What Rookies Players were just great from the get go?

[JordansBulls]

Without mentioning Top 10 players all time because each one of them were great from the beginning of their careers, what other Rookies Players were just great from the get go all-time.

[thegreatblaze]

LeBron, Melo, Wade, Roy, Yao, Stoudemire etc...

Those are some recent one's.

[Point forward]

I think the "worst" elite rookie player was Wes Unseld. He won ROY and MVP and is a HOF guy, but surely no Top 10 guy. Other not so obvious candidates are Adrian Dantley (20/8) and Dave Cowens (17/12).

[Turisas]

Grant Hill was one player who blew my mind when he first came into the league.

[CBS7]

Brand put up 20/10/2 1.6 blocks
Ewing put up 20/9/2 2 blocks
Hakeem put up 21/12/1.4 3 blocks
Iverson put up 24/8/4 2 steals
Duncan put up 21/12/3 2 blocks

Come to think of it, we haven't had a 20/10 rookie bigman since Brand.

[mr.ankle]

I'm surprised no one mention . Michael Jordan and Shaq . And Yao's rookie season was not great . It was above average not great

[NothingButNet]

All of the players mentioned above, plus I was personally impressed by CP3 in his rookie year. You could tell he was going to be something special.

[Red Robot]

The early 60s were the days of monster debuts. Baylor, Wilt, Oscar, Bellamy, and Terry Dischinger in successive years.

Alvan Adams had a crazy rookie season with something like 6 assists per game (from a center), an Allstar appearance, and an unlikely trip to the finals as arguably his team's best player.

Ralph Sampson and Terry Cummings also had great back-to-back rookie seasons. Marques Johnston and John Drew were two of the best not to win ROY, because of Walter Davis and Jamaal Wilkes.

Robinson and Mourning join Shaq and Duncan with great 90s debuts. Sabonis' minutes were limited by his thirtysomething body, but his rookie year was incredibly efficient.

More recently, Chris Paul.

[bluestang302]

Geoff Petrie. Co-ROY with Dave Cowens. 24.8 ppg. Only played 6 seasons cuz of injuries

Clark Kellogg. 20.1 - 10.6 - 2.8. Only played 260 games (knee)

Sidney Wicks. 24.5 points, 11.5 boards, and 4.3 assists! Stats dropped precipitiously every year of his career though

Joe Barry Carroll - 19 and 9

Bill Cartwright averaged 22 and 9 as a rookie and never was that good ever again.

Ron Harper put up about 23, 5, and 5 i think with a bunch of steals

Shareef averaged 18.7 coming out after his freshman year

Tim Hardaway put up about 15 and 8. Richmond scored 22-23 a game.

Antoine Walker - 17.5 pts 9.0 reb 3.2 ast

[CBS7]

I'm surprised no one mention . Michael Jordan and Shaq . And Yao's rookie season was not great . It was above average not great

The OP said non top-10 players. You should read more often.

[tkb]

Some of the bigs in the league today did pretty well as rooks. Guys like Duncan, Brand and Gasol.

[zhangjiawei]

Damon Stoudmire 19 p 9.1 assists(5th in League?) and he beat Chicago once in 1996.

Larry Johnson 19 11 rookie year and 22 10 4.8 in 2nd year, then he was beaten by his back.

Bill Cartwright 21.7p 8.9 rebs.

Walter Bellamy 31p 15 rebs ?

Terry Cummings around 24 p 11rebs.

[thegreatblaze]

Damon Stoudmire 19 p 9.1 assists(5th in League?) and he beat Chicago once in 1996.

Larry Johnson 19 11 rookie year and 22 10 4.8 in 2nd year, then he was beaten by his back.

Bill Cartwright 21.7p 8.9 rebs.

Walter Bellamy 31p 15 rebs ?

Terry Cummings around 24 p 11rebs.

Bill Cartwright? Are you kidding me? That guy has to be the most goofy offensive player I've ever seen. I can't imagine him filling up the boxscore like that.

[zhangjiawei]

Bill Cartwright? Are you kidding me? That guy has to be the most goofy offensive player I've ever seen. I can't imagine him filling up the boxscore like that.

Yeah I am sorry but it's what life is really about....

Can u imagine Ron Harper that score 9 every night next to Michael poured 36 points AGAINST Michael TWICE in a season?


Wlit scored 50.4 in 1961-62 then 13.2 in 1971-72... C'est la vie.

[Warspite]

Walt Bellamy finished 3rd in PPG and RPG his rookie yr. 31.5ppg 20.1rpg

[penbeast0]

Great . . . mmm . . . Historically (using PER as a guide, not because it is perfect but because it's the easiest measurement) the following players were in the top 100 seasons of all time so I looked to see if their rookie seasons were also in the top 100 all time.

ABA players had an advantage because they were featured as rookies both due to the lesser talent and because they had the fan base from college that the league was trying to attract. Modern players have a disadvantage because they come out younger without 4 years of college. Of course none of the straight out of HS players came close unless you count Connie Hawkins in the ABL (Amare for example has a rookie PER of only 16.2)

All-time great seasons as rookies:
George Mikan (almost certainly in the 28+ range though rebounds not counted that year)
Connie Hawkins (28.8) 27/14/4 (ABA)
Spencer Haywood (28.3) 30/19/2 (ABA)
Wilt Chamberlain (28.0) 38/27/2
Artis Gilmore (26.6) 24/18/3 ABA
David Robinson (26.3) 24/12/2
Walt Bellamy (26.3) 32/19/3

Didn't make the cut but still had a rookie PER above 20 (star level):
Oscar Robertson (25.9) 31/10/10
Michael Jordan (25.8) 28/7/6
Bob Pettit (24.5) 20/14/3
Julius Erving (23.9) 27/16/4 (ABA)
Elgin Baylor (23.6) 25/15/4
Shaquille O'Neal (22.9) 22/13/2
Tim Duncan (22.6) 22/12/3
Lew Alcinder/KAJ (22.5) 29/14/4
Chris Paul (22.1) 16/5/8
Hakeem Olujawon (21.1) 21/12/1
Elton Brand (20/6) 20/10/2
Magic Johnson (20.6) 18/8/7
Larry Bird (20.5) 21/10/5

Rookie PER below 20:
Moses Malone (19.6) ABA
Neil Johnston (18.6)
LeBron James (18.3)
Charles Barkley (18.3)
Dwyane Wade (17.6)
Tracy McGrady (17.4)
Amare Stoudamire (16.2)
Kevin Garnett (15.8)
Kobe Bryant (14.4)
Karl Malone (13.7)
Dirk Nowitski (12.8)

[Baller 24]

Elvin Hayes comes to mind....28ppg leading the league in scoring, while averaging 17.1 rebounds per game.

[_BBIB_]

From DX:

The first two years of play of the first seven draft classes of this decade (2000 through 2006) demonstrate the rarity of immediate star impact. Of the 409 players drafted in that time, only four produced star numbers in their first season: Pau Gasol, LeBron James, Chris Paul, and (for the games in which he was not injured) Brandon Roy.

But none, not even the transcendent talents of James and Paul, could produce a winning record in year one. In their sophomore years, team success for the four was improving (albeit incrementally for Gasol with Memphis going from 23 to 28 wins) but only James’ Cavs crept over .500 with 42 wins.

[CBS7]

If Roy's 16/4/4 counts as star numbers why doesn't Carmelo's 21/6/3 and Wade's 16/4/4 count? Both made the playoffs in their rookie seasons as well.

But yeah, a rookie having a huge impact is getting rare. The NBA hasn't had a 20/10 rookie bigman since Brand. In fact, we haven't had an 18/8 rookie bigman since Brand, although Gasol came close.

[thegreatblaze]

Roy was closer tp 17 ppg as a rookie. He averaged 16.8 as a rookie, Wade averaged 16.2. I think it's more fair to bump Roy up to 17/4/4 as a rookie.

Just sayin'