In the previous installment of the continuing series “Watch Nikola Mirotic Score Points in NBA Games”, I detailed in the description the case for Nikola being voted Rookie of the Year. Intangibles were my main point of emphasis; he has a great set of intangibles, one of the best in the league.
Now it turns out that he doesn’t even need those worthless things, because he now has “tangibles” on his resume, stuff like scoring 27 points in a single game and being able to terrorize Zach Randolph.
The point total might be inflated by his multitude of free throws, nevertheless 27 points for this guy is pretty impressive. Sure, he was supposed to be more NBA ready than his fellow rookies, which would theoretically make this less impressive, but even the supposed “veteran” Euro rookies often struggle out of the gate.
I’d say this performance puts him temporarily in the lead for ROY. I say temporarily because, let’s face it, there is a horrible curse cast by David Stern on this year’s rookie class, and Nikola is going to get injured soon for sure. One by one will the rookies fall, until the only one left is Bruno Caboclo. So it is written, so shall it come to be. Ignore this foretelling at your own risk.