When OddsShark released their updated NBA Rookie of the Year odds in early July, Wendell Carter had the 10th best odds to win the award. By the All-Star break, those odds may look very, very different. And while the writers who vote on these awards have somewhat of a defined pattern in terms of who they vote for, Carter represents a rare opportunity to break the mold. Obviously nights like his huge double-double (14 points, 13 rebounds) with four blocks against Houston on Saturday will do wonders for his ROY stock, but even on his quiet nights he does the little things that add up over the course of a game (and a season).

Carter is in the top 20 in the league in contested shots per game and that is a big reason why he is one of five rookies playing over 25 minutes per night.

By now, most Bulls fans know that the ability to move laterally was the number one concern about Carter as a draft prospect. He knew the right thing to do but was often late to do it. When defending the pick-and-roll, he would step out for the hard hedge but it would happen too late. This threw off his ability to slow down the ball handler and recover to his man.

When you compare that to how he is defending now—especially against offenses that hunt mismatches as aggressively as the Rockets—the difference is startling considering we are discussing a 19-year old player:

Free souvenir from @WendellCarter34! Add this one to his stat sheet: pic.twitter.com/gafTsLQIcx — Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) November 4, 2018

Wendell Carter Jr. is an animal.



Huge block: pic.twitter.com/VwynSmkv0t — Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) November 4, 2018

He receives great help defense from Cam Payne and Justin Holiday in the first clip. That allows him the extra time he needs to get back to his man but the sense of urgency (and purpose) in Carter's movements are apparent from the start.

In the second clip Jabari Parker points as if he is telling Chandler Hutchison to pick up Chris Paul but then he steps over and guards him as well, leaving PJ Tucker wide open when he slipped the screen. Carter sees all of this happen as he is guarding Clint Capela on the baseline and leaves his man at the exact moment he needed to in order to come over and get the block on Tucker, which—as an added bonus—he tips to a teammate instead of out of bounds.

On the year Carter accounts for a larger share of his team's blocks than DeAndre Ayton, Mo Bamba and Jaren Jackson Jr. All three players were selected ahead of Carter.

His activity on the defensive end makes him stand out whenever you watch the 2018-19 Bulls. Several rookies may finish the year with better raw stats in terms of block totals because of an advantage in playing time, but Carter's block and steal rates will reflect that he makes the most out of his minutes.

At the end of the year Carter may not be putting up a double-double like Ayton is right now. But when you look at crucial figures like block percentage, defensive box plus/minus and steal rate, it is clear that he should be in the thick of the Rookie of the Year race come June.

And even if he is not, the numbers don’t lie.

Carter is well on his way to becoming the most important part of the current Bulls rebuild due to his two-way play and should be rewarded for it should it continue. His importance to the Bulls is most evident when you breakdown game film and see just how often he makes up for the mistakes of others. And for that reason alone Carter will have a shot to be the first ROY who wins the award based off of his on the court awareness rather than raw counting stats.