2024-25 NBA Rookie Discussion Thread (Pt. 3)

[TheZachAttack]

Have you watched him play? He competes really well on the defensive end and has great lateral movement to stay in front of players. He forced an air ball on a drive on Drew Eubanks who is like 6'8-6'10+. He struggles to get through screens but recovers well... I think he will get better and I don't even think he's really even a bad defender now. I think his size limitations just mean he's also not an impactful defender in net.

Yea so I've watched him play probably less than 5 games but the one thing that immediately stuck out is just how small he is.

Dude is listed at 6'3 which is insane he looks 6' 160 at best. He's tiny on the court. I watched him play against Boston and Pritchard made him look small.

I just don't think he has the strength or length to be an impact defender. Just look at a guy like Trae (similar build) he's a complete traffic cone and I don't think Dillingham is anywhere near Trae level of playmaking

Pritchard has like 20 pounds of mass on Dillingham. I'm sure Dillingham could and will gain some weight but he doesn't have the frame to add significantly more. PP also has a 6'5 wingspan, which while isn't great, it's better than Dillingham's 6'3. Dillingham doesn't have the length or bulk.

He'd have to have off the charts lateral quickness to make up for the wingspan. He just doesn't have the measurables to be a good defender.

I never said impactful. And he does have off the charts lateral quickness.

[TheZachAttack]

To do this he needs to actually be able to stay on the floor.

Scoring doesn't mean much if you're giving it all up on the other end. I just don't see how he could ever be a passable NBA defender. Unless he is god tier offensively, he's just not gonna be able to stay on the floor.

1 dimensional volume scorers usually end up coming off the bench if they want to stay in the league.

Have you watched him play? He competes really well on the defensive end and has great lateral movement to stay in front of players. He forced an air ball on a drive on Drew Eubanks who is like 6'8-6'10+. He struggles to get through screens but recovers well... I think he will get better and I don't even think he's really even a bad defender now. I think his size limitations just mean he's also not an impactful defender in net.

Yea so I've watched him play probably less than 5 games but the one thing that immediately stuck out is just how small he is.

Dude is listed at 6'3 which is insane he looks 6' 160 at best. He's tiny on the court. I watched him play against Boston and Pritchard made him look small.

I just don't think he has the strength or length to be an impact defender. Just look at a guy like Trae (similar build) he's a complete traffic cone and I don't think Dillingham is anywhere near Trae level of playmaking

I never said impactful. The difference between him and Trae is he has off the charts lateral quickness. He’s also very willing to defend and try hard. I don’t think he’s a cone and I don’t think Trae has great lateral quickness or is a very willing defender.

Also I don’t think his playmaking is far off from Trae. He’s the best passer I’ve seen on the Wolves since Rubio. He’s averaging 8-9 assists per 36 and he can make all of the passes in two man game and find corner shooters. He’s also very good at initiating and managing pace and creating semi transition and getting into the offense early.

I’ve been more impressed by his point guard skills than his shotmaking. He’s not at all a one dimensional scorer.

[Klomp]

Per-36 numbers
18.9 points (.514 / .500 / .400), 3.4 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 4.4 turnovers, 0.9 steals (in 253 minutes) - Rob Dillingham
10.3 points (.315 / .274 / .833), 4.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.9 turnovers, 1.7 steals (in 360 minutes) - Reed Sheppard

Per 36 mins is such a useless stat.

Yep it assumes that scaling is perfectly linear, which we all know is not true

It really is no different than points per game. It just levels out to help compare two players where they are at right now.

I'm not saying that Dillingham is a 19 ppg player or that Sheppard is a 10 ppg player. I'm simply demonstrating that this is how the numbers show on an equal standard of measurement. If you're making assumptions beyond that, it's on you.

[Ruma85]

Per 36 mins is such a useless stat.

Yep it assumes that scaling is perfectly linear, which we all know is not true

It really is no different than points per game. It just levels out to help compare two players where they are at right now.

I'm not saying that Dillingham is a 19 ppg player or that Sheppard is a 10 ppg player. I'm simply demonstrating that this is how the numbers show on an equal standard of measurement. If you're making assumptions beyond that, it's on you.

That would be true if they actually played 36min, it's an estimation of what they would average, which is not realistic as many factors go into play.

[Klomp]

Yep it assumes that scaling is perfectly linear, which we all know is not true

It really is no different than points per game. It just levels out to help compare two players where they are at right now.

I'm not saying that Dillingham is a 19 ppg player or that Sheppard is a 10 ppg player. I'm simply demonstrating that this is how the numbers show on an equal standard of measurement. If you're making assumptions beyond that, it's on you.

That would be true if they actually played 36min, it's an estimation of what they would average, which is not realistic as many factors go into play.

It's simply a per-minute calculation. I never once claimed that they would average that.

Part of determining the usefulness of a statistic is understanding what the stat is and how it is supposed to be used.

[Ruma85]

It really is no different than points per game. It just levels out to help compare two players where they are at right now.

I'm not saying that Dillingham is a 19 ppg player or that Sheppard is a 10 ppg player. I'm simply demonstrating that this is how the numbers show on an equal standard of measurement. If you're making assumptions beyond that, it's on you.

That would be true if they actually played 36min, it's an estimation of what they would average, which is not realistic as many factors go into play.

It's simply a per-minute calculation. I never once claimed that they would average that.

Part of determining the usefulness of a statistic is understanding what the stat is and how it is supposed to be used.

It's simply useless out of any stat to use this one is the worst.

[Bornstellar]

Read on Twitter

[Castle Black]

Castle continues to impress. Congrats Rook. Well-deserved.

Read on Twitter

[Jcool0]

Read on Twitter

[magee]

Matas Buzelis is a stud. He's the reason why Chicago was okay with trading Lavine. He's gonna fit in so nicely with this squad. I wonder now if they decide to keep Lonzo Ball unless they get an offer they can't refuse.

[MissileMike]

Watch on YouTube

(Ware had a very good game too)

[LuDux1]

In 5 previous games Buzi Vert shot 11/15 from 2 and 8/15 from 3

[Indomitable]

Matas Buzelis is a stud. He's the reason why Chicago was okay with trading Lavine. He's gonna fit in so nicely with this squad. I wonder now if they decide to keep Lonzo Ball unless they get an offer they can't refuse.

Lavine and him have nothing to do with each other. Mateas is a forward. The coach being a nitwit is a bigger factor.

[CBS7]

Matas Buzelis is a stud. He's the reason why Chicago was okay with trading Lavine. He's gonna fit in so nicely with this squad. I wonder now if they decide to keep Lonzo Ball unless they get an offer they can't refuse.

Lavine and him have nothing to do with each other. Mateas is a forward. The coach being a nitwit is a bigger factor.

Agreed somewhat, but there are more shots and minutes available now

[Jcool0]

Matas Buzelis is a stud. He's the reason why Chicago was okay with trading Lavine. He's gonna fit in so nicely with this squad. I wonder now if they decide to keep Lonzo Ball unless they get an offer they can't refuse.

Lavine and him have nothing to do with each other. Mateas is a forward. The coach being a nitwit is a bigger factor.

Billy was limiting Matas. He would play 8 minutes in the first half and then ride the bench the rest of the game. He would block 2 shots and then get pulled and never put back in. But if Matas has a good rest of the season you can look at it like the coach did what was needed to get him accumulated to the NBA. Billy is a strange coach. Williams started and played 30 MPG as a rookie. Yet Matas couldn't get 10 MPG to start the year despite flashing. And last night despite going 10/10 Billy benched him for the final 5 minutes of the game.

[RRR3]

Rough game for Ware, he went scoreless, but still high on him. Looked great when I watched the other day.

[RRR3]

Edey 3 straight efficient double doubles despite limited minutes. Jasonxxx has to be raging

[FarBeyondDriven]

Collier is now 11-4-8 as a starter with four double doubles despite not being able to shoot a lick. Like so many of these 2024 rookies, shooting is a struggle. They'll get their first offseason working with professional shooting coaches where they can devote all their time to improving. That's why there's usually a substantial jump from year 1 to 2. It's also when 2/3 of the guys wash out because they're simply incapable of addressing their major weaknesses whether it's due to lack of talent or poor work ethic.

[jasonxxx102]

Edey 3 straight efficient double doubles despite limited minutes. Jasonxxx has to be raging

Man I must occupy some prime real estate in your head LOL. Tag me next time love

You’ve mentioned me twice now despite me not even talking about Edey at all. Notice how I don’t talk about him because I don’t care?

The guy could average 50-20 for the rest of the season and I wouldn’t care. I’m so happy for you that he had 3 double doubles in a row

I have a 10:1 and a 12:1 on Edey for ROY so if he plays well I will win a bunch of money. Doesn’t change the fact that everything I said about him has been right

[RRR3]

Edey 3 straight efficient double doubles despite limited minutes. Jasonxxx has to be raging

Man I must occupy some prime real estate in your head LOL. Tag me next time love

You’ve mentioned me twice now despite me not even talking about Edey at all. Notice how I don’t talk about him because I don’t care?

The guy could average 50-20 for the rest of the season and I wouldn’t care. I’m so happy for you that he had 3 double doubles in a row

I have a 10:1 and a 12:1 on Edey for ROY so if he plays well I will win a bunch of money. Doesn’t change the fact that everything I said about him has been right

Claiming you don’t talk or care about Edey after you spent most of the thread shrieking at people for saying he was anything other than terrible is certainly a choice.