RealGM

In the last 20 years, there have been 1400 combined rookie and sophomore seasons in the NBA.

Only 5 of those 1400 rookies and sophomores have led their team in scoring on a team that won at least 45 games.

-Yao Ming (Hall of Famer, 8x All-Star, 5x All-NBA)
-Carmelo Anthony (10x All-Star, 6x All-NBA, HOFer in 2026)
-Dwyane Wade (Hall of Famer, 13x All-Star, 8x All-NBA, 3x NBA champion)
-Donovan Mitchell (5x All-Star, 1x All-NBA just 7 years into career)
-Joel Embiid (7x All-Star, 5x All-NBA, League MVP)

Paolo seems incredibly likely to become the 6th player on this list the next couple of weeks.

I generally don't pay much attention to the "arbitrary cutoff statistics" to show how younger player XYZ is like MJ and LeBron, but that's certainly fascinating and also surprising. So many bad teams with draft picks that score a lot of points. So either they don't play for winning teams or they don't emerge until their junior year.

this kid is quickly becoming a true leader on the court. You can see he's more vocal. He tries to keep the players focused. I remember when Franz was arguing with GTJ and Black with Brunson, both times Paolo ran to them and kept them from getting too heated. He also knows when his teammates are cooking and he will make an effort to make plays for them. He knows when to just give the ball to Franz when he wants him to get it going. Just really nice to have someone who is so unselfish and very mature for his age.

Knightro wrote:In the last 20 years, there have been 1400 combined rookie and sophomore seasons in the NBA.

Only 5 of those 1400 rookies and sophomores have led their team in scoring on a team that won at least 45 games.

-Yao Ming (Hall of Famer, 8x All-Star, 5x All-NBA)
-Carmelo Anthony (10x All-Star, 6x All-NBA, HOFer in 2026)
-Dwyane Wade (Hall of Famer, 13x All-Star, 8x All-NBA, 3x NBA champion)
-Donovan Mitchell (5x All-Star, 1x All-NBA just 7 years into career)
-Joel Embiid (7x All-Star, 5x All-NBA, League MVP)

Paolo seems incredibly likely to become the 6th player on this list the next couple of weeks.

Whoa, great stuff. Statistical leadership on a winning team. Occam's razor.

Bravo find Knightro.

Helping my burner account, I mean eyriq build his case for one of the best young cores ever.