USA - Evans takes Rookie of the Year honours

SACRAMENTO (NBA) - Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans has been named the NBA Rookie of the Year after becoming just the fourth player in NBA history to average at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in his first season.

Evans led the Kings in scoring (20.1 points), assists (5.8) and ranked fourth in rebounding (5.3). Only Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan and LeBron James before him averaged at least 20-5-5 in their rookie campaigns.

The 20-year-old, who played just one year of college basketball at Memphis before making the jump to the NBA, beat out Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Brandon Jennings of the Milwaukee Bucks for the prestigious award.

Evans's impressive play did not translate into great team success as the young and inexperienced Kings finished with a lowly 25-57 record. However, the 6ft 6in guard has shown enough to prove that he is the new face of the franchise and hopes are high he can turn their fortunes around.

Curry impressed with his ability to make the transition from being primarily a deadly scorer in college to playing the point guard position and running a team in the NBA. He averaged 17.5 points, 5.9 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game and took over the reins in the Warriors's high-octane offense.

Jennings took a different road to the NBA than both Evans and Curry. The Bucks point guard skipped college and spent one year with Italian side Lottomotica Roma before being drafted by Milwaukee.

While his stats aren't as impressive as those of Evans and Curry, he has helped his team reach the playoffs and played a leading role as the Bucks hold a 3-2 lead in their Eastern Conference opening round series against the Atlanta Hawks and could book their place in the second round on Friday night to complete a stunning upset.

All three guards are likely to have caught the eye of USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo as future Team USA players.

Meanwhile, Atlanta Hawks guard Jamal Crawford was a near-unanimous winner of the Sixth Man of the Year award after averaging 18 points per contest while coming off the bench in all 79 games he played.

FIBA