Rookie Discussion Thread

[KobeBryant24]

March Statistics for Mudiay, Russell and Booker:

Mudiay:

Russell:

Booker:

Hopefully they can keep it up, they have been ballin!

[Revived]

March Statistics for Mudiay, Russell and Booker:

Mudiay:

Russell:

Booker:

These 3 are gonna be the future on the NBA in terms of guards.

[bwgood77]

Western Conference Rookie guards over the past 5 games:

• Booker 28.4 ppg /49 fg% / 36% 3fg / 5 apg / 3 rpg
• Mudiay 21.6 ppg / 46 fg% / 44% 3fg / 6.4 apg / 4.6 rpg
• Russell 20.6 ppg / 42 fg% / 34% 3fg/ 4.8 apg / 1.6 spg

These guys are giving KAT a run for his money as Western Conference Rookie of the Month in March.

They've given him more competition but it's not really close IMO. KAT is putting up 22/10 in March in much better efficiency than the other 3.

I hadn't realized Mudiay had been THAT impressive so far. Dos Russell deserve to be ahead of him? Not really according to March at least. Or perhaps all three should be all rookie first team and instead of Winslow or Okafor.

Not sure, but would have to look at the other guys' #s closer first.

[DaFan334]

First Team
Russell
Booker
Winslow
Porzingis
Towns

Second Team
Mudiay
Richardson
Turner
Jokic
Okafor

just a friendly reminder but you may have missed the earlier memo that jokic >>> winslow.

Yeah but can he play the 3?

Positions don't matter for All-Rookie teams.

[The-Power]

I hadn't realized Mudiay had been THAT impressive so far. Dos Russell deserve to be ahead of him? Not really according to March at least. Or perhaps all three should be all rookie first team and instead of Winslow or Okafor.

Not sure, but would have to look at the other guys' #s closer first.

March means 5 (five!) games for Mudiay so far, and he's shooting 44% on 5 3PA (= it's definitely not sustainable for him). All NBA Rookie Teams are based on the entire season and over the course of the season, Mudiay has been one of the worst players in the NBA. I hope he can keep up his decent play and build on it and he cut down his turnovers for quite a while now which is promising, but let's hold our horses here.

[EvanZ]

2nd place ROY is going to be one of:

Booker
Porzingis
Jokic
Russell

I'm not sure which one. I suspect the voters will give it to Porzingis.

I think I might lean towards Booker. But I could easily be persuaded to take any of those 4 guys 2nd to Towns.

[Slava]

2nd place ROY is going to be one of:

Booker
Porzingis
Jokic
Russell

I'm not sure which one. I suspect the voters will give it to Porzingis.

I think I might lean towards Booker. But I could easily be persuaded to take any of those 4 guys 2nd to Towns.

Towns might be as close to unanimous selection as we've had in a while so I don't think 2nd place even matters this year.

[EvanZ]

2nd place ROY is going to be one of:

Booker
Porzingis
Jokic
Russell

I'm not sure which one. I suspect the voters will give it to Porzingis.

I think I might lean towards Booker. But I could easily be persuaded to take any of those 4 guys 2nd to Towns.

Towns might be as close to unanimous selection as we've had in a while so I don't think 2nd place even matters this year.

It's because Towns is so obvious, that the only race is for 2nd. It "matters" in the same sense that everything we discuss on RealGM "matters".

It doesn't. You realize that right? No actual GM's are here reading your comments and taking them into account. For anything.

If we started applying the "it matters" criterion, this forum wouldn't be here. And since you are reading "Rookie Discussion Thread", I would have assumed most any topic regarding rookies "matters" to you.

[Slava]

2nd place ROY is going to be one of:

Booker
Porzingis
Jokic
Russell

I'm not sure which one. I suspect the voters will give it to Porzingis.

I think I might lean towards Booker. But I could easily be persuaded to take any of those 4 guys 2nd to Towns.

Towns might be as close to unanimous selection as we've had in a while so I don't think 2nd place even matters this year.

It's because Towns is so obvious, that the only race is for 2nd. It "matters" in the same sense that everything we discuss on RealGM "matters".

It doesn't. You realize that right? No actual GM's are here reading your comments and taking them into account. For anything.

If we started applying the "it matters" criterion, this forum wouldn't be here. And since you are reading "Rookie Discussion Thread", I would have assumed most any topic regarding rookies "matters" to you.

Speak for yourself, I have e-mail conversations with Mitch Kupchak.

[EvanZ]

Towns might be as close to unanimous selection as we've had in a while so I don't think 2nd place even matters this year.

It's because Towns is so obvious, that the only race is for 2nd. It "matters" in the same sense that everything we discuss on RealGM "matters".

It doesn't. You realize that right? No actual GM's are here reading your comments and taking them into account. For anything.

If we started applying the "it matters" criterion, this forum wouldn't be here. And since you are reading "Rookie Discussion Thread", I would have assumed most any topic regarding rookies "matters" to you.

Speak for yourself, I have e-mail conversations with Mitch Kupchak.

Are you by any chance running for President and your first name is Donald?

[Slava]

It's because Towns is so obvious, that the only race is for 2nd. It "matters" in the same sense that everything we discuss on RealGM "matters".

It doesn't. You realize that right? No actual GM's are here reading your comments and taking them into account. For anything.

If we started applying the "it matters" criterion, this forum wouldn't be here. And since you are reading "Rookie Discussion Thread", I would have assumed most any topic regarding rookies "matters" to you.

Speak for yourself, I have e-mail conversations with Mitch Kupchak.

Are you by any chance running for President and your first name is Donald?

No I like to go by Ted.

[nomansland]

I hadn't realized Mudiay had been THAT impressive so far. Dos Russell deserve to be ahead of him? Not really according to March at least. Or perhaps all three should be all rookie first team and instead of Winslow or Okafor.

Not sure, but would have to look at the other guys' #s closer first.

March means 5 (five!) games for Mudiay so far, and he's shooting 44% on 5 3PA (= it's definitely not sustainable for him). All NBA Rookie Teams are based on the entire season and over the course of the season, Mudiay has been one of the worst players in the NBA. I hope he can keep up his decent play and build on it and he cut down his turnovers for quite a while now which is promising, but let's hold our horses here.

Not going to make excuses for him but he is basically a high school player who was given major minutes at PG on a franchise that was full of inexperienced players. Then he got hurt for a few weeks and those bad stats were frozen in time for a lot of people who don't follow the Nuggets (which is like, everyone). So I think calling him one of the worst players in the NBA is pretty unfair.

If you watch him on a regular basis you can see he's improving every game in one way or another. Kid's gonna be good.

People blasted Byron Scott for limiting Russell's minutes but maybe that was the right approach after all. I can't help but think that Russell would have struggled at first under Malone's system too.

Anway it's nice to see things on the upswing.

[Nuggets_Talk]

First Team
Russell
Booker
Winslow
Porzingis
Towns

Second Team
Mudiay
Richardson
Turner
Jokic
Okafor

just a friendly reminder but you may have missed the earlier memo that jokic >>> winslow.

Yeah but can he play the 3?

Who cares?

[The-Power]

March means 5 (five!) games for Mudiay so far, and he's shooting 44% on 5 3PA (= it's definitely not sustainable for him). All NBA Rookie Teams are based on the entire season and over the course of the season, Mudiay has been one of the worst players in the NBA. I hope he can keep up his decent play and build on it and he cut down his turnovers for quite a while now which is promising, but let's hold our horses here.

Not going to make excuses for him but he is basically a high school player who was given major minutes at PG on a franchise that was full of inexperienced players. Then he got hurt for a few weeks and those bad stats were frozen in time for a lot of people who don't follow the Nuggets (which is like, everyone). So I think calling him one of the worst players in the NBA is pretty unfair.

If you watch him on a regular basis you can see he's improving every game in one way or another. Kid's gonna be good.

People blasted Byron Scott for limiting Russell's minutes but maybe that was the right approach after all. I can't help but think that Russell would have struggled at first under Malone's system too.

Anway it's nice to see things on the upswing.

I'm not blaming him for anything, I'm merely stating the obvious. I recognize his recent improvement, I realize it's tough for a Rookie to lead a team from day one and by no means do I believe he's going to be one of the worst players in the NBA for the next decade.

I do not believe, however, that calling him one of the worst players this season is unfair. You have to realize that this isn't meant to be a projection at all. It's just that he has been so abysmal to start the season and basically until his injury - some improvements notwithstanding - that he has been one of the worst players overall. He most likely won't be next season and maybe not even at the end of this season - although that's going to be a challenge -, but so far the conclusion is only reasonable. And I hope you don't expect the kid to keep shooting 40+% from deep either (which is what he did over his last 5 games).

[RRFB]

March means 5 (five!) games for Mudiay so far, and he's shooting 44% on 5 3PA (= it's definitely not sustainable for him). All NBA Rookie Teams are based on the entire season and over the course of the season, Mudiay has been one of the worst players in the NBA. I hope he can keep up his decent play and build on it and he cut down his turnovers for quite a while now which is promising, but let's hold our horses here.

Not going to make excuses for him but he is basically a high school player who was given major minutes at PG on a franchise that was full of inexperienced players. Then he got hurt for a few weeks and those bad stats were frozen in time for a lot of people who don't follow the Nuggets (which is like, everyone). So I think calling him one of the worst players in the NBA is pretty unfair.

If you watch him on a regular basis you can see he's improving every game in one way or another. Kid's gonna be good.

People blasted Byron Scott for limiting Russell's minutes but maybe that was the right approach after all. I can't help but think that Russell would have struggled at first under Malone's system too.

Anway it's nice to see things on the upswing.

I'm not blaming him for anything, I'm merely stating the obvious. I recognize his recent improvement, I realize it's tough for a Rookie to lead a team from day one and by no means do I believe he's going to be one of the worst players in the NBA for the next decade.

I do not believe, however, that calling him one of the worst players this season is unfair. You have to realize that this isn't meant to be a projection at all. It's just that he has been so abysmal to start the season and basically until his injury - some improvements notwithstanding - that he has been one of the worst players overall. He most likely won't be next season and maybe not even at the end of this season - although that's going to be a challenge -, but so far the conclusion is only reasonable. And I hope you don't expect the kid to keep shooting 40+% from deep either (which is what he did over his last 5 games).

I guess I don't get what your point is. You want to say a 19 year old PG playing 30mpg was one of the worst players in the league for this first two months, fine. But what significance does that hold given the obvious improvements he's made since then? It's just as, if not more foolish assume he'll regress back to his November/December numbers as it is to assume he'll maintain his shooting in March. The "abysmal start until his injury" is a mere 20 game sample size and the only people clinging to those numbers are the ones who haven't actually watched the kid play. I have no doubt that's the perspective you're coming from.

[JellosJigglin]

Western Conference Rookie guards over the past 5 games:

• Booker 28.4 ppg /49 fg% / 36% 3fg / 5 apg / 3 rpg
• Mudiay 21.6 ppg / 46 fg% / 44% 3fg / 6.4 apg / 4.6 rpg
• Russell 20.6 ppg / 42 fg% / 34% 3fg/ 4.8 apg / 1.6 spg

These guys are giving KAT a run for his money as Western Conference Rookie of the Month in March.

They've given him more competition but it's not really close IMO. KAT is putting up 22/10 in March in much better efficiency than the other 3.

I hadn't realized Mudiay had been THAT impressive so far. Dos Russell deserve to be ahead of him? Not really according to March at least. Or perhaps all three should be all rookie first team and instead of Winslow or Okafor.

Not sure, but would have to look at the other guys' #s closer first.

If we compared the month of March instead of just the last 5 games, then that would include Russel's 39 point game on 60+% from the field. Since it was 6 games ago it's not included in the posters arbitrary 5 game window.

But yes it's very cool to see all 3 guards playing so well. And they each have very different styles. Its an exciting draft class for sure.

[The-Power]

Not going to make excuses for him but he is basically a high school player who was given major minutes at PG on a franchise that was full of inexperienced players. Then he got hurt for a few weeks and those bad stats were frozen in time for a lot of people who don't follow the Nuggets (which is like, everyone). So I think calling him one of the worst players in the NBA is pretty unfair.

If you watch him on a regular basis you can see he's improving every game in one way or another. Kid's gonna be good.

People blasted Byron Scott for limiting Russell's minutes but maybe that was the right approach after all. I can't help but think that Russell would have struggled at first under Malone's system too.

Anway it's nice to see things on the upswing.

I'm not blaming him for anything, I'm merely stating the obvious. I recognize his recent improvement, I realize it's tough for a Rookie to lead a team from day one and by no means do I believe he's going to be one of the worst players in the NBA for the next decade.

I do not believe, however, that calling him one of the worst players this season is unfair. You have to realize that this isn't meant to be a projection at all. It's just that he has been so abysmal to start the season and basically until his injury - some improvements notwithstanding - that he has been one of the worst players overall. He most likely won't be next season and maybe not even at the end of this season - although that's going to be a challenge -, but so far the conclusion is only reasonable. And I hope you don't expect the kid to keep shooting 40+% from deep either (which is what he did over his last 5 games).

I guess I don't get what your point is. You want to say a 19 year old PG playing 30mpg was one of the worst players in the league for this first two months, fine. But what significance does that hold given the obvious improvements he's made since then? It's just as, if not more foolish assume he'll regress back to his November/December numbers as it is to assume he'll maintain his shooting in March. The "abysmal start until his injury" is a mere 20 game sample size and the only people clinging to those numbers are the ones who haven't actually watched the kid play. I have no doubt that's the perspective you're coming from.

I quoted a guy who basically questioned if Russell deserved to be ahead of him and who wrote that - and I quote - "perhaps all three [Russell, Booker, Mudiay] should be all rookie first team". All that was based on the 5-game sample in March. Since this is a season-award - and since my statement was about him being one of the worst players over the course of the entire (!!) season -, it's necessary to look at the entire season, isn't it? I never wrote he would regress to his October/November performances over an extended period of time nor do I believe that. So before making any assertions about what perspective I'm coming from and whether I watched him lately or not, you probably should look at the context of the conversation first. Then it shouldn't be too hard to grasp that I never talked about the potential of Mudiay and you wouldn't have had to waste your time pondering on what I my point might be.

[bwgood77]

They've given him more competition but it's not really close IMO. KAT is putting up 22/10 in March in much better efficiency than the other 3.

I hadn't realized Mudiay had been THAT impressive so far. Dos Russell deserve to be ahead of him? Not really according to March at least. Or perhaps all three should be all rookie first team and instead of Winslow or Okafor.

Not sure, but would have to look at the other guys' #s closer first.

If we compared the month of March instead of just the last 5 games, then that would include Russel's 39 point game on 60+% from the field. Since it was 6 games ago it's not included in the posters arbitrary 5 game window.

But yes it's very cool to see all 3 guards playing so well. And they each have very different styles. Its an exciting draft class for sure.

I had realized that the arbritrary 5 game window definitely helped Booker's #s when I posted them earlier. I don't think I applied that to Russell, but yeah, NOT FAIR!

[E-Balla]

2nd place ROY is going to be one of:

Booker
Porzingis
Jokic
Russell

I'm not sure which one. I suspect the voters will give it to Porzingis.

I think I might lean towards Booker. But I could easily be persuaded to take any of those 4 guys 2nd to Towns.

What's the argument for Booker over Porzingis at this point? Porzingis has easily been better on both sides of the ball. Maybe Booker catches him offensively by seasons end but defensively Porzingis is a monster and he's still the most impactful rookie (even as he's slumping) thanks to his stellar defensive play all year long.

[Latrell]

2nd place ROY is going to be one of:

Booker
Porzingis
Jokic
Russell

I'm not sure which one. I suspect the voters will give it to Porzingis.

I think I might lean towards Booker. But I could easily be persuaded to take any of those 4 guys 2nd to Towns.

What's the argument for Booker over Porzingis at this point? Porzingis has easily been better on both sides of the ball. Maybe Booker catches him offensively by seasons end but defensively Porzingis is a monster and he's still the most impactful rookie (even as he's slumping) thanks to his stellar defensive play all year long.

Most impactful between him and Booker? Or most impactful overall?

Cause there's no way he's more impactful than Towns.

Yes, the Wolves are a few games worse than the Knicks. But the Knicks are also a bottom 7 team.