The Rookie of the Year discussion normally gets going around the All-Star break. In most cases we already know who it's going to be fairly early in the season, absent of an injury. This season, however, we have a real race between two talented players playing totally different positions on completely different teams.
New Orleans' Anthony Davis is putting up strong numbers across the board, both in productivity and in efficiency, but on a bad team with zero playoff aspirations. Portland's Damian Lillard is running the show in impressive fashion for one of the surprise playoff contenders in the NBA. While there are a few other rookies who are proving to be valuable and productive players, they are either not playing enough minutes to merit consideration or they are not playing as well overall as these two guys.