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List of rookies who have led their teams to the playoffs

candrew said:
Carmelo gets an asterisk....

1- His team shamelessly tanked the 2002-03 season so they can enter the LeBron sweepstakes.
2- they made the playoffs by one game beating out a Utah team for the 8 seed that was projected by some to win less than 10 games.
3- He didn't make the all-star team as a rookie and publicly whined about it proclaiming he was a better player than Andrei Kirilenko - who presumably got the last spot.
4- As still a teenager, lobbied the FO to get his coach fired (Jeff Bzdelik) which he did after a 26 win improvement from the previous season.
5- Had a ridiculously bad hairdo his first couple years in the league
6 - He's a jerkoff.
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He has and forever will be known to me as Smello.
 
colton said:
I tried googling this info but struck out. It seems like the list of rookies who have (a) led their team in scoring, and (b) whose team made the playoffs has got to be pretty short. Assuming Donovan does that with the Jazz, he'll be in rare company.

I've had to think of players and manually look up the info about them and their teams, but I'm out of time now so I'm turning to crowd-sourcing via Jazzfanz. Here are the ones I have found so far; if you can add to the list, please copy and paste the whole list into your post and insert your player(s) chronologically. Feel free to add any interesting info I may have missed about other notable accomplishments.

Interestingly, some players I looked up who DIDN'T make the list were:
* Oscar Robertson, Cincinatti Royals - won ROY after averaging a crazy 30.5 ppg, 10.1 rpg, and 9.7 apg in 1960-1961, but team didn't make playoffs.
* Wes Unseld, Bullets - won both ROY and MVP in 1968-1969 (crazy!) but only finished 5th on his team in ppg
* Magic Johnson (team made playoffs, but third on team in ppg behind Kareem and Jamaal Wilkes; named all star game starter but didn't win ROY due to Bird)
* Hakeem Olajuwan (won ROY, Rockets made playoffs, but finished 2nd in ppg behind Ralph Sampson)
* Allen Iverson (won ROY, led team with 23.5 ppg, but 76ers didn't make playoffs)
* Shaq (led team in points with 23.4 ppg, won ROY, but Magic finished 41-41 and didn't make the playoffs)
* Tim Duncan (won ROY, team finished 56-26, but was second in ppg behind David Robinson)
* Damon Stoudamire (won ROY, led team in ppg, but Raptors didn't make playoffs)
* Blake Griffin (led team in ppg, won ROY, but Clippers didn't make playoffs)
* LeBron James (won ROY, led team in ppg, but Cavs didn't make playoffs)


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The (probably incomplete) list:

1959-1960 - Wilt Chamberlain, Philadelphia Warriors - won both ROY and MVP (crazy!), averaged 37.6 ppg and 27 rpg (crazy!). Warriors finished 49-26.

1968-1969 - Elvin Hayes, Rockets - not only led team but also led entire league in scoring with 28.4 ppg, team finished only 37-45 but still made playoffs. Interestingly, didn't win ROY because of Wes Unseld, see above.

1969-1970 - Lew Alcindor (aka Kareem), Bucks - led team (and was second in the NBA) in scoring with 28.8 ppg. Bucks finished 56-26. Made all star game and won ROY.

1979-1980 - Larry Bird, Celtics - led team in points with 21.3 ppg; Celtics finished 61-21. Won ROY and made the all-star game.

1984-1985 - Michael Jordan, Bulls - led team in points with 28.2 ppg; Bulls finished only 38-44 but still made playoffs. Jordan won ROY, and also made all-NBA second team.

1989-1990 - David Robinson, Spurs - led team in points with 24.3 ppg; Spurs finished 56-26. Won ROY.
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What is really going to blow you away is when said rookie leads his team in scoring, gets his team into the playoffs, and wins the Finals MVP.
 
colton said:
Adding in Carmello Anthony

The (still probably incomplete) list of players who qualify:

1958-1959 - Elgin Baylor, Minneapolis Lakers - won ROY while averaging 24.9 ppg, 4th in the league. Also averaged 15 rpg, and led the Lakers from last place in NBA previous year to the NBA finals (albeit still with a losing record).

1959-1960 - Wilt Chamberlain, Philadelphia Warriors - won both ROY and MVP (crazy!), averaged 37.6 ppg and 27 rpg (crazy!). Warriors finished 49-26.

1968-1969 - Elvin Hayes, Rockets - not only led team but also led entire league in scoring with 28.4 ppg, team finished only 37-45 but still made playoffs. Interestingly, didn't win ROY because of Wes Unseld, see above.

1969-1970 - Lew Alcindor (aka Kareem), Bucks - led team (and was second in the NBA) in scoring with 28.8 ppg. Bucks finished 56-26. Made all star game and won ROY.

1979-1980 - Larry Bird, Celtics - led team in points with 21.3 ppg; Celtics finished 61-21. Won ROY and made the all-star game.

1984-1985 - Michael Jordan, Bulls - led team in points with 28.2 ppg; Bulls finished only 38-44 but still made playoffs. Jordan won ROY, and also made all-NBA second team.

1989-1990 - David Robinson, Spurs - led team in points with 24.3 ppg; Spurs finished 56-26. Won ROY.

2003-2004 - Carmello Anthony, Nuggets - led team in points with 21.0 ppg; Nuggets finished 43-39 and lost in first round of playoffs. Lost ROY to Lebron.
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Bumping this again now that the jazz are officially in the playoffs, so people can appreciate how historically rare it is for a rookie to lead a playoff team in scoring.
 
Ron Mexico said:
Any of those guys lead their team in scoring and get a 3rd seed?
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Elgin Baylor - #2 seed, Minneapolis Lakers had a 33-39 record. LOL.

Elvin Hayes - #4 seed, San Diego Rockets had a 37-45 record.

Wilt Chamberlain - #2 seed. Philadelphia Warriors had a 49-26 record.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar - #2 seed. Milwaukee was 56-26.

Larry Bird - #1 Seed. Boston was 61-21

Michael Jordan -#7 seed, Chicago was 38-44

David Robinson - #2 seed, San Antonio was 56-26
 
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