ROOKIE OF THE WEEK WATCH - Week 12

	TEAM	WHY	WHY NOT	STATS
Ben Simmons PER 23.87 MVP	-	He's nearly doubled the production of any rookie on this list. Flirting with triple doubles every single night. He's always the stats leader. He outstage superstar veteran guards this week and made them his bitch - John Wall, Isaiah Thomas, and CJ McCollum. If the Pistons weren't losing, he would be in POTW talks instead. He has no range shot, but it doesn't matter because he is such a major size mismatch and is just oozing with speed and athleticism that he can just bully his way to easy buckets. The highlight of the week was a 43 PTS 7 REB 10 AST performance against Isaiah Thomas.	The Pistons only went 1-3 this week. But I will tell you that winning games is irrelevant in Rookie of the Week talks, because it is pretty rare for a rookie to put a team on his back and carry his team to the promised land. It's more of a stats race. I will note though that he had a -3.0 +/-	PTS REB AST STL BLK
Kyle Kuzma PER 15.86 MVP	-	The third highest producer on the list. He finished the week with an amazing 7.3 +/-. Only Milos Telodosic finished with a higher number. He's just averaging under a double double. If he's not scoring, he's accumulating rebounds. He contributes to every stat but blocks. He has the most steals this week for rookies.	He didn't have any major games this week. Just floated around 17 - 20 PTS. I still like that number, but it's not enough to compete with Simmons and Markkanen.	PTS REB AST STL BLK
Donovan Mitchell PER 26.79 MVP	-	If there's anything that stands out with Mitchell this week is that he is an unbelievable 62% from three. He finished the week off with a 6.3 +/-. He has the 2nd most steals after Kyle Kuzma.	His production is at the bottom of the list with Telodosic. He's only the 4th best scorer on his team. He barely even broke 11 PTS this week. There was 19 PTS performance against Indiana, but if they hadn't gone into overtime, he would have only finished with 11 PTS.	PTS REB AST STL BLK
Lauri Markkanen PER 12.30 MVP	-	He's the 2nd highest producer on this list, but he finished the week with a 3.4 +/-. Markkanen had a heavy workload this week as the Orlando Magic played 5 games. He's nearly averaging a double double, and was the 2nd or 3rd best scorer on his team each night. The highlight of the week was a 25 PTS 7 REB 1 AST 4 STL 1 BLK performance against the Atlanta Hawks. He even held glitch-boy Arthur down to 8 PTS.	Him along with the rest of the rookies are no where close to Simmons' production.	PTS REB AST STL BLK
Royce ONeale PER 6.01 MVP	-	Royce is the next most productive of the Pelicans rookie starters averaging 11 PTS and shooting 40% from three. He also contributes with rebounds and assists. He's an all around player.	You like that he contributes in all stats, but he doesn't really shine in any category. He finished the week with -13.8 +/-	PTS REB AST STL BLK
Dwayne Bacon PER 5.58 MVP	-	He's the highest producer on this list, but he's not a starter. You got to love his 0.3 +/-. This is better than any Pelicans rookie. He contributes in every stat category, but in low quantities.	Don't be deceived by his high PER. He's doing it against 2nd units. The Pelicans starters get humiliated and their 2nd unit accumulate a lot of pity stats.	PTS REB AST STL BLK
Frank Ntilikina PER 21.14 MVP	-	He is the lower producer of the Memphis rookies, but not by a lot. He's still producing with a higher PER than Tatum and shot a higher 40% from three. The highlight of the week for Frank was a 15 PT 4 REB 3 AST 2 STL 1 BLK performance against the Chicago Bulls. He has a lower +/- of 4.0 than Tatum, but still above the other rookies on this list.	He's not leading in any kind of category. He can barely even break 9 PTS in a game. And his best performance of the week was not enough to beat the Chicago Bulls.	PTS REB AST STL BLK
Jayson Tatum PER 36.02 MVP	-	He's the more productive of the two Memphis rookies. He's shown flashes of double double potential, but just can't quite be consistent with it. It's kind of hard though when you are playing with a superstar like Papagiannis. The highlight of his week was 15 PTS 6 REB 9 AST 3 STL performance in a win against the Suns. He has the highest +/- for the week with a 6.8 +/-	He hasn't been consistent this week posting only 5 PTS and 8 PTS against LAC and ATL.	PTS REB AST STL BLK