By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The argument as to who will win NBA Rookie of the Year has come to an end. Tonight, the NBA hosted their award show on TNT and the league decided to give Rookie of the Year honors to Bucks shooting guard, Malcolm Brogdon, over Sixers rookies Joel Embiid and Dario Saric.
Each player received five points for a first place vote, three points for second and one for third. Brogdon received 64 first place points and totaled 414 points. Saric got just 13 first place votes, but received 59 second place votes and totaled 266 points. Embiid, who placed third in the running for the award, actually received 23 first place votes, 10 more than his teammate Saric. Joel finished with a total of 177 points, 35 of which where third place votes.
Brogdon, 24, is the first non-lottery pick to win Rookie of the Year since Mark Jackson in 1988. Milwaukee picked him 36th overall in the 2016 NBA draft and Brogdon averaged 10.2 points, 4.2 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game this season, shooting 45.7 percent from the floor and 40.4 percent from beyond the arc. He led all first-year players in assists (4.2) and steals (1.12) per game and also ranked top-5 in the rookie class in scoring (10.2 ppg, 4th), free-throw percentage (85.5, 4th) and three point shooting percentage (40.4, 2nd). In the second half of the season, Brogdon averaged 12.5 points and 4.4 assists per game.
There's no doubting that Joel Embiid was the best rookie overall, but the fact that he played just 31 games likely played a large part in him not getting the award. As for Saric, he was impressive in his first season in the NBA and would have been a more than acceptable choice for the Rookie of the Year award.
Embiid, 23, played in 31 games this season for the Sixers before suffering a slight tear in his Achilles. During those 31 games, he was phenomenal, averaging 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game, all tops among 2016-17 rookies. He also led first-year players with 12 double doubles. After Brogdon won the award, Embiid took to Twitter to congratulate him.
Congrats to Malcom for the award.. you deserve it #ROY
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) June 27, 2017
Dario was second among rookies in scoring (12.8 ppg) and third in rebounding (6.3 rpg). He really turned it on in the second half of the season, averaging 17.3 points, which led all rookies, and 7.3 rebounds per game. Saric finished the season with 10 double doubles, which was good for second best in the rookie class behind Embiid.
