The vote among a panel of NBA reporters was nearly unanimous, as Paul received 124 of 125 first-place votes for 623 points, the most one-sided NBA Rookie of the Year balloting since San Antonio's David Robinson, who won the award in 1990 by 100 percent of the first-place votes.

    Four days after his 21st birthday, Paul left behind Torontos Charlie Villanueva, an American who finished second with 248 points, Australian top draft pick Andrew Bogut of Milwaukee big man, who finished third with 98.

    Utah's Deron Williams received the only first-place vote not given to Paul but still finished a distant sixth in the voting.

    Paul was the brightest spot for a team forced to leave its hurricane-ravaged home city and play most of its games in Oklahoma's capital city. He averaged NBA rookie season highs of 16.1 points, 7.8 assists and 2.24 steals a game.

    The young star helped the Hornets overcome their troubles to win 20 more games this past season than they did previous season with a record of 38-44, staying in playoff contention until the final week of the season.

    Paul was named as the Western Conference Rookie of the Month for all six months of the season and was the only unanimous selection to the league's All- Rookie first team. Enditem