Brett Brown on Rookie of the Year: ‘That's Our Trophy'

The Sixers on Saturday unveiled a statue of the late, great Wilt Chamberlain outside their training facility.

The Big Dipper won the NBA's Rookie of the Year award way back in 1960. That season, Chamberlain averaged 37.6 points and 27 rebounds a night. Not much of a doubt that the award went to the right person.

This season, the vote on the award will be much tougher. The Sixers have two candidates in Dario Saric and Joel Embiid. But Saturday night's opponent, the Milwaukee Bucks, have a candidate of their own in guard Malcolm Brogdon.

Before the game, head coach Brett Brown gave a strong endorsement for his guys.

"I think that there's something to be said for the upward body of work," Brown said of Saric. "What people have done as the season has moved to the end. I think that assessment, you can judge improvement. And I just feel like those few things really make Dario's opportunity to be selected very eye popping. He's had a consistent delivery since the All-Star break and he's had more opportunity in a very real way."

Saric's numbers after the All-Star break have been outstanding. The Croatian forward, who turns 23 today, has averaged 17.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game in that span. Impressively, Saric has also played in all 79 games this season, even while battling plantar fasciitis in his left foot.

While Saric's durability may earn him points with voters, Joel Embiid's limited body of work could hurt him. There's still something to be said for averaging 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in just 25.4 minutes a game over the course of 31 games.

"Most everybody would say that was a no-brainer [that Embiid would win Rookie of the Year]," Brown said. "He had played a volume of games so now what? And it gets down to people's judgment of how they weigh 31 games versus a body of work.

"What I feel most strongly about is 'That's our trophy. That's our award. It comes from Philadelphia.' We're proud of both of their efforts and both of their progress and development. Not to take away anything from anybody, it's just that personally I feel very confident and strong saying that."

One of the players that Brown doesn't want "to take away anything from" is Brogdon.

Brogdon's numbers aren't staggering. He's averaged 10.3 points and 4.3 assists per game while shooting 40 percent from three-point range. The strength of his candidacy has to do with the success of his team. The Bucks currently hold the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference and he's been a big part of it.

And as a second-round pick, his impact this season seems even more impressive.

"He's in obvious, legitimate consideration, too," Brown said of Brogdon. "His sort of boomerang approach to even get in the NBA and then all of the sudden taking that opportunity and just grabbing it, with those type of physical skills and qualities, how impressive."

Brogdon will not play against the Sixers tonight. This will be the fifth game he's missed with a sore back. Can Saric cement the award in just 24 minutes a game over the last couple games? We'll see.

In a different era, minutes restrictions never affected Wilt the Stilt. For his career, he averaged 45.8 minutes.

"It was clear he was given a two-minute restriction by the medical staff," Brown joked.

Commander-in-Chief
Saric will play on a 24-minute restriction Saturday while Embiid sits for the rest of the season.

Much has been made around the league about the idea of tanking and teams sitting some of their better players to get a better chance in the draft lottery.

The Sixers are missing an awful lot of players, but those players are dealing with legitimate injuries. Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, and Robert Covington all saw their seasons end early with knee issues. Ben Simmons' rookie season never even got started thanks to a broken foot.

If anybody knows how to deal with losing players for an extended period of time and still get the most of his team, it's Brown.

"I'm the commander-in-chief for 48 minutes," Brown said. "You let people know what you think about that Brooklyn performance defensively. And you go into a shootaround and you coach. And I'll come back and I'll do it again until somebody says your 82 games is up.

"People behind the scenes can look and guess and play around with the ping-pong ball assessments and all that. But at the end of the day, I'm the coach."