Nets rookie Mason Plumlee garnered two first-place votes in the NBA’s Rookie of the Year ballot, the league announced today. He finished fourth in the voting overall, with five second-place votes and 33 third-place votes. Michael Carter-Williams of the Philadelphia 76ers won the vote, with 104 of a possible 124 first-place votes.
Plumlee was the only player in the top six in voting in the playoffs, and played a significant role for the Nets, one that resulted in him starting for 19 games from February to April as Kevin Garnett dealt with back spasms. He led all rookies in player efficiency rating and field goal percentage.
Plumlee was never going to win the award, if only because he didn’t play enough minutes. Michael Carter-Williams put up the numbers, and voters like big numbers. But he had a real case, one real enough to get two real first-place votes. Not bad for Plumlee, a 22nd overall pick who was expected to spend most of the year in the D-League.
Sean Deveney of The Sporting News and Sherrod Blakely of Comcast SportsNet gave Plumlee a first-place vote. Both writers are based in Boston.
Perhaps the highlight of his season was this block on LeBron James: