NBA Rookie of the Year Futures - Don't Count out Blake Griffin

The curse of the LA Clippers continues as NBA Rookie of the Year favorite and top overall pick Blake Griffin has suffered a broken kneecap that will keep him out for the first six weeks of the season.

Griffin’s injury could turn what seemed to be a one-horse race into one of the most exciting subplots of the season as several talented newcomers now have an excellent shot to bring home the award.

The NBA Futures tab in the BetUS Sportsbook currently lists several guys as potential favorites to walk away with the Rookie of the Year Award at the end of the season, and there are also several sleepers who should catch the bettors’ attention as the 2009-2010 NBA season gets underway.

Exlcuding Griffin, who is the favorite at even money who will have some catching up to do when he returns, the favorite for the ROY Award on paper to start the season is now Stephen Curry. The former Davidson sharpshooter joins Don Nelson’s ragtag run-and-gun outfit for Golden State and should be a featured player.

How committed are the Warriors to the perimeter-oriented style Nelson favors? Just know that Corey Maggette is starting at power forward while Anthony Randolph recovers from an injury.

Needless to say, the Warriors will have no choice but to try and outscore people and Curry will be a big part of that plan. At the same time, however, the downside is that the Warriors have a ton of other perimeter shooters and scoring options to take touches away from Curry and no one to play the role of a true point guard to get them the ball in rhythm.

Other than Curry, the players with the best odds to win the award are Tyreke Evans, the rookie guard/forward from Memphis of the Sacramento Kings, and Jonny Flynn, the point guard of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Both are listed at +650 odds on the Sportsbook.

Evans is an excellent athlete and a talented all-around player but it’s hard to see him winning on such a bad team with him not having as much as experience in college as some of the other players.

Flynn is probably the better bet of the two because he has the experience to excel immediately and the teammates around him to help him rack up assists this season.

But the best bet in my opinion is James Harden of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Harden comes in polished and ready to put up big stats offensively on an up-and-coming young team that features a talented hybrid point guard in Russell Westbrook who can pass the ball and also cause havoc on defense leading to steals and easy buckets for Harden and Kevin Durant.

Durant will take a lot of shots away from Harden but Harden is too good of a shooter to not score 15 points a game this season based on the open shots he’ll receive from the attention paid to the guys around him.

If you’re looking for a deep sleeper in the ROY Futures lot, take a look DeMar DeRozan (+1500), Jordan Hill (+1800), and Tyler Hansbrough (+1600).

DeRozan is a world-class athlete just scratching the surface of his potential on a Raptors team that lacks penetrators but has a lot of good shooters to spread the floor. Hill could put up big stats on a Knicks team that continues to transform into a run-and-gun outfit under Mike D’Antoni. Hansbrough could put up good stats for a bad Pacers team.