Stephen Curry or Jrue Holiday: Who Is the NBA's Sophomore of the Year?
The NBA does not have a postseason award for the league's top second year player, but if it did, who would be the leading candidates to receive that honor this season?
Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans won the NBA's Rookie of the Year award last season, and Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry finished as the runner-up.
Evans and Curry would likely be this season's primary candidates to receive Sophomore of the Year honors, and they would likely be joined by a familiar contender, in Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Jennings, and a new entry in Philadelphia point guard Jrue Holiday.
Curry had a better statistical season than Evans, as his scoring average increased to 18.6 per points per game, which is a point better than last season, and he also increased his shooting percentage from 46 to 48.
Curry's assists average of 5.8 per game nearly mirrors last season's average of 5.9 per game, and his rebounding numbers are also around the same as in 2009-10.
Evans, on the other hand, has seen his numbers decline in nearly every statistical category, although much of that can be explained by injuries that forced Evans to miss more than 20 regular season games.
Evans scoring average dropped from 20.1 in his rookie campaign to 17.8 this season. His shooting percentage fell to 40 percent, and he also experienced drops in his rebounding and assists averages.
Jennings saw his scoring average increase to 16.2 points this season and his shooting percentage raised slightly to 39 percent. But Jennings' assists are down, and his team appears to have regressed this season.
The Bucks reached the postseason last year and Jennings was a primary catalyst, but this season even a relatively healthy Andrew Bogut was not enough for the Bucks to match last season's feat.
The 76ers' Hoilday may be the most intriguing pick of all because he showed the greatest leap in production as he raised his scoring average six points to 14 points per game and showed the same type of improvement in nearly every statistical category.
Holiday's development is one of the major reasons Philadelphia was able to grab the seventh seed in the east, and of all the players mentioned, Holiday is the only one who managed to at least partially lead his team to the postseason.
The fact that Holiday's improvement coincided with the 76ers run to the postseason may tilt the scales more in his favor, despite the obvious gains the Warriors made with Curry.
Hoilday's 76ers finished the regular season at 41-41, which is five more wins than the 36 that Curry's Warriors have.
Golden State won 11 more games than last season, but it was not good enough for the team to reach 40 wins, and the Warriors were nowhere near securing a 2011 playoff berth.
Evans' Kings only won 24 regular season games, and Jennings' Bucks actually took a step backwards this year by failing to reach the postseason.
So even though Curry may have had better numbers, the unofficial NBA Sophomore of the Year award would still go to Holiday because he made the most drastic improvement in his game over the course of one season, and his team qualified for the postseason as a result.
