{"id":109356,"date":"2024-11-27T10:25:41","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T15:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=109356"},"modified":"2024-11-27T10:25:41","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T15:25:41","slug":"nba-roy-race-jared-mccain-zach-edey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/27\/nba-roy-race-jared-mccain-zach-edey\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA ROY Race: Jared McCain Tightens Hold, Zach Edey Slides"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After an uneventful start, the 2024 NBA Draft class has made Rookie of the Year (ROY) one of the more entertaining NBA Award races.<\/p>\n<p>Despite a hot start from Los Angeles Lakers center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisan02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Davis<\/a>, Denver Nuggets center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jokicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Jokic<\/a> is the early favorite for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/21\/will-nikola-jokic-win-another-mvp\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">2025 Most Valuable Player award<\/a>. Los Angeles Clippers wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/powelno01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Norman Powell<\/a> has been putting together a Most Improved Player campaign, but Atlanta Hawks guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/daniedy01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dyson Daniels<\/a> has been turning heads. Cleveland Cavaliers guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jeromty01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ty Jerome<\/a> and Boston Celtics guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pritcpa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Payton Pritchard<\/a> may be <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/26\/ty-jerome-sixth-man-of-the-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">battling it out<\/a> for Sixth Man of the Year. Though Memphis Grizzlies center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edeyza01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach Edey<\/a> was the early frontrunner, Philadelphia 76ers guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mccaija01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jared McCain<\/a> is looking a lot like the eventual Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Jared McCain: \u201cI\u2019m the Rookie of the Year\u201d <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2a9a9NLtM6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/2a9a9NLtM6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Basketball Poetry (@bballispoetry) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bballispoetry\/status\/1860146075090161797?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 23, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>However, while those players are the consensus picks, they still have plenty of competition. On top of that, the season is young; NBA Awards don\u2019t get decided in November. With that being said, here are the <em>three<\/em> rookies at the head of their class on the eve of Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n<h2>NBA ROY Race: Jared McCain Tightens Hold, Zach Edey Slides<\/h2>\n<h3>1. Jared McCain<\/h3>\n<p>If it wasn\u2019t obvious by now, McCain is ahead of the pack.<\/p>\n<p>The Sixers\u2019 initial plan appeared to be using him as a spark plug off the bench and spot-starter. McCain turned heads throughout training camp. However, he was still a guy who was green behind the ears and on a team loaded with established talent. As it turns out, he\u2019s been more ready for the moment than perhaps any of his teammates.<\/p>\n<p>Due to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/maxeyty01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyrese Maxey<\/a>\u2019s hamstring injury, McCain was promoted to the first unit. As a starter, he\u2019s been exemplary, averaging 25.2 points, 5.0 assists, and 1.0 steal per game with a 63.3 true shooting percentage. Cool and confident, his craftsmanship as a scorer and playmaker has made Sixers head coach Nick Nurse want to keep him in the starting lineup even when Maxey returned.<\/p>\n<p>When they\u2019re at full strength, it\u2019ll be interesting to see how he\u2019s utilized. For now though, McCain is Philadelphia\u2019s little engine that could.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Jaylen Wells<\/h3>\n<p>The Grizzlies are much more comfortable with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wellsja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaylen Wells<\/a> in the starting lineup than Edey.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, this is one reason why Edey\u2019s seen a slow slide down the Rookie of the Year rankings. It\u2019s simply hard to win an award when the head coach would rather start a 6-foot-8 player at center because he prefers to play at a rapid pace. When Grizzlies general manager Zach Kleiman called Edey a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/40440666\/zach-edey-2-ap-player-year-goes-9th-grizzlies\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">particularly special fit<\/a>\u201d for the franchise after the draft, Taylor Jenkins must not have gotten the memo.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately for Wells, Jenkins\u2019s philosophy doesn\u2019t affect him, at least not negatively. Though Memphis has long needed a starting 3-and-D wing with traditional size, that\u2019s not the reason why. To that point, the Grizzlies needed a bruising big man after trading Steven Adams, but that didn\u2019t stop Jenkins from moving Edey to the second unit.<\/p>\n<p>Wells has maintained his starting spot because of his physical tools, poise, two-way impact, and efficiency. In 13 games with the starters, he\u2019s averaging 13.6 points per game on 41.5 percent shooting from three.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Stephon Castle<\/h3>\n<p>Los Angeles Lakers deadeye <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/knechda01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dalton Knecht<\/a> may be a more popular choice. However, the fanaticism that follows a player isn\u2019t supposed to be a factor in NBA Award choices. At this juncture, San Antonio Spurs guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/castlst01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephon Castle<\/a> is ahead of Knecht in the Rookie of the Year race.<\/p>\n<p>Castle might not ever be the shooter that Knecht is. However, he\u2019s found his stroke from outside, shooting 37.5 percent from three over his last nine games. In that time, he\u2019s averaged 16.3 points per game, becoming increasingly confident in his scoring ability.<\/p>\n<p>What truly separates Castle from Knecht is that he\u2019s a better playmaker at both ends of the court. On offense, he\u2019s often looking \u2014but not hunting \u2014 for the assist. On defense, he bodies up myriad players to stifle their attempts at perimeter penetration. Yet, he also has a knack for creating defensive events.<\/p>\n<p>Since being promoted to the starting lineup on Nov. 6, he\u2019s had seven games with 5+ assists, six games with 1+ steal, and five games with 1+ block.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After an uneventful start, the 2024 NBA Draft class has made Rookie of the Year (ROY) one of the more entertaining NBA Award races. Despite a hot start from Los Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is the early favorite for the 2025 Most Valuable Player award. Los Angeles Clippers wing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":109389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,4,1608,5,9,20,27,26,32,556,13,34],"tags":[49212,49067,49556,1143,49264,4741],"class_list":["post-109356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-cavaliers","category-nuggets","category-clippers","category-lakers","category-grizzlies","category-nba-draft","category-76ers","category-spurs","tag-dalton-knecht","tag-jared-mccain","tag-jaylen-wells","tag-nba-awards","tag-stephon-castle","tag-zach-edey"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}