The NBA season is not even here yet and already teams feel like they have the chance to win the championship and after a summer of moving free agents, including Dwight Howard and Josh Smith, it's time to look at the upcoming slate to see where all the top rookies will end up and who will win rookie of the year.
Names like Shane Larkin and Nerlens Noel and Tim Hardaway Jr. will be in the running, but they likely won't come away with the trophy and some of the top front runners include Shabazz Muhammad, Otto Porter, Ben McLemore, Trey Burke, Victor Oladipo, Kelly Olynyk and a personal sleeper pick in Dennis Schroeder. Some of the votes and the options for rookie of the year are based on health, which is why Alex Len was left out at first, but he plays a full season, he has as good of a chance as anyone.
Len is coming in after foot surgery and while he has appeared to be going through solid recovery over the summer, there is a chance that he won't be ready and since the Suns already have Markieff Morris, Channing Frye and Miles Plumlee, they can move him along slowly if they want to. Despite getting kicked out of the rookie transition program, Muhammad is an extremely talented player that could have been a top five pick and he should get his chances to score and win it.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is a lesser known top pick and he could surprise from the Pistons now that the team has Smith and traded for Brandon Jennings from the Bucks. Anthony Bennett was the number one overall pick so he will get his chances and playing with a former winner of the trophy will only help as well. Porter is going to play alongside John Wall and since he is likely going to be a primary scoring option, he has a good chance to win the award as well.
Oladipo or McLemore could run away with the award if they get hot at any point and since the Kings are rebuilding, Ben will get his turn as the man in charge. Cody Zeller could jump in and be a surprise, but a betting man may want to put money on Oladipo, as he is the only true star left on the Magic and since the team is building around him, he could do it after averaging 19 points and five assists over the summer.
