The 2025 Rookie Class

tontoz · Post #321 » by **tontoz** » Fri Nov 14, 2025 9:08 pm

dckingsfan · Post #322 » by **dckingsfan** » Fri Nov 14, 2025 9:39 pm

nate33 wrote:
dckingsfan wrote:
Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:Charlotte won the draft.

(Kalkbrenner, James, McNeeley AND Knueppel. Good grief.)

Sion James is not chopped liver.

FTFY

But yeah, they did really well.

Maybe I have a minority opinion on this, but I'm just not getting all the praise around Kalkbrenner. He is a Goga Bitadze tier backup center starting because his team has no other options. And his per-36 numbers are really lackluster: 13.4 points, 9.2 boards and 0.6 assists. His FG% is excellent because all he is asked to do is finish on the roll. 40% of his shot attempts are dunks and 80% of his attempts are inside of 3 feet, and 98% are inside of 10 feet.

The guy turns 24 this January. For comparison, 3 years from now, Sarr will be in his 5th NBA season probably earning max money, and he will STILL be younger than Kalkbrenner is right now.

naaaaaaaaaaaaaaate, don't be such a hater.

Spoiler:

This guy was picked in the 2nd round and he is already better than Goga, IMO - because he moves much faster. Yes, on his TS% of .841 but note his block % is 7.9.

Now for the bad side of Kalkbrenner, the turnovers. The good side, he is making those numbers on 12.1 usage and he is +4.7 in November.

My guess is that he will be a solid rotational C for Charlotte for some time to come - all from a SRP. BTW, I think this is where James ends up as well, just a solid rotational guard.

Two really good SRPs, IMO. McNeeley (20) like Riley :dontknow:

both could be decent in time.

closg00 · Post #323 » by **closg00** » Yesterday 3:32 am

My mouth is full of Kon Knueppel crow

TheBlackCzar · Post #324 » by **TheBlackCzar** » Yesterday 5:52 am

Fears had 8 steals tonight....

I'm sorry but I wanted to get younging more than Tre....
I like Tre, but Fears is so damn quick and gets penetration easily even at this level.....
I think not drafting Fears is going to be the biggest mistake of this draft...
He's going to be top 3-5 easily when its all said and done...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EN--ZKrZkYA

closg00 · Post #325 » by **closg00** » Yesterday 1:02 pm

TheBlackCzar wrote:Fears had 8 steals tonight....

I'm sorry but I wanted to get younging more than Tre....
I like Tre, but Fears is so damn quick and gets penetration easily even at this level.....
I think not drafting Fears is going to be the biggest mistake of this draft...
He's going to be top 3-5 easily when its all said and done...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EN--ZKrZkYA

We targeted Ace, liked Fears a lot, but took Tre with Ace off the board, I wonder if it was because they really thought Bub was gonna be the guy at the Point.

TGW · Post #326 » by **TGW** » Yesterday 4:34 pm

Kon is so further along than Tre Johnson, it's not even funny. Kon basically plays like a 5 year NBA vet.

TGW · Post #327 » by **TGW** » Yesterday 4:37 pm

closg00 wrote:
TheBlackCzar wrote:Fears had 8 steals tonight....

I'm sorry but I wanted to get younging more than Tre....
I like Tre, but Fears is so damn quick and gets penetration easily even at this level.....
I think not drafting Fears is going to be the biggest mistake of this draft...
He's going to be top 3-5 easily when its all said and done...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EN--ZKrZkYA

We targeted Ace, liked Fears a lot, but took Tre with Ace off the board, I wonder if it was because they really thought Bub was gonna be the guy at the Point.

Yea, this front office overvalues guards that can shoot and do little else. Fears plays downhill...always trying to get in the paint and causing havoc. His profile of guard is way more attractive to me than any of the guards on this roster.

closg00 · Post #328 » by **closg00** » Yesterday 4:56 pm

TGW wrote:
closg00 wrote:
TheBlackCzar wrote:Fears had 8 steals tonight....

I'm sorry but I wanted to get younging more than Tre....
I like Tre, but Fears is so damn quick and gets penetration easily even at this level.....
I think not drafting Fears is going to be the biggest mistake of this draft...
He's going to be top 3-5 easily when its all said and done...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EN--ZKrZkYA

We targeted Ace, liked Fears a lot, but took Tre with Ace off the board, I wonder if it was because they really thought Bub was gonna be the guy at the Point.

Yea, this front office overvalues guards that can shoot and do little else. Fears plays downhill...always trying to get in the paint and causing havoc. His profile of guard is way more attractive to me than any of the guards on this roster.

+1 We aren’t going anywhere without a guard that can wreak havoc in the middle, and Bub/Tre aren’t that type of player. However, if you pair Tre up with one, he can become a deadly Robin to his PG counterpart. Will could possibly become our Josh Giddy.

payitforward · Post #329 » by **payitforward** » Yesterday 5:00 pm

TGW wrote:Kon is so further along than Tre Johnson, it's not even funny. Kon basically plays like a 5 year NBA vet.

I assume that, in the draft thread earlier this year, you suggested that if Kon was on the board at our spot we should take him. Did you?

TGW wrote:...Fears plays downhill.... His profile of guard is way more attractive to me than any of the guards on this roster.

Again, I assume that you also posted that Fears was a better guard prospect than Tre.

If so, then -- good for you! Especially in the case of Kon, who is looking terrific.

If not, then all you seem to be doing is saying that in their first dozen games, Kon has put up better numbers than Tre -- which, obviously, he has! Doesn't count as analysis, however -- or do you think so?

TGW · Post #330 » by **TGW** » Yesterday 5:12 pm

payitforward wrote:
TGW wrote:Kon is so further along than Tre Johnson, it's not even funny. Kon basically plays like a 5 year NBA vet.

I assume that, in the draft thread earlier this year, you suggested that if Kon was on the board at our spot we should take him. Did you?

Yes I did.

TGW wrote:...Fears plays downhill.... His profile of guard is way more attractive to me than any of the guards on this roster.

payitforward wrote:Again, I assume that you also posted that Fears was a better guard prospect than Tre.

Yes I did. I literally had a "do not draft" grade on Tre. Now is he at that level...no. So I admit I was wrong and I was being hyperbolic, but I still don't rate him over Kon, Fears, or Queen.

tontoz · Post #331 » by **tontoz** » Yesterday 5:21 pm

I know it's early so on/off numbers can be noisy but Fears numbers are really awful.

willbcocks · Post #332 » by **willbcocks** » Yesterday 6:05 pm

Although I'm also shocked by how well Kon's played, he wasn't available at our pick, so it's irrelevant how he's doing. And it's not like not trading up for him is something we should regret--if we traded up, it should have been for edgecombe.

It's still super early. I haven't seen anything out of those picked after Tre, except maybe Coward, that would change who I would have drafted. And honestly, although Coward's looked great, he's not the archetype I want to gamble on right now. We already have Bilal in a similar role, and we need a creator.

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #333 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Yesterday 7:55 pm

closg00 wrote:
TGW wrote:
closg00 wrote:
We targeted Ace, liked Fears a lot, but took Tre with Ace off the board, I wonder if it was because they really thought Bub was gonna be the guy at the Point.

Yea, this front office overvalues guards that can shoot and do little else. Fears plays downhill...always trying to get in the paint and causing havoc. His profile of guard is way more attractive to me than any of the guards on this roster.

+1 We aren’t going anywhere without a guard that can wreak havoc in the middle, and Bub/Tre aren’t that type of player. However, if you pair Tre up with one, he can become a deadly Robin to his PG counterpart. Will could possibly become our Josh Giddy.

TGW wrote:
closg00 wrote:
TheBlackCzar wrote:Fears had 8 steals tonight....

I'm sorry but I wanted to get younging more than Tre....
I like Tre, but Fears is so damn quick and gets penetration easily even at this level.....
I think not drafting Fears is going to be the biggest mistake of this draft...
He's going to be top 3-5 easily when its all said and done...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EN--ZKrZkYA

We targeted Ace, liked Fears a lot, but took Tre with Ace off the board, I wonder if it was because they really thought Bub was gonna be the guy at the Point.

Yea, this front office overvalues guards that can shoot and do little else. Fears plays downhill...always trying to get in the paint and causing havoc. His profile of guard is way more attractive to me than any of the guards on this roster.

I agree with you both.

Just pair Will Riley with Tre Johnson, and let's see Batman and Robin come into fruition.

It could be the Wizards already fathom this idea, they want to keep tanking with CJ getting many shots while Bub Carrington digs into in a crater.

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #334 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Yesterday 7:59 pm

TGW wrote:
payitforward wrote:
TGW wrote:Kon is so further along than Tre Johnson, it's not even funny. Kon basically plays like a 5 year NBA vet.

I assume that, in the draft thread earlier this year, you suggested that if Kon was on the board at our spot we should take him. Did you?

Yes I did.

TGW wrote:...Fears plays downhill.... His profile of guard is way more attractive to me than any of the guards on this roster.

payitforward wrote:Again, I assume that you also posted that Fears was a better guard prospect than Tre.

Yes I did. I literally had a "do not draft" grade on Tre. Now is he at that level...no. So I admit I was wrong and I was being hyperbolic, but I still don't rate him over Kon, Fears, or Queen.

We agree on all of this, but I didn't think Kon would be a volume scorer. I knew he could shoot well, but he's already a legit first or second option scorer.

Kanyewest · Post #335 » by **Kanyewest** » Yesterday 8:36 pm

willbcocks wrote:Although I'm also shocked by how well Kon's played, he wasn't available at our pick, so it's irrelevant how he's doing. And it's not like not trading up for him is something we should regret--if we traded up, it should have been for edgecombe.

It's still super early. I haven't seen anything out of those picked after Tre, except maybe Coward, that would change who I would have drafted. And honestly, although Coward's looked great, he's not the archetype I want to gamble on right now. We already have Bilal in a similar role, and we need a creator.

Yeah, not relevant to the Wizards front office. But fun to see how he's exceeded expectations.

tontoz · Post #336 » by **tontoz** » Yesterday 8:44 pm

There is a big difference between having Lamelo creating opportunities for you as opposed to Carrington and CJ. I watched the highlights and many of Kon's looks were created when he set a screen for Lamelo and then rolled or popped for an open shot while the defenders stayed with Lamelo.

Playing 41 minutes also helps the statline.

willbcocks · Post #337 » by **willbcocks** » Yesterday 8:59 pm

tontoz wrote:There is a big difference between having Lamelo creating opportunities for you as opposed to Carrington and CJ. I watched the highlights and many of Kon's looks were created when he set a screen for Lamelo and then rolled or popped for an open shot while the defenders stayed with Lamelo.

Playing 41 minutes also helps the statline.

Lamelo was out 5 games in a row. Kon dropped 24, 20, 30, 19, and 16 in those games.

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #338 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Yesterday 9:05 pm

Kon is a primary scoring option and the current leader (by far) for the rookie of the year.

tontoz · Post #339 » by **tontoz** » Yesterday 9:12 pm

willbcocks wrote:
tontoz wrote:There is a big difference between having Lamelo creating opportunities for you as opposed to Carrington and CJ. I watched the highlights and many of Kon's looks were created when he set a screen for Lamelo and then rolled or popped for an open shot while the defenders stayed with Lamelo.

Playing 41 minutes also helps the statline.

Lamelo was out 5 games in a row. Kon dropped 24, 20, 30, 19, and 16 in those games.

Colin Sexton is still way better than anyone we have, and in those 5 games Kon shot 45% from the field, 37% from 3 which is roughly Tre's season average.

Playing 36 minutes per game also helps the statline as opposed to playing 26 minutes per game.

TheBlackCzar · Post #340 » by **TheBlackCzar** » Yesterday 9:43 pm

tontoz wrote:I know it's early so on/off numbers can be noisy but Fears numbers are really awful.

With a guy like Fears who is like 18 years old, is that you have to forecast his potential into what he can potentially become...
Focusing on stats, much like people did last year with Sarr, is missing the point of drafting this player for his potential...
JF has an elite skill, which is getting to the rim and drawing fouls... These skills will and have translated to the NBA...
There was talk of him not being able to play any defense, and that's why I was like wow lil younging got 8 steals in a game...
Kinda funny to me that's all....
He still needs to work on his turnovers and shooting, but what I thought he could bring to our team, he's bringing to NO....
Tre and Bub were too similar in archtype for me... Not overly athletic perimeter based players...
I thought that redundancy wasn't a good idea... Fears had a talent this team does not possess in any of its players....
A guy who can get to the rim and create as well as score... On this young team he'd have fit in perfectly...
With Bub slacking it really is making that Deni trade look kind of terrible in hindsight....
Especially since it made us overvalue what we have at the PG position going into the draft....
And what made drafting him such a good idea, was that we have so much length on our team to help on D, and he wasn't going to jeapordize the tank while he was getting better on both sides of the court....
Fears with Peterson would've been a better combination than Peterson Johnson would be simply because Tre doesn't get to the rim enough...
We'll see, and in saying this I don't think that Tre can't be a very good to great player, but I just had a stylistic preference for Fears' talents....