When the voting for NBA Rookie of the Year was held, there was no doubt who was the best first-year player: Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Despite much whining by Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz that Simmons was not a ‘real rookie’ because he came out of college a year earlier (but due to a broken foot missed the 2016-17 season), it was a landslide.
Simmons had 90 first-place votes to just 11 for Mitchell. Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics was a distant third, garnering just two second-place votes.