NBA: In-Depth Cases For the Top 3 Candidates

Who is the 2017-18 Rookie of the Year?
Who is the 2017-18 Rookie of the Year?

#2 Tatum is the best rookie on possibly the best team in the Eastern Conference

Milwaukee Bucks v Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics have taken the league by storm - there's no other way to say it.

With a 53-23 record so far and the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference locked up - with a chance to catch the #1 Toronto Raptors if results go their way, and the 16-game winning streak they put together at the start of the season, the Celtics have emerged as the most dangerous threat to end the Cavaliers' streak of NBA Finals appearances at 3.

On Tatum's part, he's been the only ever-present in a roster that has been affected by a spate of ill health, injury troubles and constant niggles to everyone else. He's played the most minutes in the roster, and it doesn't seem like Gordon Hayward has been missed all that much by the Boston Celtics mostly because of how well Tatum has meshed into his starting berth this season.

The fact that the Celtics are not missing a bonafide All-Star due to a rookie who's replaced him in the lineup should, by and of itself, be a substantial argument in Tatum's Rookie of the Year case.

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