THE FOX OR THE FINNISHER?
CHICAGO, IL: With less than 10 games to play as we finally reach the last month of regular season, surprinsingly most of CSL franchises are still fighting for postseason, with open races for all kinds of spots at both Eastern and Western conferences, showing how balanced the league is right now. Some teams, as usual, are TANKI.. I mean, playing their youth in hopes of a brighter future, let’s put it that way, trying to find the best pieces who could stick are just playing their youth while trying to find one or two gems for the future. But, in the middle of all that, there are two teams at Eastern Conference who have been receiving a lot of attention from the media itself: not because they are the best teams in the league, which are probably featured in the Western portion with Phoenix and Sacramento fighting for the top spot, with Dallas right behind them. In fact they are not even the best squads at their own Eastern Conference, but what has been the impressive factor for both of these teams is the fact that they have been fighting for the top positions and home court advantage while being guided by two rookies who cannot be seeing as anything else than cornerstones for those franchises.
Easy to find Lauri-Bulls' pictures...
DeAaron Fox and Lauri Markkanen have led the Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls (respectively) to 3rd and 4th place in the East while cementing themselves as the top two rooks from their class so far. Early into the season, it was Philly's sensation Lonzo Ball leading the league in assists and steals (as a rookie) while posting an amazing A/TO ratio and respectful scoring and shooting to lead all freshmen in ROY voting intentions. But Lonzo's numbers have dipped so much, specially his shooting splits, that he's not even featured in conversations anymore (nobody expects a player shooting 37% from the field and 28% from deep to win an award, correct?). Fox has since taken over the top spot and, though he seemed to be a lock a while ago, Lauri made a strong enough late push to be considered the top contender for the award right now, though it’s all still very close.
"To me it's Markannen’s award right now, as crazy as it sounds. His production has grown all year long, and while Fox has been consistent, coaching staff in Boston might have lost him that award by playing him off ball those last few games, where he couldn’t do anything but foul out, I mean, his last 4 games he fouled out twice and committed 21 fouls, that’s not gonna help the kid. The Finnish boy on the other hand, averaged 24.5 over the same 4 games, and that helps explaining why the point per game category which was heavily in favor of Fox changed so much that Markkanen was able to create some separation between them. That’s the most important number when it comes to this award, as people rarely look anywhere else but who scored more on better efficiency. It’s not hard to see Fox winning it, but at least to me that’s Markkanen’s to lose right now.” said a Eastern Conference scout who praised Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball as the best players in this class before the draft.
“I have to admit, it all could change. But we’re possibly talking about the only 2 legit franchise players of this draft here. Unless Ingram explodes or Lonzo learns show to shoot, they are not legit cornerstones. These two kids (Lauri and Fox) could carry a franchise, potentially.” he added.
Not so easy to find pictures (clearly wearing a Celtics' jersey, though) .
To further illustrate the ROY race (and how close it is), here’s a comparison with 6 key points that could be taken into consideration when it comes to voting.
CATEGORY - RESULT (FOX - MARKKANEN)
SCORING - MARKKANE (0-1)
Lauri evolved during the season both as a scorer and a leader, and he’s finally taking the reins of Chicago’s offense, leading them into wins and becoming their top scorer as we approach the final games of regular season. Fox has been as consistent of a scorer as you can ask for, but Ben McLemore still leads Boston in points per game. It’s hard to call a win for any of the sides here as it’s been a very close scoring race, but for everything Markkanen is representing right now, his superior points per game average after being down more than 1.5 PPG, and how much importance this category has on awards historically, we’ll give Lauri a TINY advantage here, which could change as the last 10 games or so are played.
[/b]EFFICIENCY - MARKKANEN (0-2)
Here, there’s no arguing. Fox has been incredibly efficient, with a TS% around the 56-57% mark and 40% from deep. But Lauri is on pace to becoming the FIRST rookie in CSL’s history (yes, not Jabari, nor Exum, nor Smart, KP, KAT, nobody ever, even Middleton’s excellent run with Memphis during his first year) to score over 15 points per contest on 60% True Shooting Percentage. How crazy is that? Just for comparison, during his first CSL year (which wasn’t his rookie season, but his instructions were not worked on yet), Anthony Davis, league’s most prolific post scorer so far, posted a 54% true shooting percentage.
DEFENDING - FOX (1-2)
Defense was never Lauri's calling card, and it will never be. He's at least hold his own on D, though, posting a combined 1.3 steals + blocks, same as DeAaron. But Boston's young PG is doing something you expect from a perimeter player, to average over 1 steal per game, generating offensive opportunities with fast breaks. Markkanen's lack of rim protection gives Fox the advantage defensively.
REBOUNDING - MARKKANEN (1-3)
This one is fairly easy. Lauri is a big posting very solid rebounding percentages, not only raw numbers. And Fox's biggest weakness is the lack of any kind of rebounding, very low even for a guard. This won't turn out to be a huge factor because of next category, though.
PLAYMAKING - FOX (2-3)
Lauri is proving he can create his shots. Fox isn't limited to creating his own, but he does his share of playmaking for his teammates with a solid 6.3 APG and a very good 3.5 A/TO ratio. Markkanen also turns the ball over too much for a big man, topping DeAaron in that department by .4 points. Clear advantage to the point guard, as expected.
TEAM IMPORTANCE AND SUCCESS - TIED (3-4)
Nobody can argue that both are it's teams' most important players right now. And that isn't going to change anytime soon. Take both out and replace them with the average starter for the position and while both teams wouldn't succumb, they would both take significant production drops, specially on the scoring territory. Boston and Chicago wouldn't be where they are without both those kids.
Boston has been very successful as well but since Aaron Gordon went out with a broken wrist GM Dennis Jo has been reluctant to play his top dogs, resulting in some losses which costed the Celtics the first place in the East. This could cost Fox his award as teams are really close right now, and while Boston has the upper hand by 1.5 games, nobody expected the Bulls to come up with an almost 30W swing from last season, and Lauri represents the successful days more than anyone else.
The battle is here and in no time we’ll learn who got awarded with the biggest prize a rookie can (realistically) earn. For now, just sit back, watch those two lead a fantastic class of young players and scout to find out about another great incoming class at 2022s draft! (Free advertising, Adam and scouting department!)
