Chicago Bulls stretch four Nikola Mirotic finished second in the Rookie of the Year Award voting. Nerlens Noel of the Philadelphia 76ers finished third. The Minnesota Timberwolves Andrew Wiggins took home the award. I broke down all the top rookies for the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. You can read that whole piece here.
NBA on TNT Analyst Webber on Nikola Mirotic: “He’s a scorer. You do not want him feeling it going back home with those crazy Chicago fans and that loud stadium. You want to try and keep that foot on the neck, especially on his confidence.”
We saw Nikola Mirotic do that last night. He got the confidence, he was feeling it at a time when the team really needed him. No one else was scoring in the second quarter, so he stepped up and filled the void.
As a vital part of one of the NBA’s best front lines, he truly earns his minutes.
We saw this earlier during Mirotic March madness when averaged 20.8 points per game for the month. He was especially good in clutch time too; leading the entire NBA in both fourth quarter scoring average and 4th quarter total points.
Nikola Mirotic has a unique skill set. His versatility allows him to both post up down low and shoot the three in transition. “Niko,” as he’s called by teammates and coaches, is also more polished than your typical NBA rookie due to the 97 games he played professionally in Spain with Real Madrid.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous sports talk radio stations all across the country.
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