The OFFICIAL Rookie impressions thread

[BIG FURB]

Barnes showing why he was so heavily touted coming out of HS, my darkhorse pick for ROY. I can't believe how much hate there was for this guy prior to the draft. I have seen him be great too many times to let a few bad games in college (albeit in the tournament) define him as a player.

[EvanZ]

Looks like the Warriors have themselves a great draft class. Tonight Jackson played Ezeli, Barnes, and Green together down the stretch for the win in Dallas.

[killacalijatt]

Barnes has been beasting these last few games 20/12 today.

[NaturalThunder]

Barnes is averaging 17.3 PPG and 8.9 RPG on 51% shooting in his last four games, and that's with the 12 point 1 rebound "stinker" against OKC included. Take that game out, and he's averaging 19.0 PPG, 11.3 RPG on 52% shooting.

[Flash Falcon X]

Richard Jefferson getting injured was a blessing for the Warriors. After Brandon Rush got injured, it was so painful seeing Richard Jefferson go in and ruin games with his atrocious self. The injury to Jefferson has gives Draymond Green an opportunity to play more minutes and he surprisingly has been doing very well. After starting off really bad this season, Draymond Green started to click after getting more PT and has now proven himself to keep those minutes even after Richard Jefferson gets healthy. Pretty decent all around player who hustles and plays defense.

Festus Ezeli has been great for Golden State. Us Warriors fans aren't used to seeing rebounders on our team so we're enjoying the fact that we finally have a big man who plays tough inside and gets boards. He's been very productive.

Harrison Barnes is finally starting to show up. In the first couple of games, Harrison was basically invisible during games. It's like he never even existed on this roster even though he was our starting SF. He was too passive. After a couple of losses, Harrison seems to have learned a lot and now he's being very aggressive and as a result he's been a big factor. He's surprisingly athletic and strong, his newly found confidence is allowing him to utilize his strength for a lot of good drives and post up plays. His shooting is coming around really nicely, too. It's only been about 10 games into the season, but he's already made such huge improvements. I can't wait to see how he develops throughout the year. He has the tools to be a great player.

[EvanZ]

Richard Jefferson getting injured was a blessing for the Warriors. After Brandon Rush got injured, it was so painful seeing Richard Jefferson go in and ruin games with his atrocious self. The injury to Jefferson has gives Draymond Green an opportunity to play more minutes and he surprisingly has been doing very well. After starting off really bad this season, Draymond Green started to click after getting more PT and has now proven himself to keep those minutes even after Richard Jefferson gets healthy. Pretty decent all around player who hustles and plays defense.

Festus Ezeli has been great for Golden State. Us Warriors fans aren't used to seeing rebounders on our team so we're enjoying the fact that we finally have a big man who plays tough inside and gets boards. He's been very productive.

Harrison Barnes is finally starting to show up. In the first couple of games, Harrison was basically invisible during games. It's like he never even existed on this roster even though he was our starting SF. He was too passive. After a couple of losses, Harrison seems to have learned a lot and now he's being very aggressive and as a result he's been a big factor. He's surprisingly athletic and strong, his newly found confidence is allowing him to utilize his strength for a lot of good drives and post up plays. His shooting is coming around really nicely, too. It's only been about 10 games into the season, but he's already made such huge improvements. I can't wait to see how he develops throughout the year. He has the tools to be a great player.

I agree with everything except the bolded part. Barnes has been athletic and strong for a while now.

[NaturalThunder]

I agree with everything except the bolded part. Barnes has been athletic and strong for a while now.

This. He's always been a really good athlete; it's just a "sneaky" type of athleticism. One thing I noticed about him in college is that he has exceptional body control in the air around the rim and in traffic.

[Flash Falcon X]

Richard Jefferson getting injured was a blessing for the Warriors. After Brandon Rush got injured, it was so painful seeing Richard Jefferson go in and ruin games with his atrocious self. The injury to Jefferson has gives Draymond Green an opportunity to play more minutes and he surprisingly has been doing very well. After starting off really bad this season, Draymond Green started to click after getting more PT and has now proven himself to keep those minutes even after Richard Jefferson gets healthy. Pretty decent all around player who hustles and plays defense.

Festus Ezeli has been great for Golden State. Us Warriors fans aren't used to seeing rebounders on our team so we're enjoying the fact that we finally have a big man who plays tough inside and gets boards. He's been very productive.

Harrison Barnes is finally starting to show up. In the first couple of games, Harrison was basically invisible during games. It's like he never even existed on this roster even though he was our starting SF. He was too passive. After a couple of losses, Harrison seems to have learned a lot and now he's being very aggressive and as a result he's been a big factor. He's surprisingly athletic and strong, his newly found confidence is allowing him to utilize his strength for a lot of good drives and post up plays. His shooting is coming around really nicely, too. It's only been about 10 games into the season, but he's already made such huge improvements. I can't wait to see how he develops throughout the year. He has the tools to be a great player.

I agree with everything except the bolded part. Barnes has been athletic and strong for a while now.

My bad I meant to say it's a surprise to me. Lol. I haven't followed him in HS or college, but when I watched videos of him online he never really struck me as an athletic player. I was surprised when he had the highest standing vertical jump and 3/4th sprint at the NBA Draft combine (for some reason I never believed it even it was right there on paper).

Once I saw him play some actual NBA games, he changed my mind.

On one play he picked up a loose ball below the rim and quickly jumped up and dunked it with both hands. Normally some guards/swingmen would just lay it in off the backboard, but Barnes has the physical tools to jump so effortlessly. It's not an amazingly athletic play, but it was still surprising to me.

Also, on other occasions, whenever he takes contacts from his drives he still maintains his posture in mid air no matter how hard the contact was. He never really gets "knocked down"; he just lands back on his feet. I underestimated his strength.

All those plays happened while he was still having his slow start. I see the physical tools, he just has to be more aggressive so he can really utilize those attributes. With enough confidence, experience, and practice he can possibly be the type of player who can help carry the Warriors on his back when they need him. If not this year, I'm sure he'll develop into that kind of player within the next couple of years. He needs to work on his ball handling, too.

[Flash Falcon X]

Actually, he doesn't have to necessarily be aggressive all the time. He just has to have confidence. Like I mentioned in my other posts, he was too passive in the first couple of games. Too shy, but after those couple losses I think he realized that he needs to step it up and ever since then he's been making key contributions during games.

[dc]

What an impressive crop of rookies so far, particularly AD, MKG, Lillard, Barnes and Drummond. These guys are able to help their teams in more ways than just scoring.

[RIPskaterdude]

What an impressive crop of rookies so far, particularly AD, MKG, Lillard, Barnes and Drummond. These guys are able to help their teams in more ways than just scoring.

I know it's early and he's not really getting any minutes, but how is Drummond being included with those other 4 players?

[DeBlazerRiddem]

What an impressive crop of rookies so far, particularly AD, MKG, Lillard, Barnes and Drummond. These guys are able to help their teams in more ways than just scoring.

I know it's early and he's not really getting any minutes, but how is Drummond being included with those other 4 players?

Because they are the 5 most impressive rookies?

I also think Beal and Waiters will be just fine as well. As the season goes on, they will string together more and more good performances.

Anyways, the original statement stands, this is and will be an impressive crop of rookies.

[Goldtop]

Just noticed Drummond is #4 now on the espn rookie watch

[9abovetherim]

Barnes is averaging 17.3 PPG and 8.9 RPG on 51% shooting in his last four games, and that's with the 12 point 1 rebound "stinker" against OKC included. Take that game out, and he's averaging 19.0 PPG, 11.3 RPG on 52% shooting.

Nice to see Barnes is for real!

[Roger Murdock]

^ Thats a hilarious meme

[Kabookalu]

Valanciunas double double before the third quarter even ended. Doesn't play the rest of the game.

****ing Casey man.

[PapeSowish]

3 assists and 3 blocks too.

Casey is ****ing stupid.

[Pablonis]

And 0 fouls (in 25min) with great defense. And the Raptors that looked well in control of Philly throughout the game collapse completely in the 4th.

[Kabookalu]

You know what else was so frustrating? We played a perimeter oriented team, and Terrence Ross didn't see a single minute out there on the court. Instead Casey went with playing Calderon out there even though he was getting mutilated by Holiday all night long.

What the hell is up with these defensive minded coaches and their lovefest for scrub point guards?

[JV4MVP]

3 assists and 3 blocks too.

Casey is ****ing stupid.

Casey is going to be fired by December's end.

Ross hasn't played enough either.