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Dylan Harper was off to a robust begin to his NBA profession, as he helped the Spurs to a 5-0 report by hitting the bottom working alongside Victor Wembanyama in San Antonio.
With De’Aaron Fox out to begin the season, Harper obtained an opportunity to indicate what he can do because the Spurs’ lead guard and averaged 14.0 factors, 4.0 rebounds and three.8 assists per recreation on 50/35.7/83.3 capturing splits. That was till he exited a loss to the Suns after simply 11 minutes of play with a calf pressure that Shams Charania reported on Monday will price him “a number of weeks” of motion.
The constructive for Harper and the Spurs is that it’s not a extra extreme harm, however they will now must proceed cautiously with their younger budding star as a calf pressure tends to require administration for a while even after a participant returns to the courtroom.
That, together with Fox’s impending return to the beginning lineup, will doubtless transfer Harper to the periphery of the NBA’s Rookie of the 12 months race. That now seems set to be a two-man battle between Dallas’ Cooper Flagg and Philadelphia’s V.J. Edgecombe. At FanDuel Sportsbook, Flagg is now a -110 favourite with Edgecombe shut behind at +130, with nobody else inside +2000. (Harper fell to +4000 as a result of his harm.)
Edgecombe being second is a bit shocking in a vacuum, as he has been the unquestionable greatest rookie within the first two weeks of the season. Edgecombe is averaging 20.3 factors, 5.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds per recreation on 49.5/42.1/82.4 splits and has created an electrical Sixers backcourt with Tyrese Maxey. He produces spotlight reel performs seemingly each night time and has rapidly made himself a family title not solely in Philadelphia, however for NBA followers across the nation.
The query is whether or not he can sustain the red-hot capturing begin (he shot 34% from three at Baylor) and the way his position will change every time Paul George returns to motion. Nick Nurse should discover the suitable steadiness between working again in one in every of his presumptive high stars with out messing with the good chemistry Maxey and Edgecombe have created simply two weeks within the season.
Flagg being the heavy favourite for the award coming into the season means oddsmakers are cautious of shifting him out of the highest spot in ROY odds this early within the season regardless of Edgecombe clearly leaping him in on-court manufacturing. The No. 1 general choose has been thrust into an ill-fitting level guard position in Dallas and requested to sink or swim by Jason Kidd. The aim is to make him a greater, extra assured playmaker with the ball in his fingers long-term, however within the fast he has struggled as anticipated with such a hefty on-ball workload.
Flagg is averaging 13.8 factors, 6.5 rebounds and three.0 assists per recreation on 37.3/28.6/100.0 splits in Dallas, as he is struggled with effectivity whereas being tasked with creating most of his personal offense. There are many causes for optimism that Flagg might be producing on the degree he was anticipated to by the point this season ends.
His lone season at Duke confirmed that he’s greater than able to shaking off a sluggish begin and dominating as soon as he will get comfy. On high of that, sooner or later, Flagg ought to cede the purpose guard position again to Kyrie Irving, which ought to assist his capturing numbers. With a lot of the season left in entrance of him, there’s loads of time for him to place up the type of stats to drag nearer to Edgecombe.
The battle between these two for Rookie of the 12 months might be thrilling to observe all season. In some unspecified time in the future within the not too distant future Harper might be again on the courtroom and can throw his hat within the ring for All-Rookie crew honors in what has confirmed early on to be a high quality rookie class, however his harm and the position query when Fox is again within the rotation make it arduous to see a path to ROY. Spurs followers might be much less anxious about that and extra excited concerning the prospects of what the crew can appear to be every time he and Fox are wholesome given the Spurs have thrust themselves into the playoff dialog out West with their sizzling begin.
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