Nikola Mirotic’s Case for Rookie of the Year

Dec 19, 2014; Memphis, TN, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic (44) and Memphis Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph (50) during the game at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

Before the season started, you could ask almost any basketball fan who they thought would win the 2014-15 Rookie of the Year award, and the answer you’d get would be “Jabari Parker” or “Andrew Wiggins.” Those answers came with good reason: The two players were fantastic while playing at college, they both have tremendous talent, and they were drafted as the first and second overall picks in the 2014-15 NBA Draft.

Unfortunately, Parker recently tore his ACL and is out for the remainder of the season. So we can infer that Wiggins is left alone to easily win the award, right?

Wrong. Nikola Mirotic, a rookie coming in from Europe, has been fantastic thus far with the Chicago Bulls. The 23-year-old has contributed to the Bulls having one of the best benches in the NBA with his spacing of the floor, scoring and rebounding.

This article will give a head-to-head comparison between Mirotic and Wiggins, who many believe is the favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award. All stats are a courtesy of Basketball Reference, unless otherwise stated.

For starters, here are the base stats for each player:

At first glance, it appears that Wiggins is doing better, despite having 13 more minutes per game. The only real difference between the two based on the above stats is their rebounding and scoring. Mirotic rebounds more, but scores much less than Wiggins. However, Mirotic is more efficient than Wiggins. Mirotic and Wiggins both shoot and incredible 41 percent from beyond the arc (although Mirotic does shoot twice as many as Wiggins at 2.8 per game), but Mirotic shoots better from the field at 45 percent, while Wiggins shoots just 40 percent.

Mirotic’s careful shot selection leads to his higher shooting percentage, while Wiggins sometimes will attempt more difficult shots, resulting in a lower percentage. His shot selection isn’t justified because he isn’t the Minnesota Timerwolves’ leader or best player. Additionally, Wiggins is taking exactly twice the amount of shots per game compared to Mirotic, but his usage rate when on the court is at 21.5 percent, only 2.9 percent more than Mirotic.

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Wiggins definitely has more potential than Mirotic. Sometimes Wiggins will play fabulous, and other times he’ll play awful. For example, in Wiggins’ last two games he has scored a combined 49 points while shooting 50 percent from the field. The three games before that, Wiggins only scored a combined 19 points on 29 percent shooting. On the other hand, Mirotic is becoming more consistent as the season progresses. No matter how long he plays Mirotic will have an impact on the game, and sometimes he shines when others may be struggling. An example of just how well Mirotic can be was displayed against the Memphis Grizzlies when he scored 27 points on 6/6 shooting from beyond the arc, leading the Bulls to a 103-97 victory. He helps space the floor and forces defenders to guard him closely, which ultimately helps his teammates offensively.

The biggest challenge for Mirotic right now is his limited minutes.  . If he only plays 18 minutes a game for the rest of the season it will be hard to give him the award. And because the Bulls have such a strong frontcourt with Taj Gibson, Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah, finding those minutes will be tough.

On the contrary, Wiggins is starting for the Timberwolves every night, allowing him to get more experience and improve each game. If Mirotic can increase his minute-load, he’ll be able to have more convincing and exciting performances. Here are what the stats would look like (theoretically) for Wiggins and Mirotic if both played 36 minutes per game:

Do you think Mirotic deserves to win Rookie of the Year if he keeps playing at this level, or should Andrew Wiggins deserve the prestigious award?