2024-25 NBA Rookie Discussion Thread (Pt. 2)

[Hussien Fatal]

McCain has been the best In a landslide honestly. Just look at his #’s in 6 games as a starter.

35.5mpg 25.2ppg 5.0apg 2.3rpg 47/43/90 4.3-10.2 3pt

If his prime stats are anything like this he will be an all time great guard.

[rate_]

Pelle Larsson (per 75 poss):

+10.2 rTS | 13.9/3.3/3.1 | 1.3 stl | 3.0 ast/tov

[HotelVitale]

Dillingham is starting to bring Minnesota something they've been lacking on offense.

It's why I was so high on his upside before the season and why I think he's one of the best rookies in the class (even if he doesn't catch up to McCain).

Watch on YouTube

I'm sorry but Dillingham is way too small to stay on the floor for any real amount of time. He looks tiny standing next to Payton Pritchard. He's listed at 6'3 which is a straight up lie. If he was taller than 6'1 I would be surprised

He's a complete traffic cone defensively and unless he is prime Curry he could never make up offensively what he gives up on the other end.

So does that mean that Trae Young, Chris Paul, Mike Conley, Tyus Jones, etc. are all way too small to stay on the court as well?

Yeah but can you name a single 6'1 or shorter guy in HIStory besides them? One?

I'm waiting.

[Klomp]

Dillingham was a +26 in a six-point overtime loss to Houston tonight. 12 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists in 24 minutes.

"Complete traffic cone"

Read on Twitter

[wemby]

Dillingham was a +26 in a six-point overtime loss to Houston tonight. 12 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists in 24 minutes.

"Complete traffic cone"

Read on Twitter

Ah, that one 5 second clip settles it then, Dillingham for DPOY.

[pepe1991]

I know he won't win ROY, but Castle from Spurs is player to keep eye on in near future. He has bag of tricks that are common for players who are way smaller than him, knows how to get into ribs of opposing players to prevent blocks, is well composed, finishes with both hands, is capable of keeping dribble alive. But what strikes me is how calm and down the Earth on court he is. 19 years old pretend they won championship after every shot, every hustle play, Castle is non of it. Gives you that Duncan vibe.

I first watched him in preseason vs my Magic and i was very impressed how he manipulates bigs into tricks below rim. Watched tonight and saw Kessler flying like a toy several times with his pumpfakes and ability to actually use his worst hand in rim attacking.

[One_and_Done]

I know he won't win ROY, but Castle from Spurs is player to keep eye on in near future. He has bag of tricks that are common for players who are way smaller than him, knows how to get into ribs of opposing players to prevent blocks, is well composed, finishes with both hands, is capable of keeping dribble alive. But what strikes me is how calm and down the Earth on court he is. 19 years old pretend they won championship after every shot, every hustle play, Castle is non of it. Gives you that Duncan vibe.

I first watched him in preseason vs my Magic and i was very impressed how he manipulates bigs into tricks below rim. Watched tonight and saw Kessler flying like a toy several times with his pumpfakes and ability to actually use his worst hand in rim attacking.

If he keeps this up he's winning ROY.

[jasonxxx102]

Dillingham was a +26 in a six-point overtime loss to Houston tonight. 12 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists in 24 minutes.

"Complete traffic cone"

Read on Twitter

These posts always crack me up.

Completely ignore ALL the other game film but hey, he had a single good defensive possession

Congrats on the loss, at least you can feel good celebrating Dillingham's elite defensive possession

[jasonxxx102]

Dillingham was a +26 in a six-point overtime loss to Houston tonight. 12 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists in 24 minutes.

"Complete traffic cone"

Read on Twitter

He's lucky he tipped that ball from Sengun because he was horribly out of position after that bad gamble.

[FarBeyondDriven]

nice to see Dillingham and some others getting more run. Steadily destroying the laughable weak draft class narrative. For the most part, everyone in the NBA is uber talented. What separates the starter from the guys at the end of the bench are minutes and touches. If Dillingham or any of the other talented guards were getting McCain's usage they'd produce similarly. It's a strong class for guards. Not to diminish what McCain is doing of course. It's such a shame so many guys were drafted by teams they're buried on. Also sucks that we may not even get to see Topic, Carter, and Holmes at all.

[FarBeyondDriven]

it always comes down to playing time. McCain (and some others) just happen to be getting minutes and touches. I think there's a half dozen guys either injured or barely getting minutes right now that could duplicate what McCain is doing. I'm not trying to take anything away from him it's just that this is a much stronger draft class than the "experts" are saying. When we look back in several years after everyone has had a chance to play it'll be clear.

I don't like when this is the McCain praise drivel thread (esp after he just had a weak game) but gotta cut out the weird takes like this so we can let things lie. McCain forced his way into PT and touches by being undeniably awesome, he's not just been some average dude getting PT, let alone some average rookie getting PT on a bad team, let alone some rook firing up bad shots cuz someone has to. He's averaging 25 pts per 36 on 61%+ TS and 46/40/93. If you don't like per 36, he's at 25/5 on even better efficiency since he became a starter. Those aren't just jacked up counting stats--he's #12 in the league in the OBPM (just behind Lebron and Tatum) and shows up like a legit all-star in other measures. That's probably nearly unprecedented for a player in McCain's situation.

And the only major 'opportunity' he had was Maxey missing a couple games (after McCain had already had multiple big games). Sure there are more touches now that Embiid isn't taking all of them for the team, but the rotation was set without him at his position (Maxey, Lowry, E Gordon, R Jackson) and McCain wasn't expected to play beyond spot minutes this year. He's just been very good and very consistent and pushed his way into those minutes. That almost never happens for a rookie.

I'm not even huge on him and many of my posts here have been about tempering expectations. But he's been pretty historically good, esp for a 20 year-old picked mid-1st, and the last thing we need to get a balanced grasp on him is 'meh, he's doing what lots of rookies could if they were in his shoes.'

yikes. Embiid and George have also been out. There's an additional 60-70 minutes available to go around. It's why Yabusele (who has been out of the league) has had a "resurgence" which is more proof that you can literally throw in guys out of the league into starting lineups and they'll produce.

Stop, McCain was absolutely expected to play this season. He was always going to be in the rotation. Maybe it would have taken well into the season for an injury to happen or load management to get him major minutes but he was going to be part of an 8 man rotation no doubt about it.

Weird how his "forcing his way to minutes" didn't occur until after all the injuries. He must have been biding his time lol. Let's be real. He's really good. I'm happy for him. I had him higher (#10) on my board than most I'm guessing. I'm not surprised in the slightest. But he's no different than a lot of others except he's been given 30 mpg to play out of necessity. Good on him for capitalizing. I'm eager to see if any other rookies get similar opportunities.

[jasonxxx102]

nice to see Dillingham and some others getting more run. Steadily destroying the laughable weak draft class narrative. For the most part, everyone in the NBA is uber talented. What separates the starter from the guys at the end of the bench are minutes and touches. If Dillingham or any of the other talented guards were getting McCain's usage they'd produce similarly. It's a strong class for guards. Not to diminish what McCain is doing of course. It's such a shame so many guys were drafted by teams they're buried on. Also sucks that we may not even get to see Topic, Carter, and Holmes at all.

Easily one of the worst drafts of all time.

A random rookie dropping 14pts isn't "destroying the narrative"

[jasonxxx102]

2 players in this draft have positive EPM. Both of those guys look like role players. This draft is just all around bad.

Someone will be a star, maybe? but it's not looking great right now

[NoDopeOnSundays]

2 players in this draft have positive EPM. Both of those guys look like role players. This draft is just all around bad.

Someone will be a star, maybe? but it's not looking great right now

Castle looks like he'll be an all-star, it all depends on his jumper, but the handle, moves and defense are all there already.

[jasonxxx102]

2 players in this draft have positive EPM. Both of those guys look like role players. This draft is just all around bad.

Someone will be a star, maybe? but it's not looking great right now

Castle looks like he'll be an all-star, it all depends on his jumper, but the handle, moves and defense are all there already.

If you were from the future and told me Castle was an all-star I wouldn't be shocked. He looks like a fringe all-star type player but he's good. Also 1 of the 2 with a positive EPM lol

[wemby]

Castle's outlook hinges 90% on his jumper, the rest is already there for the most part. It looks better than expected, he's already taking long threes and most of the misses aren't bad ones like you see from the Thompsons and Holland. His touch isn't bad and he's a hard working, driven kid, so with a lot of work I'm optimistic he gets there in a few years. Certainly wouldn't trade him for anyone in this class from what I've seen.

[Deathray]

Sheppard looks lost again. This year's Scoot. Udoka can't play him if he's gonna be such a consistent negative. He needs time in the G League but he'll really have to become special offensively to make up for his physical limitations on defense and there's been no hint that he can do that. In hindsight the Rockets should have drafted Knecht for his shooting but hindsight is 20/20.

[Thaddy]

JaKobe Walter looks pretty good. He's doing everything but hitting his jumper. Once that's going he'll be a 20 point scorer almost immediately.

First start and first double double of his career. Great start.

[Jamaaliver]

Good Lord...

[BigGargamel]

First thing I saw was KCP hating life without Nikola Jokic

But yeah...we knew shooting wasn't this classes strong suit.