Despite recent talk surrounding Herb Jones, early ballots tabulated by HoopsHype show encouraging numbers for Houston’s Jalen Green in the race for the final spot on the 2021-22 NBA All-Rookie First Team. The league’s annual awards are selected by a cross-section of media voters, which historically is at about 100 voters in size.
Based on media ballots made public thus far, Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, Cleveland’s Evan Mobley, Toronto’s Scottie Barnes, and Orlando’s Franz Wagner appear to be locks, with the fifth spot contested between Green, Oklahoma City’s Josh Giddey, and Jones (New Orleans).
Based on a voting analysis by HoopsHype, which obtained 24 of the official ballots (some privately), here’s how the rookie race stands:
POLL RESULTS
1st Team
Cade Cunningham (100 percent)
Evan Mobley (100 percent)
Scottie Barnes (100 percent)
Franz Wagner (97.83 percent)
Jalen Green (73.91 percent)2nd Team
Josh Giddey (60.87 percent)
Herbert Jones (56.52 percent)
Ayo Dosunmu (43.48 percent)
Bones Hyland (41.30 percent)
Chris Duarte (28.26 percent)Others receiving votes: Jonathan Kuminga (15.22 percent), Davion Mitchell (8.70 percent), Ziaire Williams (6.52 percent), Jalen Suggs (4.35 percent), Alperen Sengun (2.17 percent).
Story: Our staff gathered NBA awards ballots to determine the expected 2022 winners. Find out who is expected to win MVP, DPOY, ROY, MIP, COY, Sixth Man of the Year, and earn All-NBA, All-Defensive, and All-Rookie honors on @hoopshype. https://t.co/8TqbQ7qCVi
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) April 17, 2022
While certainly not a done deal, having a lead of 13 percentage points with at least 20% of the vote in is an encouraging sign for Green.
Green averaged 17.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists for the Rockets this season, and the 6-foot-6 guard was progressively better as the 2021-22 season moved along. To finish out the season in March and April, when Green won Western Conference Rookie of the Month, the 20-year-old averaged 22.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game while shooting 48.4% overall and 39.5% on 3-pointers.
Green scored 20-plus points in 15 of those 22 games, including a historic streak of five straight 30-plus point games from March 28 through April 5. That was the second-longest streak by a rookie since 1971-72. He scored a career-high 41 points in the season finale versus Atlanta.
