Jazz's Ace Bailey Robbed of All-Rookie First Team Honors

Bailey would join a group of Derik Queen, Maxime Raynaud, Jeremiah Fears, and Collin Murray-Boyles on the All-Rookie Second Team, while the First Team would consist of VJ Edgecombe, Cooper Flagg, Kon Kneuppel, Dylan Harper, and Cedric Coward.

It's undoubtably one of the more stacked classes of rookies that the league has seen in some time. So even for Bailey to land on All-Rookie Second-Team is still a strong achievement that deserves to be celebrated.

But there's a real case that Bailey could've–– and should've–– found his way into the top five of this year's voting to land on that coveted First Team instead of the actual result of landing ninth within the rookies landing in the top 10.

Was Ace Bailey Snubbed of All-Rookie First Team?

When looking at the totality of Bailey's season, yes, there were better candidates out there who had a more complete year from start to finish. He finished his first year pro averaging 13.8 points on 44.3% shooting, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists from the field through 72 games.

But for Bailey, it was the first half of his season where he struggled to really find his footing like he was able to do further down the line.

He started his first nine games off the bench, dealt with an illness at the end of December that kept him sidelined for seven contests and forced him to sub-out mid-way through an eigtht, and he never quite found an opening to break out like he did as his rookie season progressed.

That story would quickly shift as the Jazz moved deeper into their regular season, though. And especially after the All-Star break, once the lineup continued to be depleted due to injury, allowing Bailey to step into a bigger role as one of Utah's primary scorers on a nightly basis.

After the Jazz got on the other side of All-Star Weekend, Bailey appeared in 23 games to average a stellar 18.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.0 assists, and nearly a block and a steal a game on just an extra three minutes played a night compared to before the mid-season break (25.1/28.5).

Those numbers are hard to ignore, even if it was through a brief span of a over 20 games. Regardless, it led to an eye-catching three players ranking ahead of him in voting on the Second Team, and off of the First Team entirely.

At the very least, Bailey deserves a little more recognition to be a borderline First Team selection, perhaps being right there with Cedric Coward. The Memphis Grizzlies' rookie had a super strong year himself, but the Jazz wing had some pretty competitive stats to stack up with him on both ends of the floor.

If anything, the snub off of the First-Team nod could offer Bailey another dose of motivation heading into a pivotal summer ahead of year two, one where he already feels primed to make a noticeable jump with a full offseason at his disposal.

If that jump can come to fruition, maybe it'll have those same voters re-thinking their choice to leave Bailey off the top of their ballot.