Embiid, Saric named 2016-17 NBA Rookie of the Year finalists
Philadelphia 76ers players account for two-thirds of the NBA’s Rookie of the Year finalists for the 2016-17 season.
Sixers center Joel Embiid and forward Dario Saric were both named finalists for the award, which recognizes the league's best fresh face. The only other nominee for the award this year is Malcolm Brogdon from the Milwaukee Bucks.
Embiid was far and away the most impressive of the trio, both visually and statistically speaking. However, injury issues limited him to just 31 games of action, which could count against him in the mind of some voters.
For the '16-17 season, Embiid averaged 202. points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, and 2.1 assists per game, while Saric averaged 12.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per over 81 appearances.
Brogdon appeared in 75 games for the Bucks and averaged 10.2 points, 4.2 assists, and 2.8 rebounds per game.
Should either Embiid or Saric win the hardware, they would become just the third player in Sixers history to do so, following Allen Iverson (1996-97) and Michael Carter-Williams (2013-14). Hopefully they both have brighter futures with the franchise than Carter-Williams did.
You can see the rest of the finalists for the league's season-end awards below:
The winner of the Rookie of the Year - and all other year-end awards - will be revealed at the first annual NBA Awards Show on June 26 in New York.