Sports Column

Rookie award is not what it seems

On Sports

By dwight jaynes

The Portland Tribune, May 4, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (54 Reader comments)

Not interested in raining on anyone’s parade, but let’s show a little perspective, please. Having a rookie of the year award winner on your team doesn’t mean all that much. Never has.

The Blazers had one for several years, back when Damon Stoudamire was playing for his hometown team. They had one when Sidney Wicks was here. It didn’t matter much. It didn’t mean the team was headed for greatness.

A friend of mine used to always tell me that life is a beauty contest with no rules. He had a point. Awards voted on by writers and broadcasters are beauty contests, too. And we make our own rules.

In some cases, being rookie of the year has meant only that you didn’t happen to be a rookie when the likes of LeBron James, Magic Johnson or Shaquille O’Neal burst into the league.

Or that you played on a team so bereft of talent that you got to play a lot of minutes and take a lot of shots.

It’s an award measured against a very small group, after all. It’s not like defensive player of the year or MVP – honors that measure every player in the league. Not many rookies play enough to even be considered for rookie of the year, and of those, how many merit it?

And, really, if you’re going in for brain surgery, who do you want – the hospital’s best first-year surgeon or its most experienced and best surgeon? Thought so.

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