The Minnesota Timberwolves’ Karl-Anthony Towns, who set franchise rookie records in scoring, rebounding, blocked shots and field goal percentage, has unanimously won the 2015-16 Kia NBA Rookie of the Year Award, the NBA announced today. The 7-foot center becomes the fifth unanimous winner since 1984 and joins teammate Andrew Wiggins, the 2014-15 honoree, to make the Timberwolves the first team with back-to-back winners in 42 years.
Towns received all 130 first-place votes (650 points) from a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters in the United States and Canada, joining Damian Lillard (2012-13 season), Blake Griffin (2010-11), David Robinson (1989-90) and Ralph Sampson (1983-84) as unanimous winners in the last 32 years. The New York Knicks’ Kristaps Porzingis finished second with 363 points, and the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic was third with 59 points. Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote.
And as we all know, unanimous means best ever. Well, tied with Damian Lillard, Blake Griffin, David Robinson, and Ralph Sampson as the best ever, at any rate. Anyone who disagrees is a bitter hater.
Seriously though, it's well-earned. It looks like Porzingas has a bright future, but he kind of hit the wall during his rookie campaign. No shame in that, and he still had a very good first campaign, but Towns had better overall numbers.
