After it looked for a time like Bradley Beal might just threaten Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard for 2013 NBA rookie of the year, the Wizards shooting guard ultimately finished third after the latter portion of his season was racked by injuries.
Lillard, meanwhile, was a unanimous choice for the first-year player honor, which was announced on Wednesday, finishing well ahead of New Orleans forward Anthony Davis, the first overall pick in last year’s draft.
From the league’s release: “Among first-year players, Lillard ranked first in scoring (19.0 ppg), assists (6.5 apg) and minutes (38.6 mpg). According to NBA.com/Stats, the Trail Blazers had an offensive rating of 105.0 points (per 100 possessions) when Lillard was on the court compared with 93.5 points (per 100 possessions) when the first-year player was on the bench. When on the court, Lillard assisted on 36.5 percent of Portland’s field goals while scoring 23.9 percent of his team’s points.
Lillard, the sixth overall selection in the 2012 NBA Draft, made a clean sweep of the Kia NBA Rookie of the Month Award in the Western Conference this season.”
The final voting totals:
2012-13 KIA NBA ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD VOTING RESULTS
Rookie, Team 1st 2nd 3rd Total
Damian Lillard, Portland 121 – – 605
Anthony Davis, New Orleans – 96 18 306
Bradley Beal, Washington – 14 52 94
Andre Drummond, Detroit – 5 21 36
Dion Waiters, Cleveland – 2 15 21
Harrison Barnes, Golden State – 1 5 8
Chris Copeland, New York – 2 2 8
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Charlotte – – 3 3
Jonas Valanciunas, Toronto – – 2 2
John Jenkins, Atlanta – – 1 1
