Top 5 NBA Rookie of the Year Candidates

Once again, we have an NBA draft that's littered with quality point guards coming out of the first round.

We currently live in an NBA where guards reign supreme, as forwards and centers are becoming a lost and unappreciated art. With four of the players on this list of possible Rookie of the Year's being point guards, I believe it is safe to say that possessing a point guard is becoming more and more of a necessity just to keep up.

Just look at all of they young point guards that have taken this league over. The likes of Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry and Derrick Rose have taken this league by storm thanks in part to their athleticism that we have never seen from the likes of your standard floor general.

Along with other young guards in Rajon Rondo, Chris Paul and Deron Williams, the competition amongst the league's elite point guards is becoming staggering.

Even veterans like Steve Nash, Andre Miller and Jason Kidd continue to be relevant, while still remaining effective even in the later stages of their career.

With a new crop of point guards, and other players, sprouting up out of the 2011 draft, we'll take a look at just which players could possibly contend for the prestigious Rookie of the Year award.

Kyrie Irving

One of the more mysterious and unproven No. 1 picks of recent memory, Kyrie Irving is going to be an interesting rookie to take note of this upcoming season.

Despite playing in only 11 games at Duke University and only at 19-years-old, Irving was highly touted as the best point guard in the NBA draft.

At 6'3", 190 pounds, Irving will be looking to continue the trend set by recent point guards in the draft who have shown immediate success and have showcased an unbelievable deal of athleticism that we haven't seen in so many one guards before.

Irving played in only 11 games and averaged 28 minutes per, but managed to show us what he had by averaging 18 points on 53 percent shooting to go along with nearly two three-pointers per game on 46 percent shooting. He also had four assists, three boards and two steals per in his lone season at the NCAA level.

We can pretty much consider Irving straight out of high school by this point. Even though he had a year's worth of guidance under Coach Krzyzewski, Irving is incredibly raw and full of untapped potential. On a team with fellow rookie Tristan Thompson, Irving should be able to thrive as he becomes the focal point of the offense.

However, the pressure on Irving to perform well will be immense. Without LeBron James for the first time since 2003 last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers finished 19-63 and suffered one of the most embarrassing seasons in NBA history that came with a 26-game losing streak and a 55 point loss.

The Cavs fanbase will be looking towards Irving as their savior, and he's got some mighty large shoes to fill.

Brandon Knight

20-years-old and out of my backyard of Coral Springs, Florida, Detroit Pistons point guard Brandon Knight will be looked at as another franchise savior of a team that currently resides in shambles.

The Cavaliers might have lost 63 games, but the Detroit Pistons were an absolute trainwreck of a franchise. It got so bad in the Pistons organization that a number of veterans, including Tracy McGrady, Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince, staged a boycott of their coach John Kuester by missing out on shoot-around and a game where only six players suited up.

It was so ugly that the players actually laughed when Kuester was sent to the locker room following his ejection in a loss to Philadelphia.

That coach and that team is gone. The Pistons have a long road ahead of them on their way back to relevance, and they'll be looking towards Knight to be the solution to their many problems. He'll be joining a young lineup that's composed of shooting guard Rodney Stuckey, power forward Jonas Jerebeko and center Greg Monroe.

Prince will be the only player above the age of 30 in the starting lineup.

Knight is coming off a superb season at the University of Kentucky where he played under legendary coach John Kallipari. He averaged 17 points, four boards and four assists per in his final season at the NCAA level, while displaying the solid ability of leading an offense as a passer and a scorer.

Brandon has a lot of pressure on him to help revive this franchise, but he'll be supported by a number of veteran teammates, as well as some other young players who can also express their growing pains.

Kemba Walker

Another point guard with a strong chance of winning Rookie of the Year, the Charlotte Bobcats Kemba Walker will play a huge role on the team as soon as the season starts.

With the team set to have their offense rely on Corey Maggette at the start of the season, it's obvious to see that it is subject to change. The Bobcats do not want to rely on Maggette to win games, they want to rely on their star rookie in Walker, who has already hit a game-winning shot in the preseason.

Charlotte would love to see more of that as Walker proved many times in the NCAA that he was capable of coming through in the clutch. If any of those game winners proved something, it's that Walker is not only a terrific scorer throughout the game, but is also able to transition that scoring prowess to the later stages of the game.

The kid has ice cold veins and he's ready to showcase that with his NBA team. The Bobcats are severely lacking on offense with Maggette and Gerald Henderson set to be the offensive leaders, which means the door is wide open for Walker to begin making his impression felt in the NBA. We have seen his offensive skill set on full display and it was one of the most well-rounded at the college ranks.

In his final season at UCONN, Walker averaged 24 points on 43 percent shooting to go along with five boards, five assists and two steals per. He also knocked down two three-pointers per game at a 33 percent clip. The only complaint to make about Walker's game is that he might not have the greatest shot selection, but with proper guidance, we shouldn't look to much into it.

With the team set to revolve around him in the near future, Walker may have the best chance at taking home the award.

Jimmer Fredette

There's NCAA range, there's NBA range and then there's Jimmer range.

While some NCAA players may struggle having to transition their three-point shot from the college ranks to the NBA, Jimmer Fredette has shown no problems in adjusting to the NBA's three-point line. In college, Fredette was shooting far beyond the NBA's three-point line and was converting his shots from beyond the arc at a 40 percent clip.

It's quite the feat to convert on 40 percent of your shots, and it's even more impressive when you consider that he was taking nearly nine three-pointers per game and hitting between three and four of them per contest. It led to Jimmer averaging 29 points per game and being taken with the 10th pick in the draft by the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Bucks would then trade Fredette to the Sacramento Kings, where he is expected to become the starting point guard. With Fredette at point, the Kings will most likely move Tyreke Evans to shooting guard. The 22-year-old out of BYU is sure to draw plenty of fan interest from a city that was widely believed to not even have a team by the start of the 2011-'12 season.

Yet here we are and the Kings are still playing basketball in Sacramento. They should continue seeing the Kings in their town as long as the fans come out, which should be often now that the Kings secured one of the most hyped prospects in the draft.

The Kings struggled immensely with their production from the perimeter with Marcus Thornton and Francisco Garcia being the only current players on the team to convert on at least one three-pointer per game.

Fredette will be joining a team that didn't have one player shoot over 40 percent from beyond the arc, which means the door will also be open for him to take over the role as the team's main perimeter threat.

Derrick Williams

Derrick Williams may be the most talented player in the NBA draft, but he'll find a difficult time in winning the Rookie of the Year award due to most likely being on the bench at the start of the season.

With Michael Beasley at the 3 and Kevin Love at the 4, Williams is going to have to prove to the Minnesota Timberwolves that he's capable of starting. Luckily for him, he claims to be a small forward which would make it a lot easier on Minnesota if they had to replace Beasley, and not Love.

Much like Beasley who is also stuck somewhere between a 3 and a 4, Williams happens to be a double-double machine that might actually be more aggressive and stronger than B-Easy, who also happened to be a No. 2 pick in 2008.

Beasley's coming off a season where he averaged 19 points per while showing great strides in how far he's come, but he may be replaced if Williams has a quality showing off the bench.

In his final season at the University of Arizona, Williams averaged 20 points per on 60 percent shooting to go along with eight boards per. Possibly the most enticing part of Williams skill set is the fact that he can score from inside, mid-range and on the perimeter where he shot 57 percent and converted on one three-pointer per game.

The Timberwolves have a young team on their hands, and with a veteran coach in Rick Adelman set to lead the way, Williams could find himself with a significant role and a shot at obtaining the Rookie of the Year if he's able to prove himself in the time he gets at first.

Adelman knows talent when he sees it. If Williams is able to harness his potential and show that he's capable of being a 20-10 player, he will get his starting job either at the start of next year or possibly by the end of this season.