Can Nikola Mirotic Jump into NBA Rookie of the Year Race?

Coming into the 2014-15 season, the conversation about the NBA Rookie of the Year race featured a number of names—Jabari Parker of the Milwaukee Bucks, Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Nerlens Noel of the Philadelphia 76ers, just to name a few.

Chicago Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic wasn’t on that list.

The 23-year-old has already been an MVP in another professional league in Spain, so many followers of the NBA either don’t think him of as a rookie or don’t think of him at all.

With that said, Mirotic has been more than good enough to deserve mention among his first-year peers.

At 16.00, his player efficiency rating is higher than that of Wiggins, Parker and Noel. Mirotic has also rebounded at a high level, with only Noel ahead of him in per-game averages (6.6 to 5.1), but his advantage is over about thirteen extra minutes per game.

Niko has been a surprisingly effective weapon for the Bulls, adding a balance of shooting, dribble penetration and instinctive passing, and occasionally causing havoc defensively with his quick, turnover-creating hands.

There’s a futuristic bent to just how versatile Mirotic is for a 6’10” player. As Nathan Grubel of Hoops Habit puts it:

"

A big man that can handle the ball as well as Mirotic can is a hot commodity in today’s NBA, as versatility and perimeter ball skills are being sought after more in big men, and traditional power forwards and centers are being courted less and less, as the league looks to build around players that are more than finishers and rebounders at the basket.

"

Niko had a hard time getting minutes at the beginning of the season, as coach Tom Thibodeau had him mostly buried at the end of bench behind Joakim Noah, Pau Gasol and Taj Gibson.

But injuries to each of those players led to a seven-game stretch in which Mirotic played well above 20 minutes consistently. Gibson’s extended absence, in particular, made for more opportunities for Mirotic to shine.

Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images

And shine Mirotic did. So much so that it’s safe to wonder whether Thibodeau will make a priority of finding more minutes for him going forward.

During a few games, including the Bulls’ 109-102 victory over the Boston Celtics on November 28, Mirotic even looked like one of his team’s best players. He collected 13 points, eight rebounds, five blocks and two steals in that game, playing crunch-time minutes.

He was also able to raise his season-long statistics during his stretch of increased playing time after a rocky, distinctly rookie-like start to the year.

“I’ve watched enough of his games over the summer to know that he reads closeouts well, he knows when he should shoot, he knows when he should pass,” Thibodeau said about Mirotic, per CSN Chicago's Mark Strotman. “That doesn’t mean that it’s happening all the time yet, but I want him to be instinctive. He’s at his best when he’s like that.”

Mirotic is now shooting a respectable 44 percent from the floor, including a dangerous 39 percent from beyond the three-point arc.

Perhaps most importantly, he’s quickly learned how to stay on the floor.

Mirotic is figuring out the subtleties of NBA officiating and the corresponding body control he needs on defense to avoid too many fouls.

When he racked up five of them in 18 minutes against the Los Angeles Clippers on November 17, many Bulls fans worried he simply wasn’t quick or athletic enough to hang with the best big men in the world.

He has only tallied that many fouls one time since then, despite playing more minutes. Fears about him being able to hang in the NBA’s restricted area seem mostly null at this point.

There’s a lot to be said for a player who can jump right into an NBA rotation as a rookie on a contending team.

Wiggins, Parker, Noel and the rest of rookie crop are largely given the luxury of low expectations and enough floor time to play through a lot of mistakes. Mirotic, on the contrary, is performing in the pressure cooker of a team with title expectations.

Brian Babineau/Getty Images

Steven Adams stepped into a similar spot with the Oklahoma City Thunder last year, as did Pablo Prigioni—in his 30s—with the New York Knicks in the 2012-13 season.

But a rookie playing in a contender’s rotation is without doubt a rare occurrence.

So if the voters for the Rookie of the Year award want to go in a different direction than usual this year, they’ve got their top candidate in Mirotic. If the Bulls have one of the league's better records come voting time, it'll go a long way. So will a few more signature performances, of course—if Mirotic plays well on national TV time, expect his name to enter the race.

He’s not the face of his franchise like his competitors—he might not even be the fifth face in Chicago—but by many measures, he is the most effective member of his rookie class.

Advanced statistics courtesy of ESPN.com.