Power Rankings: For winning rookies, it's quality, not quantity of shots

Updated Nov. 10

Already the talk has begun.

Tyreke Evans is a shoo-in to win the Rookie of the Year award.

Sturdy rebounder DeJuan Blair (45) is shooting 61 percent from the floor; Tyreke Evans is managing just 40 percent. (AP)

Uh, unless Brandon Jennings can keep up his incredible early pace.

With Blake Griffin watching from the sideline and Ricky Rubio catching only highlights from abroad, the race to capture the league's top-rookie hardware might appear to be a two-stud staredown.

But numbers can be deceiving.

Jennings and Evans are off to fabulous starts. No doubt about it. They rank 1-2 in scoring among rookies in the early going.

But have they been the most impactful first-year players so far? It says here: No.

Any NBA observer worth his meal-room credential will tell you it's easy putting up points for a bad team. And while the Kings and Bucks have surprised some in the first fortnight, make no mistake about it: They are bad teams.

Two numbers tell you everything you need to know about the efficiency of Evans and Jennings: 40.2 and 43.0. Those were their shooting percentages as they prepared to enter their third full week of pay-for-play.

In other words, they're scoring a lot because they're shooting a lot. It's a luxury afforded to rookies on talent-challenged teams.

I believe three other rookies have outplayed them so far. They'd be 1-2-3 on my Rookie of the Year ballot if the election were held today:

•  Ty Lawson, Nuggets: The North Carolina standout was acquired on draft day to back up Chauncey Billups at the point, but he's been asked to be a whole lot more than that in his first seven games. With J.R. Smith suspended, the Nuggets have had to call upon Lawson to play almost half the game -- often alongside Billups -- and he has responded with difference-making shooting (55.4 percent) despite having already played on six different courts in his budding career.

•  Chase Budinger, Rockets: The Nuggets got off to a fast start with one starter out of the lineup; the Rockets have done it with two. Their best two. Without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, the Rockets have completely shifted gears and counted upon long-range shooting to already surprise the likes of the Blazers and Jazz. Budinger has keyed the 3-point-shooting success, burying eight of 19 while shooting 52.5 percent overall.

•  DeJuan Blair, Spurs: Like Lawson, Blair was brought in to back up a superstar, but has been so good early on, his coach already is looking for ways of playing them in tandem. In fact, it's been hard to tell when Tim Duncan has been out of the Spurs' lineup early on, with Blair having hit an amazing 61.1 percent of his shots while averaging 7.8 points and 7.6 rebounds in just 18.6 minutes per game.

Give Lawson and Budinger the same number of shots as Evans and Jennings, and they'd rank 1-2 among rookies in scoring. And put Blair on either the Kings or Bucks, and he might lead all NBA players in rebounds.

Who has the inside track to the Rookie of the Year hardware? The high scorers do, of course.

But who have been the best newcomers so far? Give me a winner -- or three -- anyway.

Thanks in large part to their first-year players' contributions, the Nuggets, Rockets and Spurs all have playoff-worthy positions in my latest CBSSports.com NBA Power Rankings: