travesty

It is a complete and utter travesty that Lebron James received Rookie of the Year honors over Carmelo Anthony. It simply does not make any sense. So, Lebron had more assists than Anthony. What do assists mean anyway, you can look at it two ways. One way of looking at it is that if you have a lot of assists, you are an unselfish player. However, the other way of looking at it is that you have no one to pass to. Vince Carter was often criticized for opting to pass the ball when he had an open shot; so the question is, why wasn't Lebron taking the shots?

Perhaps because he can't shoot?

Now lets take a look at each players' respective teams.

First, Carmelo played in the Western Conference and his team had a 43-39 record in this (obviously) talented conference. Lebron lead his team to a paltry 35-47 record in a conference most people call the JV (Junior Varsity).

Second, lets look at the teammates of each.

Scoring
Carmelo had first in scoring with 21.0 ppg, with the next best two scorers averaging 14.8 and 14.2 ppg. Lebron was also first with 20.9, but the next two teammates were better than Melo's, averaging 15.5 and 15.3.

Rebounding
Carmelo was the third best rebounder on his team, averaging 6.1 rpg after Marcus Camby (10.1) and Nene (6.5). Here is the most telling story between which rookie is more valuable to the team. Lebron was just 4th in rebounding with 5.9 rpg. Beating him were Boozer (11.4), Ilgauskas (8.1), Mihm (6.4). Lebron benefited from playing with fairly dominating big men, in the JV no less.

Passing
Okay, I'll concede that Lebron is a better passer than Carmelo, and that his ballhandling skills are much better. His assists-to-turnover ratio (1.7) is incredible for a rookie.

Shooting
Carmelo edged Lebron in all shooting percentages.

Steals and Blocking
These are stats that are totally reliant on opponent mistakes. Carmelo had slightly lower stats in these categories, but again, he played in a tougher conference.

Intangibles
Finally there are the intangibles. Many say Lebron faced more pressure because of massive amount of pressure placed on his shoulders. Okay, I'll give him that, but it has nothing to do with this award. Kobe won't get any extra consideration for MVP just because he had to deal with his off-court pressures.

It's game game 7, the clock is winding down and your team is down 1. Who makes the final shot? For Denver, it's Carmelo, hands down. For the Cleveland? It's not Lebron. I saw this happen time and time again while watching Cleveland games. Lebron wasn't the guy taking that last shot.

Understanding that rookie of the year always goes to the player with better stats, I can understand Lebron winning because of those extra 4 assists per game. I'm not really arguing that Carmelo should have won ROY, but rather that the award should have been shared by the two of them. There are just too many factors that outweigh 4 extra passes per game. The fact that Melo is playing in the playoffs right now, while Lebron is playing golf. The fact that Melo doesn't have the kind of players surround Bron, and the fact that he plays far tougher opponents night in and night out. And the fact that Melo is relied upon more when his team needs him most. These factors should be more than enough to make him the co-winner of ROY.