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Two weeks ago, I tried an experiment – comparing candidates for Most Valuable Player based on their statistical profiles alone, and opening the voting up to readers. The idea was to see what happens when bias and preconceptions were stripped away. The result was that LeBron James received nearly double the votes of his closest competitor, Kevin Durant. Obviously there are still plenty of games to be played, but that fact that the MVP award is still up in the air in the minds of so many indicates what a strong hold narrative has on the minds of many.
I wanted to try the same process but with Rookie of The Year candidates to see what happens. Obviously some things will be different. The MVP candidates all play lead roles, for the most part on good teams. Many of these rookies play supporting roles and very few have had the good fortune to land on a good team.
The rules are the same as before. Weigh the stats anyway that you choose, and select the THREE most worthy candidates. The profiles and the poll for voting are below. Follow me on Twitter and I’ll reveal the names a few at a time starting tomorrow evening.
| Player Alias | Team Win% | MPG | Usg% | Pts/36 | TS% | Ast% | TO% | ORB% | DRB% | Stl% | Blk% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player A | 0.467 | 27.8 | 19.7% | 12.2 | 46.1% | 17.1% | 16.9% | 02.5% | 10.1% | 3.4% | 0.6% |
| Player B | 0.244 | 21.1 | 14.9% | 11.2 | 57.2% | 10.6% | 14.2% | 09.2% | 17.4% | 2.9% | 3.5% |
| Player C | 0.478 | 34.2 | 18.5% | 11.2 | 47.6% | 37.3% | 22.2% | 0.16% | 11.8% | 3.3% | 0.4% |
| Player D | 0.674 | 23.9 | 14.3% | 11.4 | 56.2% | 05.6% | 09.3% | 08.1% | 16.2% | 3.1% | 1.1% |
| Player E | 0.522 | 26.6 | 15.9% | 11.5 | 51.6% | 12.4% | 11.7% | 06.0% | 14.1% | 2.2% | 1.5% |
| Player F | 0.455 | 12.2 | 17.7% | 14.3 | 53.8% | 08.5% | 07.9% | 08.7% | 14.8% | 1.2% | 2.4% |
| Player G | 0.326 | 30.0 | 22.7% | 15.8 | 51.5% | 14.2% | 13.5% | 05.2% | 09.5% | 1.7% | 0.8% |
| Player H | 0.381 | 31.1 | 27.8% | 21.5 | 56.9% | 35.9% | 15.5% | 03.4% | 10.3% | 1.6% | 1.2% |
| Player I | 0.556 | 19.9 | 17.8% | 16.2 | 62.6% | 04.1% | 10.1% | 17.2% | 24.6% | 1.6% | 4.1% |
| Player J | 0.356 | 22.0 | 20.5% | 16.3 | 57.0% | 24.8% | 15.6% | 03.0% | 08.6% | 1.7% | 0.5% |
| Player K | 0.429 | 19.3 | 22.6% | 16.9 | 54.7% | 13.3% | 12.4% | 01.8% | 09.3% | 1.4% | 0.9% |
| Player L | 0.356 | 32.4 | 21.4% | 13.8 | 49.7% | 20.1% | 16.6% | 01.8% | 11.0% | 1.1% | 0.3% |
| Player M | 0.478 | 20.3 | 19.8% | 15.5 | 54.0% | 05.3% | 11.0% | 07.2% | 19.2% | 1.3% | 1.4% |
| Player N | 0.511 | 19.0 | 20.7% | 13.0 | 45.1% | 08.3% | 11.6% | 06.6% | 20.0% | 2.1% | 2.8% |
| Player O | 0.511 | 14.0 | 18.0% | 12.6 | 50.0% | 01.5% | 12.7% | 15.8% | 24.6% | 1.2% | 2.0% |
