Michael Carter-Williams Is Your 2014 NBA Rookie of the Year!

FUN FACT: MCW also won NBA Smile of the Year.

Well it's been a long time coming to say the least. I'm not talking about the waiting time in-between my last blog and this one either. Today we get to officially say that the Sixers have their first NBA Rookie of the Year since Allen Iverson in Michael Carter-Williams. Alright maybe it's not official yet but I trust the source for NJ.com and the fact that there's really no other candidate for this award this year. Anybody who says they expected this from the 21 year-old kid out of Syracuse would be lying.
The now 22 year-old pro with one year of NBA experience under his belt has grown exponentially since Draft Day 2013. MCW has always had the tools to become a star. He's blessed with extraordinary height for a point guard at 6'6", which allows him to see and pass over pretty much all those who guard him in the NBA. MCW has had a stranglehold on the Rookie of the Year spot ever since his debut when he almost had a QUADRUPLE-DOUBLE (22 pts, 12 Ast, 7 Reb, 9 Stls), went toe-to-toe with the best player on the planet and beat him and effectively turned into "Magic" Carter-Williams for the night. So what if the real Magic was actually 3 inches taller than our Sixers version? They're clearly the same player.

In case you forgot how amazing that debut really was, or if you need some cheering up after the Flyers ducking out in the first round of the playoffs and with the Phillies bullpen blowing every other game, here's the highlights that should put a smile on every Sixers fan's face:



Sure the guy has flaws, but we're not worried about that right now. His main weaknesses like strength and a jump-shot are all fixable and will be worked on. As long as MCW continues to grow himself into the leader that Brett Brown wants him to be and remains coachable, one day he should become the perfect point guard for the Sixers and hopefully be a perennial all-star. But even if he's not an all-star caliber player every year, that doesn't mean he's not a perfect point guard you'd want running an offense and doesn't mean he won't be helping them win playoff series in the future.

The bottom line is that MCW is a rising star in the NBA and deservedly won this award after leading all rookies in points, assists, steals, rebounds and double-doubles. You can't make much of an argument for anybody else when the man leads in pretty much every major category. MCW benefitted from a weak draft class but it's still awesome to think that even with a weak draft class, the Sixers potentially made out with the two best players. MCW will also assuredly make All-NBA Rookie First Team now, but also look for Hollis Thompson to highlight the All-NBA Rookie Second Team after leading all NBA rookies in 3-point FG%.

Dance, Dance.