Rookie Rankings, Week 23: MCW is the ROY

From his first NBA game, Michael Carter-Williams took hold of the Rookie of the Year award.

He immediately grabbed the undivided attention of all of us, going for 22 points, 12 assists, nine steals and seven rebounds in Philadelphia’s improbable season-opening win over the two-time defending champion Miami Heat.

Before the 76ers started losing – losing frequently, losing historically – Carter-Williams directed his team to two more wins and was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week. Not Rookie of the Week. Player of the Week. In his first week in the NBA.

Ten players were taken in the 2013 draft before Carter-Williams, including one by his own team. In the lottery era, only player selected 10th or higher has won Rookie of the Year – Mark Jackson, who went 18th in 1987 to the New York Knicks.

Both Jackson and Carter-Williams had the good fortune of being in a draft class short on immediate-impact players. Yes, the 1987 draft included David Robinson, Scottie Pippen, Kevin Johnson and Reggie Miller. But Robinson had to serve a two-year military commitment, and the others needed a year to get their Hall of Fame footing.

The top of the 2013 draft was littered with injuries and ineffectiveness. Throw out second pick Victor Oladipo, and the remaining top five picks have combined for a paltry 357 points.

But Jackson also had the benefit of playing in a major media market that doubled as his hometown and was starving for something positive from its NBA team. Jackson gave it to them in the form of their first playoff berth in four years, something teammate and fellow Rookie of the Year Patrick Ewing could not provide on his own.

Carter-Williams had no such benefits. The City of Brotherly Love has always had somewhat of an apathy toward the Sixers, who didn’t make themselves any more compelling with their obvious efforts to tank the season. His potential sidekick, Nerlens Noel, was rehabbing an ACL. Carter-Williams had to create his own buzz.

And he had to do it in the face of losing. Frequent losing. Historic losing. The Sixers lost so much that folks started to wonder if MCW stood for Mike Can’t Win. Could Carter-Williams still be Rookie of the Year as the leader of a terrible team?

As the Sixers went two months without a victory, Carter-Williams kept plugging away. He had 17 points and 11 rebounds at Orlando, a triple-double at New York, 15 and 13 boards at Indiana, 22, 13 and nine assists vs. New York. He assumed a leadership role, keeping up the spirits of his teammates with locker room speeches.

And when the Sixers finally ended their record-tying 26-game losing streak on March 29 – see, Mike Can Win – a funny thing happened a couple of days later. Carter-Williams was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month.

Historically, the media has not penalized the game’s top rookies for their team’s poor play. And the league didn’t seem to care about giving a monthly award to a player whose team went 1-15 in March.

So if the media and the league are not going to hold 60-plus losses against Carter-Williams, we won’t, either.

The top five guys in our table should be the All-Rookie First Team, ultimately voted on by coaches without respect to position. The bottom five should be the Second Team.

So for the last time this season, on to the rankings.