Rockets' Jalen Green Address Simmons' Take Following First-Team Rookie Honors
In this story:
Houston — When the Houston Rockets made Jalen Green their top selection (No. 2 overall) during the 2021 NBA Draft, winning Rookie of the Year was a primary objective.
Green missed out on the chance to obtain the award due to the production of Toronto Raptors rookie forward Scottie Barnes — who received the honor over stiff competition that included Evan Mobley, Cade Cunningham and Franz Wagner.
Green finished fourth in ROY voting behind his peers. But Tuesday evening, the NBA revealed that Green joined his counterparts as members of the 2022 All-Rookie First Team honors.
Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
He was a near-consensus pick to receive first-team honors, but NBA analyst Bill Simmons was Green's lone second-team vote. Following the results, Green took to Twitter to shout out Simmons for the second-place voting.
The tweet was Green's first response since Simmons' controversial and harsh remarks were made during the recording of The Ringer Podcast earlier in the month.
“F*** Jalen Green,” Simmons said on the episode. “I don’t care you’re scoring 40 points and your team’s 19-60. Congratulations. Herb Jones is like guarding dudes in real games. Now, the Houston people are going to be mad at me.
"I’m sorry. I like winning players, I’m sorry. Jalen Green will get there, it’s just that team was 21-61 this year or whatever.”
Simmons congratulated Green for the accolade and clarified his reasoning for voting New Orleans Pelicans' Herb Jones in his place.
Jones played a significant role in the Pelicans winning the NBA's Play-In tournament and modest success in the first round against the Phoenix Suns. But Jones' on-court production fell short of the all-star potential Green showcased through the 2022 campaign.
Green started all 67 of his games while averaging 17.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
Green ranked second among rookies in scoring and was 0.14 ppg shy of the lead. Green hit 157 3-pointers, which is tied for the fourth-most through the first 67 games played by any player in NBA history.
