Karl-Anthony Towns (Photo : NBAE via Getty Images)
Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor, two of the top three first round picks of this year's draft class are making a strong case for the Rookie of the Year Award, while D'Angelo Russell, drafter second overall by the Los Angeles Lakers, continues to struggle and has yet to make an impact in his rookie season.
CBS Sports' Eye On Basketball has provided their own list of the NBA's Rookie Rankings in the first week of the league.
Towns, first overall draft pick of the Minnesota Timberwolves, has been the leading the race to ROY after his historical first two games of the NBA 2015-2016 season, where he posted two consecutive double-double outputs against the Lakers (14 points and 12 rebounds) and the Denver Nuggets (28 points and 14 rebounds). He tied Lebron James as the other teenager to produce such numbers the first two games of his NBA career.
His most recent outing against the Miami Heat has decreased his point average to 14.8, but Towns' overall performance and defensive abilities have given him the edge over Okafor in the early Rookie of the Year prediction.
Okafor, on the other hand, was tipped by the NBA general managers as the favorite to win the ROY Award, and the former Duke has been proving he belongs to the rookie conversation after putting up big numbers for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Despite the adjustments of fitting into the professional league and coach Brett Brown's style, the 6-foot-11 rookie seems to do well as he averages 20.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in his first four games. He has scored back-to-back 20+ points in his last two outings against the Milwaukee Bucks and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Surprisingly, New York Knicks' Kristaps Prozingis takes the third spot in the ROY race ahead of No. 2 pick Russell. Porzingis has been solid for the Knicks, where he starts at center and reads Derek Fisher's triangle system well.
The Latvian's best game so far was against the San Antonio Spurs, where he posted 13 points, 14 rebounds, and 2 blocks.
Yahoo Sports also has the same arrangement for the Rookie of the Year early listings, and has the same perspective on where Russell falls.
Russell has been struggling to live up his potential under the tutelage of head coach Byron Scott and superstar Kobe Bryant. However, his situation of not making an impact in his rookie year may have something to do with how Scott utilizes Russell's point guard skills.
In Lakers' 120-109 loss against the Nuggets, Russell was benched in the fourth quarter as Scott opted to field reigning sixth man of the year Lou Williams. Baxter Holmes of ESPN said Russell has "no idea" if he will stay out on the game during crunch-times and the frustration mounting is "something I've got to deal with."
So far, Russell has only averaged 8.5 points and 2.8 assists per game, while playing for 24.3 minutes for the Lakers.
Other honorable mentions are Nuggets' Emmanuel Mudiay and Heat's Justise Winslow.
Mudiay has impressively leading Denver, but his turnovers (5.6 per game) continue to expose his raw talent despite his average of 11.6 points and 5.8 assists in five games.
Meanwhile, Winslow, who is coming off the bench for Erik Spoelstra, has proved to be a defensive stopper, but his limited minutes only give him 5.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.
