Should Al Horford Have Won the NBA Rookie of the Year?

After Kevin Durant was given the NBA Rookie of the Year Award Atlanta Hawks coach, Mike Woodson, was furious. Woodson thinks that at the very least Al Horford should have shared the honor with Kevin Durant, if not won it outright. "We haven't had a power forward/center come into our league and do what's he's done in I don't know how many years," Woodson said.

Okay, so maybe Woodson needs to take a NBA history class since Emeka Okafor averaged a double-double in '05 and Elton Brand averaged a double-double in 2000. But that is beside the point. The question isn't "was Al Horford better than Emeka Okafor or Elton Brand?" The question is "was Al Horford better than Kevin Durant?"

Kevin Durant scored 20 points per game. That is quite a feat. The last five rookies to average 20 points or more per game were Lebron James, Elton Brand, Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson and Shaquille O'Neal. But the problem is Kevin Durant played on a team that only won 20 out of 82 games. Seattle had nobody else on the team so Kevin Durant had the luxury of shooting as often as he wanted. Part of the reason he scored 20 points per game is simply the amount of shots he took.

Kevin Durant also made a very low percentage of shots. Out of the 27 players that averaged 20 points per game Durant was 24th in shooting percentage. So yes, Durant scored 20 points per game and that's impressive but he just did one thing and that's all.

What Al Horford did was more difficult. First of all Al Horford averaged 9.7 rebounds per game. Anybody that can shoot or has a good move to the basket can score 20 points in a season if they get enough shots. But a rookie that is physically ready for the NBA in his rookie season is very rare. The rookies that averaged more than 9.7 rebounds since 2000-2001 include just Emeka Okafor and Dwight Howard.

Al Horford, playing the power forward and center positions, had to go toe to toe with the likes of Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard and all the other big men in the league. Kevin Durant had to face some good players too of course, but he didn't have to go up against the most physical players in the league.

Al Horford wasn't that bad of a scorer too. Al Horford isn't a great scorer yet, and maybe he'll never be more than a double-double guy but you can't really fault him for not scoring as many points as Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant was the first option on his team. Before the Atlanta Hawks got Mike Bibby, Al Horford was the fifth option. After Mike Bibby, Al Horford was the sixth option. I'd say scoring 10 points per game as the sixth option on the team is pretty impressive.

Kevin Durant attempted 1,366 field goals and 448 free throws. Al Horford attempted 668 field goals and 212 free throws. If Al Horford did get to shoot the ball 1,366 times and let's say the additional shots made his field goal percentage drop by 20 points then he would average 18 points per game. Give him another 200 free throws for having the ball so much and Al Horford averages 19.8 points per game.

Al Horford could've scored just as much as Kevin Durant if he had just gotten the opportunity but there is no scenario where Kevin Durant can rebound 9.7 times a game. Kevin Durant had a measly 4.4 rebounds per game and is probably the weakest "star in the NBA physically.

Let's also not forget the player's significance. A lot of people aren't giving the Atlanta Hawks much credit for making the playoffs since they had a losing record but ultimately they did make the playoffs but they wouldn't have if you take Al Horford off the team. If you take Kevin Durant off of the Seattle Sonics then what is the difference? They are a 15 win team instead of a 20 win team?

Al Horford had the more impressive season and should have been the NBA Rookie of the Year.