Dennis Smith Jr. has become a Dallas Mavericks fan-favorite in his first year here and for good reason. The uber-athletic point guard dropped all the way to the 9th spot in the NBA Draft and Dallas wasted no more time calling his name over the podium. It was a quick understanding that, despite Carlisle’s perceived dislike of rookies, DSJ would be the day one starter.
Today, weeks after the NBA season came to a close, Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports announced the NBA’s first and second All-Rookie team and there is very little to dispute over it. Although all ten of these players did not necessarily dominate throughout the year, each one of them contributed more than essentially any other rookie in the 2017 class.