Ball In My Court

Tyreke Evans started out this season kind of slow, but he has turned it around and he is playing great basketball.  He is making a strong case for winning the Rookie Of The Year Award.  A couple of months ago, everyone, including myself were predicting that Brandon Jennings of the Milwaukee Bucks would win Rookie Of The Year, but now, Evans seems to be closing the gap.

Evans is the starting point guard for the Sacramento Kings but he is not your prototypical point guard.  At 6-6 and 220 pounds, Evans is very large for the position.  His size gives him many advantages over his opponents.  Evans is fast, strong, and very athletic.  He bull dozes his way to the basket against smaller defenders and bypasses larger defenders with his speed.  He has a decent jump shot that needs more work but his forte is getting to the basket.  Not only can Evans score in a variety of ways but he also make plays for his teammates and demonstrates an all around type game.

Simpy put, Evans like Jennings, makes his team better.  He is an impact player.  Last year, the Kings had the worst record in the league.  They were 17-65.  So far, the Kings are 13-15 this year and 10-4 at home.  They only need four more wins to tie the amount of games that they won last year.  My money is on them having a much better year than last year and Evans is the reason why.  The Kings will go as Tyreke Evans goes.

The thing that I like the most about Evans is his swagger.  He is fearless on the court.  He is a clutch performer.  He is a rookie and he assumed the leadership role on day one.  Even though his team isn’t that good, Evans expects to win and at times wills his team to victory.  For the season, Evans is averaging 20.4 PPG, 5 APG, and 5.1 RPG.  If Evans keeps these averages throughout the season, he will be only the third rookie to average at least 20 PPG, 5 APG, and 5 RPG.  The only other players to have these averages during their rookie seasons are Michael Jordan and LeBron James.  This is good company to be in.  Over his last five games, Evans is averaging 22.2 points, 5 assists, and 5.6 rebounds.  If Evans can continue to play well and get his team a substantial amount of wins, he will win Rookie Of The Year.

Evans is in the company of legends.

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