We already told you that when asked during the rookie photo shoot who their favorite player in the league was, the majority of incoming NBA players said Kobe Bryant.
But those rookies to be were asked a lot more, too — and it was the Celtics Kelly Olynyk and the Trail Blazers’ C.J. McCollum who scored high.
Historically the NBA rookies have been pretty hit and miss with their predictions in the annual survey, but there are some interesting insights this year in the survey results, which were posted by John Schuhmann over at NBA.com.
Asked who would be Rookie of the Year, Portland’s McCollum and Orlando’s Victor Oladipo tied for the top spot. Olynyk finished third while Utah’s Trey Burke finished fourth. (I predict Burke one, Oladipo two, I like McCollum but he will be playing behind Damian Lillard so is he going to get enough minutes to really win this?)
As for who would have the best career, Oladipo and Olynyk tied with McCollum third. The winner of the most athletic rookie was Tony Mitchell of Detroit in a landslide (47.2 percent).
Best playmaker went to Burke with 47 percent of the vote followed by Michael Carter-Williams of the Sixers. Best shooter went to Ben McLemore of Sacramento, followed by the Clippers Reggie Bullock, then tied for third was McCollum and Tony Snell of the Bulls.
Oladipo won best defender (which seems a good call), followed by a tie between Solomon Hill of the Pacers, Nerlens Noel of the Sixers (who shows up little on this survey) and Peyton Siva of the Pistons.