It wasn?t supposed to be this way. Well, let me rephrase that. The most NBA-ready of the four rookies from Florida?s back-to-back championship team, Al Horford, was primed to make his mark on the League.

But a pair of freshmen phenoms, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, dominated headlines from the beginning of the last year?s college basketball season right up until, and through, the start of the 2007-08 NBA campaign.

Leading up to last June?s draft all the talk was about Greg and Kevin, or Kevin and Greg, whichever you preferred.

Meanwhile, Horford was quietly and consistently giving the Gators his best each and every night en route to yet another NCAA Tournament win.

He impressed the Hawks enough to take him with the third pick in the draft, a rare good judgment call from a team that is more famous for whom they passed on than whom they actually selected in recent years. Atlanta?s most glaring need was at the point guard position, but they refused to allow Horford to slip through their fingers.

Ultimately, the drafting of Acie Law a few picks later, and the acquisition of Mike Bibby in February, locked up the point in Atlanta for the foreseeable future.

However, the addition of both Law and Bibby seem secondary at this point with Horford stealing the spotlight. How exactly he accomplished such a feat so quickly and quietly remains to be seen, though.

?I think my success has been all about me trying to just work hard on things that I can improve on. It also helps that I have been given the opportunity to play,? Horford told me before Atlanta?s game against the Celtics in Boston on Mar. 2.

While that is true, a number of rookies are getting significant playing time this season. Only Durant has been on the court more this season (33.6 mpg), but ten newcomers are getting more than twenty minutes a night during their inaugural NBA campaigns.

One aspect that separates Horford from the rest is where he plays on the court.

With a wealth of wing players on the roster, the Hawks have been forced to play their rookie phenom at center, where he?s mismatched nearly every night.

?Every night he?s undersized, and he figures out a way to get the job done. To be so undersized and be averaging ten rebounds a game is outstanding for a rookie. I just have to take my hat off to him because he was thrown in the fire and he responded in a very positive way,? teammate Josh Smith beamed.

Without making excuses, Horford relishes the wealth of competition he faces in the paint on a game-by-game basis.

?I?m playing a little bit out of position at the center spot, so I?ve gone against guys like Yao Ming, which was a tough load b,y itself. I?ve battled with Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Kevin Garnett this season ? and the list just goes on. I feel like every team we play has a great player that I have to go against,? he said.

Smith, who made the NBA?s All-Rookie Second Team in 2005, took his praise for the former Gator a little further when asked whether or not Horford had a shot at topping Durant for top rookie honors this season.

?To tell you the truth, I think he should be the Rookie of the Year. He?s shooting outstanding from the field, and the contribution that he makes to this team is so key,? said Smith.

In addition to his impressive stat line, the Hawks seem to feed off his energy. Atlanta lost their only game without Horford in the lineup, and he averages two more points per game when they record a victory.

?Without him we struggle; that is just one of the reasons that there should be a push for him to win Rookie of the Year,? Smith added.

With pundits labeling Durant as a lock to win the award after Oden went down with a knee injury, Horford silently began putting in work knowing all along that he?d be mentioned in the conversation this spring.

?Kevin definitely had a good year in college. He was an impact player as a freshman, but one of my expectations coming into the league was that I would be in the running for the Rookie of the Year,? Horford admitted. ?At the end of the day I feel like if our team takes care of business and we do our thing, and I help the team do that, I?ll be in good position to win it.?

The noise surrounding Horford?s campaign may not be too loud, but his numbers make all the necessary sounds.

In his first 61 NBA games he is averaging 9.7 points (fourth among rookies) and 9.9 rebounds (first by a handful) on .490 shooting from the floor while playing 31.6 minutes a game at center for the Hawks.

His closest competition among rookies is definitely Durant, but some people have even mentioned Luis Scola and Jamario Moon in the conversation, with guys like Juan Carlos Navarro and Joakim Noah building moderate cases thanks to strong performances in the second half of the season.

In order to separate Horford from the pack all you need to look at are the Floor Impact Counter (FIC) numbers (through March 9th) for the rookies mentioned above.

Player/Total FIC/FIC per 40
Horford, ATL: 641.8, 13.3
Moon, TOR: 527.9, 12.7
Durant, SEA: 523.9, 10.2
Scola, HOU: 440.8, 12.6
Navarro, MEM: 353.1, 8.8
Noah, CHI: 338.6, 13.8

The numbers don?t lie. In addition to posting the highest FIC total among all rookies this season, Horford is also a close second to Noah in terms of per 40 average. When you consider that Horford is playing nearly fourteen more minutes per night than his former Florida teammate, Al?s 13.3 is even more impressive.

The hype might be surrounding Durant, Moon, and Scola may be locks for the playoffs, and Navarro and Noah might be dark-horse candidates, but Horford is clearly the best rookie in the NBA this season.

He?s been thrown in the fire but has done a damn good job of handling the flames while helping the Hawks try to end their lengthy playoff drought.

Al Horford may be undersized in the paint on a nightly basis, but he is the one who has the rest of the NBA overmatched in the race for this season?s Rookie of the Year award.


Andrew Perna is a Senior Writer for RealGM.com. Feel free to contact him via e-mail (Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com) with comments or questions.