Cavaliers' Irving wins ROY Award
LeBron who?
Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving was named the runaway winner of the NBA's Rookie of the Year on Tuesday.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 draft received 117 of possible 120 first-place votes from a nationwide panel of 120 writers and broadcasters. He finished with 592 points, easily beating the Minnesota Timberwolves' Ricky Rubio (170) and the Denver Nuggets' Kenneth Faried (129).
Faried, San Antonio's Kawhi Leonard and New York's Iman Shumpert received the other first-place votes.
The 20-year-old is the second Cleveland player to win the award. The other, LeBron James, recently won his third MVP award.
Irving led the Cavaliers in both scoring (18.5 points per game) and assists (5.4). His scoring average was tops among rookies, as were his 87.2 free-throw percentage and his 17.7 efficiency rating, while his assists average was second only to Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio (8.2). Cleveland finished fifth in the Midwest Division with a record of 21-45.
The talented rookie turned pro after playing 11 games at Duke University. In Cleveland, he gave hope to a fan base that spent the past two seasons trying to move past James' departure as a free agent.
