2013 Rookies Thread

[kennarding]

wtf, MCW had 22pts, 12ast, 7 rebs, and 9 steals in his debut, against the Heat

[NovU]

Carter-Williams shot awful 30-something percentage during summer and preseason with bunch of TOs. But I guess he can play some serious ball when he's on. Wroten also played pretty solid as a back up though. It's an interesting PG situation for 76ers. MCW is 20 years old and Wroten is 19 years old. Pretty talented, let's see how they develop.

Miles Plumlee also caught me off guard totally. Looks like Alex Len will have to earn his minutes against Plumlee now that Gortat is gone, lol.

[Andrew]

I expect there'll be some very ordinary nights from him too, the rookie wall and all that jazz. But there definitely seems to be some talent there and it seems he's not lacking for confidence or competitive drive.

[NovU]

My guess still stands that MCW will shoot around 40% this season with couple of TOs per game. I think once teams figure him out and prepare for him, he'll start to struggle sooner or later. Heck, I actually think it'll happen in a very next game.

Also it's funny because remember last season when random players had their career games against the Heat out of nowhere? That trend probably carried over to this year.

[NovU]

Here's NBA.com's rookie ranking. For now Carter-Williams has the title.

http://www.nba.com/rookie-ladder/?ls=iref:nbahpt6e
1. Michael Carter-Williams
2. Victor Oladipo
3. Vitor Faverani
4. Ben McLemore
5. Nate Wolters
6. Kelly Olynyk
7. Dennis Schroder
8. Gal Mekel
9. Steven Adams
10. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

I really like watching Wolters. He's very unselfish and reminded me of Jason Kidd in some ways with his passing and dribbling skills. His assist turnover ratio is out of roof. It's so rare to see a rookie with such efficient ball handling capability. Brandon Knight's a PG that's ahead of him at the moment but he isn't a natural PG and I think Wolters will still have his shot this season to showcase what he's got. 19 year old German kid Schroeder seems like a good PG as well. His physique and passing skills has often been compared to Rondo. He's already doing a great job as a back up PG and sometimes run the floor alongside Teague. I wouldn't say neither are all star potential players, but possibly a starter someday.

[Andrew]

Early days, but it looks like it could be MCW vs Oladipo for Rookie of the Year. I was way off on Anthony Bennett; I thought he might show some stuff once the season got rolling but he's done nothing of significance and is yet to hit a field goal in 15 attempts through his first four games. A long way to go with him too, but that's not looking too promising.

[NovU]

Yeah. Bennett clearly isn't looking too good. He at least hit a 3 pointer today.

Meanwhile Wolters played nicely again for 33 minutes tonight without a turnover. Though his stats isn't too impressive with 9pts/6ast/8reb with no steals nor blocks, it seems like he's playing the game right. I can't wait till he gains more confident himself and from the coach/teammates.

EDIT: Also Steven Adams Kiwi deserves a mention for tonight's productive game. (But this happened). It's also good for this kid that he saw more minutes than Perkins and Collison. 20 minutes of action for 6pts/9reb/2stl/1blk for a serious contender is pretty impressive for a rookie. He seems to be a good rebounder.

[NovU]

I think this was due. Steven Adams with a huge night against benji boys Drummond&Monroe, 17 pts on 7/10 shooting, 10 reb(5oreb), 3ast, 3blk, 1stl, 0 to. Meanwhile Perkins with dismal 0 point, 3 reb, 4 fouls night.

As for Carter-Williams, for the first time he was outplayed by his back up Wroten. But the 76ers still won.

As for Faverani, I think he's somehow landed on a bad side of Brad Stevens for some reasons. He's not seeing much playing time which he deserves rightfully for the tanking team that they are. Even worse, they won tonight.

[Andrew]

It probably won't be long before Adams takes the starting job, as it seems he's already getting the lion's share of the minutes in the middle. He's looking like a fine pick for the Thunder early on.

[Phil89]

He's looking pretty good so far.

phpBB [video]

Random fact of the day: Both Adams and Serge Ibaka have 17 siblings.

[Mandich]

From what I've seen he seems like a smart basketball player, it's still too early to say anything but he will probably have a productive season, high IQ.

[shadowgrin]

The coach is still Scott Brooks who'd rather waste minutes on Perkins and Fisher.

[Mandich]

Well given the fat contract Perkins has, I bet he is still hoping for a miracle from the fat Joel Anthony.

[Andrew]

For whatever it's worth, Adams has played more minutes than Perkins in three of the Thunder's five games so far, so Brooks may not be that stubborn about giving Perkins too much playing time.

[NovU]

Brooks probably is giving Perkins his shot at keeping the major role as a starter though things look bleak at the moment. Over the years, both the Thunder and Perkins invested into each other and developed somewhat of fine chemistry and relationship. Adams is promising but he's only a rookie anyways so I guess Brooks won't commit fully until he's 100% sure that they should. Nonetheless Adams will be keep tested for his value/development with good minutes while Perkins also with fewer and fewer minutes and role if regression continues.

[_Steve_]

Adams is looking good so far. He may be the steal of this year's draft.
Has anyone seen Shabazz Muhammad recently?

[NovU]

Calm down, Adams only had 2 great games. LoL

Shabazz seems like he's completely fallen out of the rotation. I thought the Wolves would suck much more than this, so perhaps they don't want to risk playing him.

[benji]

Shabazz seems like he's completely fallen out of the rotation.

You can't fall out of something you were never in.

I told you this.

Adelman plays 8-9 players tops, always if there aren't injuries. (Last year he even stuck to the rule despite the injuries.) And since Love is healthy, and if he stays that way, the Wolves are instantly 15 wins better than without him (and we also have Martin who Adelman is a master with) he'll have little reason to break his 20 year old track record unless we see more blowouts.

[Mandich]

Kevin Love is establishing himself as a star player (making his team better and bringing them wins).

Shabazz is just another player living from his fame days in high school.

[NovU]

Adelman plays 8-9 players tops, always if there aren't injuries. (Last year he even stuck to the rule despite the injuries.) And since Love is healthy, and if he stays that way, the Wolves are instantly 15 wins better than without him (and we also have Martin who Adelman is a master with) he'll have little reason to break his 20 year old track record unless we see more blowouts.

Two Kevins are overacheiving. They'll come down to earth at some point. But I guess my prediction was bit off on their rotation with Shabazz especially when they're all in to make the playoffs.

[benji]

Love isn't overachieving.

[NovU]

You realize at this pace he's an unanimous MVP and also possibly a MIP candidate even from stellar 2011-12 season.

[benji]

You realize I think he was the MVP in 2011-12.

MIP is a real stretch, it's only his shooting that's better and we already knew he was becoming an insane three point bomber a year ago.

[Mandich]

You realize I think he was the MVP in 2011-12

[shadowgrin]

You used the wrong image.