I am just surprised that no rookie did better than Smart last month. I understand now that he is the East rookie of the month, not the NBA rookie of the month so I guess that means he was not competing with Wiggins. Maybe this is a result of all the rookies being so young as compared to the "old days" when rookies usually had four years of college before being rookies.
Part of the context is that this has been an injury-plagued season for the top picks:
1. Wiggins: healthy
2. Parker: out for year, torn ACL
3. Joel Embiid: out for year, foot
4. Aaron Gordon: missed more than half of season so far, ankle
5. Exum: healthy
6. Smart: mostly healthy
7. Randle: out for year, broken leg
8. Stauskas: out for year, no game
So, other than Smart you have two of the top 8 players who've even been regular contenders for "rookie of the month" - and Exum is not exactly setting the world on fire.