2025-26 NBA Rookie Discussion Thread

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Yes!!! Another year where this won’t apply to us.

[ReggiesKnicks]

Yes!!! Another year where this won’t apply to us.

Get used to it, the prospects picked in the 15-20 range usually aren't great

[JimmyPlopper]

Others may have already said this, but I get some Marvin Williams vibes from Ace Bailey (both in a good and a bad way)

[UcanUwill]

Topic Thunder can be an atg nickname if he pans out

Only if you pronounce his name wrong. It took me a while to get what is interesting about "topic" thunder.

[jasonxxx102]

Others may have already said this, but I get some Marvin Williams vibes from Ace Bailey (both in a good and a bad way)

He reminds me of Josh Jackson

[Black Jack]

Topic Thunder can be an atg nickname if he pans out

Only if you pronounce his name wrong. It took me a while to get what is interesting about "topic" thunder.

This is America...grab a chair and get ready for your name to be mispronounced

[UcanUwill]

Topic Thunder can be an atg nickname if he pans out

Only if you pronounce his name wrong. It took me a while to get what is interesting about "topic" thunder.

This is America...grab a chair and get ready for your name to be mispronounced

I still hear Americans say DivaK or StojakoviK. Like. Jesus Christ people, you still haven't figured this out...

[God Squad]

Only if you pronounce his name wrong. It took me a while to get what is interesting about "topic" thunder.

This is America...grab a chair and get ready for your name to be mispronounced

I still hear Americans say DivaK or StojakoviK. Like. Jesus Christ people, you still haven't figured this out...

Topic is pronounced Toe-pic? Or am I wrong here?

[UcanUwill]

This is America...grab a chair and get ready for your name to be mispronounced

I still hear Americans say DivaK or StojakoviK. Like. Jesus Christ people, you still haven't figured this out...

Topic is pronounced Toe-pic? Or am I wrong here?

Its Topić, so it is pronounced To-pitch. C never sounds like K in any of these eastern euro languages, it is either ch (like in chilli) if it is letters Č or ć, or it is pronounced ''ts'', if its c witout markings. For example Zubac or Divac has c with no markings, thats why you say Zoo-bats and Di-vats, but if it Jokić, Dončić, Stojakovič, Topić etc etc, their names end with that itch sounds. and for exmaple Vučević has both č and ć, it is pronounces voo-cheh-vitch, not Vusevik or vesevich like Bill Simmons think it does, it is Voochevich, thats why we call him Vooch...

Also, letter O just do not sound like that in any language but english, it is rather hard ''AW'' sounds, not ''Oh'' ''toe'' sounds. It is not TOE-pitch, it is closer to TAW-pitch, it is hard aw. It is same with name like Sabonis, Americans just say it wrong, because they pronaounce O wrong, it is closer to Sa-BAW-nis, not Sa-BOW-nis. Also, as I said, Golden states Quinten Post is dutch, so I am pretty sure it is not pronounced like Englsih word ''post'', it is hard O sound, Pawst kinda, it is hard to me to figure out how to explain to you how O sound in non English languages. but yeah, it does not sound like ''oh''. I think English is the only language where O sounds the way it does,

[God Squad]

I still hear Americans say DivaK or StojakoviK. Like. Jesus Christ people, you still haven't figured this out...

Topic is pronounced Toe-pic? Or am I wrong here?

Its Topić, so it is pronounced To-pitch. C never sounds like K in any of these eastern euro languages, it is either ch (like in chilli) if it is letters Č or ć, or it is pronounced ''ts'', if its c witout markings. For example Zubac or Divac has c with no markings, thats why you say Zoo-bats and Di-vats, but if it Jokić, Dončić, Stojakovič, Topić etc etc, their names end with that itch sounds. and for exmaple Vučević has both č and ć, it is pronounces voo-cheh-vitch, not Vusevik or vesevich like Bill Simmons think it does, it is Voochevich, thats why we call him Vooch...

Also, letter O just do not sound like that in any language but english, it is rather hard ''AW'' sounds, not ''Oh'' ''toe'' sounds. It is not TOE-pitch, it is closer to TAW-pitch, it is hard aw. It is same with name like Sabonis, Americans just say it wrong, because they pronaounce O wrong, it is closer to Sa-BAW-nis, not Sa-BOW-nis. Also, as I said, Golden states Quinten Post is dutch, so I am pretty sure it is not pronounced like Englsih word ''post'', it is hard O sound, Pawst kinda, it is hard to me to figure out how to explain to you how O sound in non English languages. but yeah, it does not sound like ''oh''. I think English is the only language where O sounds the way it does,

I'm likely going to make all these mistakes still, but I legitimately appreciate this lesson. It's interesting to learn the correct pronunciation of these guys' names.

[Sealab2024]

Topic Thunder can be an atg nickname if he pans out

Only if you pronounce his name wrong. It took me a while to get what is interesting about "topic" thunder.

This is America...grab a chair and get ready for your name to be mispronounced

Underrated part of the American experience. Everyone gets their name mispronounced and misspelled constantly.

[Shaka_Zulu]

He will likely be buried in depth chart. But remember the name Joan Beringer.


Absolute defensive stud with 7 blocks in SL debute:

https://youtu.be/nPvfH5FM7gU?si=xEJm5ynadtXpLfFV

[zzaj]

I still hear Americans say DivaK or StojakoviK. Like. Jesus Christ people, you still haven't figured this out...

Topic is pronounced Toe-pic? Or am I wrong here?

Its Topić, so it is pronounced To-pitch. C never sounds like K in any of these eastern euro languages, it is either ch (like in chilli) if it is letters Č or ć, or it is pronounced ''ts'', if its c witout markings. For example Zubac or Divac has c with no markings, thats why you say Zoo-bats and Di-vats, but if it Jokić, Dončić, Stojakovič, Topić etc etc, their names end with that itch sounds. and for exmaple Vučević has both č and ć, it is pronounces voo-cheh-vitch, not Vusevik or vesevich like Bill Simmons think it does, it is Voochevich, thats why we call him Vooch...

Also, letter O just do not sound like that in any language but english, it is rather hard ''AW'' sounds, not ''Oh'' ''toe'' sounds. It is not TOE-pitch, it is closer to TAW-pitch, it is hard aw. It is same with name like Sabonis, Americans just say it wrong, because they pronaounce O wrong, it is closer to Sa-BAW-nis, not Sa-BOW-nis. Also, as I said, Golden states Quinten Post is dutch, so I am pretty sure it is not pronounced like Englsih word ''post'', it is hard O sound, Pawst kinda, it is hard to me to figure out how to explain to you how O sound in non English languages. but yeah, it does not sound like ''oh''. I think English is the only language where O sounds the way it does,

I am here to learn…

So “Taw-pitch Thunder” actually kinda works?

[jangles86]

Tre Johnson is going to have some big games as a rookie.

[XTC]

I still hear Americans say DivaK or StojakoviK. Like. Jesus Christ people, you still haven't figured this out...

Topic is pronounced Toe-pic? Or am I wrong here?

Its Topić, so it is pronounced To-pitch. C never sounds like K in any of these eastern euro languages, it is either ch (like in chilli) if it is letters Č or ć, or it is pronounced ''ts'', if its c witout markings. For example Zubac or Divac has c with no markings, thats why you say Zoo-bats and Di-vats, but if it Jokić, Dončić, Stojakovič, Topić etc etc, their names end with that itch sounds. and for exmaple Vučević has both č and ć, it is pronounces voo-cheh-vitch, not Vusevik or vesevich like Bill Simmons think it does, it is Voochevich, thats why we call him Vooch...

Also, letter O just do not sound like that in any language but english, it is rather hard ''AW'' sounds, not ''Oh'' ''toe'' sounds. It is not TOE-pitch, it is closer to TAW-pitch, it is hard aw. It is same with name like Sabonis, Americans just say it wrong, because they pronaounce O wrong, it is closer to Sa-BAW-nis, not Sa-BOW-nis. Also, as I said, Golden states Quinten Post is dutch, so I am pretty sure it is not pronounced like Englsih word ''post'', it is hard O sound, Pawst kinda, it is hard to me to figure out how to explain to you how O sound in non English languages. but yeah, it does not sound like ''oh''. I think English is the only language where O sounds the way it does,

This might be a top 10 informational post in RealGM history. I actually learned so much from this.

This post literally needs to br stickied. This explains so much.

Can you explain a name like Nowitzki? Or instances where a name would have a Z, for example "Brzustewicz"

[UcanUwill]

This post literally needs to br stickied. This explains so much.

Can you explain a name like Nowitzki? Or instances where a name would have a Z, for example "Brzustewicz"

Hey thanks. Nowitzki is Polish name obviously, I am not expert there at all, but why does is has to be explained? I think everyone knows how to pronounce Nowitzki and it sounds the way it is spelled, doesn't in? Polish names are hard, I think they are harder to spell than to pronounce, I have no idea why they need so many Zs, Cs and Ss, we have poles here, I bet they can explain. In some languages, 2 or 3 letters combined create another letter entirely, I think it is that way in France for example, ''eau'' in France is a ''letter'', thats why their words are very hard to figure out at least for me, cause it sounds like nothing else, but when I learned that it is not e a u, eau is just different letter entirely, starts to make sense then. Maybe Polish is the same, because many of their names have cz or zs, where from foreigner perspective, it does not seem to have major need for it.

I think I know how to pronounce Brzustewicz, but I do not know for certain. At least I would split sounds into Brzus- te- wicz and it would sound like broosh-teh-wits or something close to it I imagine (for me, the hardest part is to explain how it is pronounced in English, because English does not use some sounds that are basic letter sounds of these other languages. like letter u for example, I have hard time trying to explain how it sounds), but I can't explain the spelling.

[lambchop]

I still hear Americans say DivaK or StojakoviK. Like. Jesus Christ people, you still haven't figured this out...

Topic is pronounced Toe-pic? Or am I wrong here?

Its Topić, so it is pronounced To-pitch. C never sounds like K in any of these eastern euro languages, it is either ch (like in chilli) if it is letters Č or ć, or it is pronounced ''ts'', if its c witout markings. For example Zubac or Divac has c with no markings, thats why you say Zoo-bats and Di-vats, but if it Jokić, Dončić, Stojakovič, Topić etc etc, their names end with that itch sounds. and for exmaple Vučević has both č and ć, it is pronounces voo-cheh-vitch, not Vusevik or vesevich like Bill Simmons think it does, it is Voochevich, thats why we call him Vooch...

Č is pronounced "ch", as you said, while ć is actually closer to "tj". But I'm nitpicking here since, in my experience, most "Yugoslavs" will have no issue with "ch" being used for both by foreigners.

Obviously an excellent post by you. Much appreciated. You provided key details and made it a quick and informative read.

[mg]

Tre Johnson is going to have some big games as a rookie.

Agreed. The Wiz apparently wanted Ace but think they ended up with the better player in Tre. There are some defensive questions but his shot looks legit and he should be ready to contribute immediately on the offensive end.

[UcanUwill]

Topic is pronounced Toe-pic? Or am I wrong here?

Its Topić, so it is pronounced To-pitch. C never sounds like K in any of these eastern euro languages, it is either ch (like in chilli) if it is letters Č or ć, or it is pronounced ''ts'', if its c witout markings. For example Zubac or Divac has c with no markings, thats why you say Zoo-bats and Di-vats, but if it Jokić, Dončić, Stojakovič, Topić etc etc, their names end with that itch sounds. and for exmaple Vučević has both č and ć, it is pronounces voo-cheh-vitch, not Vusevik or vesevich like Bill Simmons think it does, it is Voochevich, thats why we call him Vooch...

Č is pronounced "ch", as you said, while ć is actually closer to "tj". But I'm nitpicking here since, in my experience, most "Yugoslavs" will have no issue with "ch" being used for both by foreigners.

Obviously an excellent post by you. Much appreciated. You provided key details and made it a quick and informative read.

Thanks man, I said it in the past that I myself do not know the difference between č and ć, Serbs explained it to me in the past, but it still sounds the same to me when I say it. In Serbian, letter will sound the same every time without any exception, those are the guys who would never understand Spelling bee, so the fact those are different letters means there is clearly a difference there, but I believe it is still minor enough, to foreigner like me it sounds the same, IDK.

[Duffman100]

CMB's defense from yesterday was pretty ridiculous.