9) Darrell Griffith, 1981
Newly relocated to Salt Lake City from New Orleans and having recently waived Pete Maravich, the Jazz needed an immediate infusion of scoring and the electric Griffith obliged. The Louisville alum averaged 20.6 points per game in his rookie season and just edged out Portland’s Kelvin Ransey and Golden State’s Larry Smith for Rookie of the Year honors (the only Hall of Fame inductee in this rookie class, Kevin McHale, finished fourth in voting). Griffith remained a star for Utah in his first five seasons, averaging 21.0 points per game, leading the league in three point percentage in ’83-’84 and living up to his “Dr. Dunkenstein” nickname. Then he suffered a stress fracture in his foot late in the ’84-’85 season and was never the same after, struggling through five more seasons before retiring in 1991.
Our fourth volume will be published throughout the ’21-’22 NBA season
8) Ray Felix, 1954
His career pales in comparison to most Rookies of the Year but Felix does deserve recognition as the first Black player to win the award. Granted, he was just the second player period to ever win ROY, but still. The first overall pick of the Baltimore Bullets in 1953, Felix was immediately the tallest player in the league at 6’11” and used his height to great advantage right out the gate. He finished fifth in the NBA in scoring (17.6 points per game) as a rookie, fourth in rebounding (13.3 per game), and was named an All-Star. The cash-strapped (and soon to fold) Bullets traded him before the ’54-’55 season to New York, where he continued to put up solid though less impressive numbers, and his rookie stats would turn out to be career highs. Felix ultimately averaged just 10.9 points and 8.9 rebounds per game for his nine-year career, and was never again an All-Star.
7) Mike Miller, 2001
Selected fifth out of Florida in 2000, Miller was part of arguably the weakest draft class in post-merger NBA history. He managed to win Rookie of the Year despite averaging just 11.9 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game. Those total amounts of average points, rebounds, and assists (17.6) set the record for lowest ever by a ROY until Malcolm Brodgon broke it in ’16-’17. Miller played in all 82 games for the Magic as a rookie year and started in 62 of them thanks to a Grant Hill injury. #1 overall pick Kenyon Martin was a distant second in voting despite putting up more impressive stats for the Nets. Martin was ultimately one of just three players from this class to ever make an All-Star team (alongside Jamaal Magloire and Michael Redd). Miller never became a star player but earn one more individual award in his career, Sixth Man of the Year in ’05-’06.
6) Phil Ford, 1979
The first ever freshman to make the varsity squad at UNC under Dean Smith (freshman eligibility had just been installed a year earlier), Ford was accustomed to major playing time as a rookie. This was good news for a Kansas City Kings team desperate for point guard help. Veteran starter Lucius Allen was sidelined indefinitely following toe surgery so Ford stepped in immediately and averaged 15.9 points and 8.6 assists per game as a rookie. Not only was he successfully statistically, Ford also helped spark a 17-win improvement for the Kings, and their first playoff appearance in four years. He won 62 out of a possible 66 ROY votes, with Reggie Theus finishing a distant second. Ford remained solid for two more seasons but then suffered an eye injury that required surgical repair and essentially ended his career.
“He’s one of just five rookies to average 20+ points, five-plus assists, and five-plus rebounds per game and he’s in lofty company in that regard, alongside LeBron James, Oscar Robertson, Luka Doncic, and Michael Jordan”
5) Tyreke Evans, 2010
2009 was a banner draft class, featuring Stephen Curry, James Harden, Blake Griffin, Jrue Holiday, and DeMar DeRozan. But the Rookie of the Year was Evans, who by age 29 was out of the NBA completely and facing an uncertain future. Not that he didn’t earn the award. Evans is one of just five rookies to average 20+ points, five-plus assists, and five-plus rebounds per game and he’s in lofty company in that regard, alongside LeBron James, Oscar Robertson, Luka Doncic, and Michael Jordan. But the rest of his career would be marked by misuse (the Kings never knew exactly where and how to play him), lack of development, and multiple knee surgeries. Evans missed almost the entire ’15-’16 and ’16-’17 seasons due to injury then was delivered a likely fatal blow to his career in 2019, when the NBA suspended him for two years for violation of the substance abuse policy.
4) Woody Sauldsberry, 1958
At #60 overall in the eighth round, Sauldsberry still holds the record as lowest ever draft pick to earn Rookie of the Year. It was a real underdog story, a guy who was lightly recruited out of high school, starred for two years at the HBCU Texas Southern, played for two years with the Harlem Globetrotters, then edged out #1 overall pick Hot Rod Hundley in ROY voting. Sadly, it was abbreviated and waylaid by racism, notably the unspoken Black player quota that cost Sauldsberry roster spots later in his career. After winning ROY and then making the All-Star Game in ’58-’59, Sauldsberry found himself dispensable when the Warriors drafted Wilt Chamberlain and bounced around the league for the rest of his career. He did end up winning a championship with the Celtics in ’65-’66, though he had to sue the NBA just to guarantee his Boston contract.
3) Geoff Petrie, 1971
A first round pick of the expansion Trail Blazers in 1970, Petrie was a perfect fit. A prolific shooter on an otherwise anemic offense, he averaged 24.8 points per game as a rookie, good for seventh in the NBA. Petrie was an All-Star as a rookie, the first honoree in Portland franchise history, and shared Rookie of the Year honors with Dave Cowens. This was no small feat either, as three other future Hall of Fame inductees finished behind Petrie in voting: Pete Maravich in third, Calvin Murphy fourth, and Bob Lanier fifth (the stellar draft class also included Tiny Archibald and Dan Issel). Petrie remained a star player for the Blazers for five more seasons until suffering a devastating knee injury in 1976 that ended his career. He would later add two NBA Executive of the Year awards to his trophy case, as general manager of the Kings in the late ’90s and early ’00s.
2) Ernie DiGregorio, 1974
With an exciting playmaking style, DiGregorio took the NBA by storm in his rookie ’73-’74 season, but then disappeared almost as fast. He led the league in assists per game (8.2) and free throw percentage (90.2%) for the Buffalo Braves in his first season, earning him Rookie of the Year in a runaway over second place Ron Behagen. But DiGregorio would never fully recover from a knee injury suffered in his second season, which left him so flat-footed later in his career that his nickname “Ernie D” was sarcastically altered to “Ernie No D.” After failed stints with the Celtics and Lakers, DiGregorio retired in 1978 at the age of 27. The 1973 draft class would ultimately go down as one of the worst in NBA history. The only star player to emerge was George McGinnis, who spurred a contract offer from the 76ers to instead start his eventual Hall of Fame career in the ABA.
1) Monk Meineke, 1953
The inaugural NBA Rookie of the Year in ’52-’53, Meineke supposedly didn’t even know he had won the award until he read about it in the newspaper. The NBA has never released voting records going back that far, so we’re not sure who else received consideration. It’s difficult to say who could even have challenged Meineke for the honor, as the class of 1952 is the only NBA rookie cohort to not place a single player in our list of the 500 greatest players of all time. Meineke averaged 10.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game as a rookie for the Fort Wayne Pistons and never matched those stats again in his four subsequent NBA seasons. He did make a Finals appearance in 1955 with the Pistons but soon after retired to return to his hometown of Dayton and take up work as a salesperson. He’ll always be the trivia answer to the question “who was the first NBA Rookie of the Year?” and according to our metrics, is also the answer to the question “who was the worst NBA Rookie of the Year?”
Next up in Awards and Honors
Cold comfort: 18 NBA Coach of the Year winners whose team made an early playoff exit
Can’t get in without a ticket [UPDATED]: 27 greatest eligible players not yet in the Naismith Hall of Fame
Welcome to the big leagues: Ranking the NBA careers of the 52 Naismith Award winners
Head of the class: 18 greatest Naismith Hall of Fame NBA induction classes
Separated laundry: 18 NBA players with a jersey retired by multiple franchises
