Michael Carter-Williams, picked 11th in a very bad draft, may prove to be one of the biggest steals this side of Kobe Bryant.

Just for reference, Kobe Bryant was picked 14th in the 1996 draft. That was because he was in high school, and only astute basketball evaluators had him on their radar. Coach K of Duke and Jerry West of the LA Lakers were certainly among the best of them.

MCW, though, had two years of college ball in a top program (Syracuse). However, critics may sometimes dwell too much on his weaknesses rather than his strengths. Teams with a vision shied away from a tall point guard with "no shooting" and "poor decision making skills."

The Philadelphia 76ers and even their fans have almost no expectations this year. They're not talking playoffs, they traded their All-Star for a highly touted rookie (Nerlens Noel) that's languishing in the injury list. They had nothing to lose.

MCW's numbers after 11 games: 17.4 points/game, 6 rebounds/game, 7.5 assists/game. (stats from Basketball Reference.com)

His numbers actually took a dip, after team defenses have scouted him and he had a minor injury in his foot. He was the first to receive the Eastern Conference Player of The Week award - only the second rookie in NBA history to receive it in their first week. The other guy is Shaquille O'Neal.

Critics dismissed his debut performance as a fluke. His statline of  22 points, 12 assists, 7 rebounds and 9 steals (the highest recorded for a rookie debut) in 36 minutes is impressive but he has already marked career highs in points (27, then 29) and assists (13 against Cleveland) which means he is still improving.

Naturally, he is the frontrunner for rookie of the year. The closes competitor is Victor Oladipo (the pre-season favorite) but his statline is much lower than MCW.

Perhaps Philadelphia GM Sam Hinkie does know what he's doing.