable point, it is a phenomena that has clearly been seen time and again with rookies trying to adjust to much shorter seasons to the grind of the NBA game, from back to backs, to 4 games in 5 nights, and just from a 30-40 game season to an 82 game run.

Dario Saric has gone through that period, played through it and has progressively gotten better stats. The same could not be said of Embiid, who not only played in limited games, but also in very controlled minutes during that time span.

3.) Much better stats the past two months

Ever since the calendar turned February, Dario Saric has produced comparable averages to Embiid's sparkling stats.

February: 17.0 ppg 7.9 rpg 2.8 apg 1.0 spg
March: 19.6 ppg 7.3 rpg 4.0 apg 0.9 spg

While this was also helped by an increase in playing time, the overall game of Saric has steadily improved, and just going by the numbers, are very much comparable to that of Embiid's, hence the gap is not as big as before. Overall, Embiid will still have a better, more impactful career, but just for this rookie season argument, Saric has put forward a solid case.

If Saric continues this pace up to the end of the season, I see no reason why a.) he shouldn't garner votes for rookie of the year, and b.) why it shouldn't be a travesty as many claim it to be. The other rookies in the class have been underwhelming. Rookie favorite Kris Dunn has struggled, and has not gotten enough playing time playing behind Ricky Rubio. Buddy Hield has shown flashes, but not nearly enough. Brandon Ingram is still learning his way through. The only other potential candidate, and he's an even further distant third, is Malcolm Brogdon of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Stephen Curry wins 2014-2015 NBA MVP

In what was anticipated to be a tight race among MVP candidates, Warriors point guard Steph Curry emerged victorious. Curry is named the NBA's Most Valuable Player after leading the Golden State Warriors to a franchise record 67 wins during the regular season.

The cream rose to the top as the voting results were released, showing Curry as a runaway winner for the award. He received 100 of a possible 130 first place votes to win by a landslide after a season of filled with debates between Curry and Harden, who led the Rockets to the West's 2nd seed.

Listed below are the top 5 for the MVP race:

1. Stephen Curry - 1,198 points [100 first place votes]
2. James Harden - 936 points [25 first place votes]
3. LeBron James - 552 points [5 first place votes]
4. Russell Westbrook - 352 points
5. Anthony Davis - 203 points

Gasol goes to the Lakers

Sources around the league are reporting that the Los Angeles Lakers have acquired Memphis Grizzlies center Pau Gasol in a trade for 2 players and two no.1 draft picks.

It is said that Kwame Brown, rookie guard Javaris Crittenton, and two future number one picks would be sent to the Grizzlies in exchange for the Grizzlies' top scorer.

I don't see much reason as to why the Grizzlies agreed to the deal, especially since they drafted a quality point guard in Mike Conley Jr., plus it has been known so well that Kwame Brown is a bust. The only consolation is that Brown's contract is done at season's end and they can get $9 million in salary cap space.

The Lakers in the meantime got the Grizzlies' franchise player in exchange for a few pieces that they weren't using that much. The timing is really good too, considering that they have struggled since Andrew Bynum went down with an injury two weeks ago. Once healthy, these Lakers should be considered among the contenders.

So I guess the Grizzlies would be rebuilding while the Lakers are going all-in while Kobe Bryant is still in his prime. I hope it works out well for both teams in the long run. Now Kobe's got no reason to complain that management isn't surrounding him with talent. Haha.

Phoenix Mercury shocks Detroit to win WNBA title

A quick 20-9 run midway during the first quarter powered the Phoenix Mercury to their first ever WNBA title over the Detroit Shock.

It was a contrast of styles that dictated the series as Phoenix, the league's top offensive team, faced off against the defending champions Detroit Shock, the top defensive team in the league. The series was tight as the two teams split the first four games of the five-game playoff, with each team winning on the other's homecourt.

Phoenix's Cappie Pondexter scored 26 points and was named the MVP of the Finals series.

I personally would be the first to admit that my prediction for this series was off. I wrote about my playoff predictions in length here. I fully expected the Shock to be able to contain the Mercury's two top guns Taurasi and Pondexter, but they were quickly deflated by the fast start by Phoenix and never recovered in the clincher.