2025-26 NBA Rookie Discussion Thread

[Chokic]

Derik queen is so skilled great feel for the game. Pelicans lucked out finding their next franchise player so they can officially move on from Zion.

[Dan Z]

Derik queen is so skilled great feel for the game. Pelicans lucked out finding their next franchise player so they can officially move on from Zion.

Lucked out? They went after him and traded the #22 pick and their 2026 pick (unprotected) for him.

Also, they got the #22 pick by trading the Pacers 2026 pick (which they owned) for it (the Pacers had #22 in the 2025 draft).

[Chokic]

Derik queen is so skilled great feel for the game. Pelicans lucked out finding their next franchise player so they can officially move on from Zion.

Lucked out? They went after him and traded the #22 pick and their 2026 pick (unprotected) for him.

Also, they got the #22 pick by trading the Pacers 2026 pick (which they owned) for it (the Pacers had #22 in the 2025 draft).

Anytime you can get a franchise caliber player outside of the top 5 in any draft much less #1 pick is quite lucky. Granted, its still super early to make such a bold assertion but queen shows great promise.

[Dan Z]

Derik queen is so skilled great feel for the game. Pelicans lucked out finding their next franchise player so they can officially move on from Zion.

Lucked out? They went after him and traded the #22 pick and their 2026 pick (unprotected) for him.

Also, they got the #22 pick by trading the Pacers 2026 pick (which they owned) for it (the Pacers had #22 in the 2025 draft).

Anytime you can get a franchise caliber player outside of the top 5 in any draft much less #1 pick is quite lucky. Granted, its still super early to make such a bold assertion but queen shows great promise.

My point is that they thought he'd be good and went after him.

I don't think he's a franchise player, but if he is then they were right in their assessment (even though I still think they gave up too much for him).

[FarBeyondDriven]

can't find any stats but Kon looks like one of those top percentile deceleration guys. with that strength, mass, shooting and craftiness, what he's doing seems very sustainable.

Yes that’s another thing, there is nothing about Kon’s start where you think, “okay but this aspect of his game will crash down to earth at some point.”

It’s not like he’s shooting 57% from 3 or something like that. He’s shooting 88% from the line, he shot 91% at Duke last year. He’s shooting 40% from 3, just like his FT shooting, he shot 40% last year at Duke and he’s as high level of a shooting prospect in the class. Ya the 3pt shot may drop and move from say 37%-40%. But Kon being a 40% 3pt shooter really shouldn’t be all that surprising.

but there is. He's doing it against awful teams, in losses, while also on an awful team. Pretty much anyone that plays 1-3 on an NBA roster or in the G-League if handed high usage and 12-15 FGA a game could fill a stat sheet. It's just how the game is designed right now. All the advantages are given to primary and secondary ball handlers and defense no longer keeps guys off the floor.

Look at Ryan Rollins right now. Due to roster mismanagement and injuries he's putting up as good if not better numbers than Kon. He was the 44th pick in the 2nd round back in 2022. He was barely getting minutes for the first 2.5 seasons of his career. He didn't suddenly get great. He just finally got his opportunity. Some guys like Rollins, Pritchard, Jenkins, Brunson, Nembhard, etc are forced to ride the pine for whatever reason. Some guys, mostly due to justifying draft position and almost always in combination with being on bad teams or teams with injuries, get handed that usage as a rookie. Sustaining it while on a playoff team is the true measure. So I caution people to get too high on guys who are getting high usage and also getting too low on guys who aren't.

[BAMAFREAK]

Ced C with another great game. An easy 19. His shot is so smooth and he has a pull up jumper that is butter. He has been a true bright spot during this nasty start.
How good can he be?

[PlatinumState]

Ced C with another great game. An easy 19. His shot is so smooth and he has a pull up jumper that is butter. He has been a true bright spot during this nasty start.
How good can he be?

Better than MJ

Spoiler:

Accordng to Target Guy

[MMyhre]

Ced C with another great game. An easy 19. His shot is so smooth and he has a pull up jumper that is butter. He has been a true bright spot during this nasty start.
How good can he be?

He is a bit awkward when driving to the rim and he needs to get better at reading the game/being more proactive when he plays defense.

He is doing all this with a foot injury on a minutes restriction, so that might be a cause of some of the bad games.

I have him as a close 2nd behind Knueppel in the race. Hitting 2 threes a game on 41 % is great.

He needs to work on his technique for rim finishing, pullup game, short and & long midrange game, defensive activity, ball handling & playmaking, but the foundation is there.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxTfeHCzSA2gHf8jmOZu82DGY1hbTCR-Bq?si=3yeYFFJhqoLPoCRa

Look at how high he gets here on this contest on SGA. Someone with that athleticism and length should not be finishing worse at the rim than Kon Knueppel. It's all about technique and knowing how to be more powerful when attacking the rim for Coward, he already has the tools he just doesn't know how to use them both on offense or defense, yet.

Maybe because he is such a good shooter he plays a bit safer than he should, but he needs to challenge himself to get more steals, blocks and dunks. More aggression and assertion, he plays like a little soft shooter right now, when he could be making his presence felt on both ends with his length & athleticism.

[Trey24]

I think a sped up version of the Deni progression is the dream scenario. I still don't know if Deni can be the best player on a good team but that's kind of what I was thinking

i would be willing to bet that Kon to this point has leaped past what you thought he would be at his ceiling and you are trying to come to terms with it by saying he will never be a star even though you say he could make a few all STAR teams so I'm not sure what the point of bringing up Deni is. Kon is light-years ahead of Deni at this point in their development. If he improves as much as Deni has since rookie year you are talking about a perennial all NBA talent.

So are you saying Kon is a perennial all-nba talent? Just want to be clear.

because I think that's crazy

Did you read my post? I said the Deni comparison is a weird one to make because Kon is light-years ahead of where Deni was at this point in development. IF Kon were to improve as much as Deni has since rookie season, that player projects to be a top 15 player in the league.

[BAMAFREAK]

Ced C with another great game. An easy 19. His shot is so smooth and he has a pull up jumper that is butter. He has been a true bright spot during this nasty start.
How good can he be?

He is a bit awkward when driving to the rim and he needs to get better at reading the game/being more proactive when he plays defense.

He is doing all this with a foot injury on a minutes restriction, so that might be a cause of some of the bad games.

I have him as a close 2nd behind Knueppel in the race. Hitting 2 threes a game on 41 % is great.

He needs to work on his technique for rim finishing, pullup game, short and & long midrange game, defensive activity, ball handling & playmaking, but the foundation is there.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxTfeHCzSA2gHf8jmOZu82DGY1hbTCR-Bq?si=3yeYFFJhqoLPoCRa

Look at how high he gets here on this contest on SGA. Someone with that athleticism and length should not be finishing worse at the rim than Kon Knueppel. It's all about technique and knowing how to be more powerful when attacking the rim for Coward, he already has the tools he just doesn't know how to use them both on offense or defense, yet.

Maybe because he is such a good shooter he plays a bit safer than he should, but he needs to challenge himself to get more steals, blocks and dunks. More aggression and assertion, he plays like a little soft shooter right now, when he could be making his presence felt on both ends with his length & athleticism.

Nice post. Finishing takes a ton of repetition, and we have to remember he missed last season and the summer completely.
He has great instincts on d he can just get caught ball watching at times. Overall though, I agree with your post.

[FrodoBaggins]

Kon over his last 9 games:

- 36.1 mpg
- 22.3 ppg, 7.1 rpg, and 3.8 apg, 1.0 spg, 0.3 bpg, 2.4 topg
- 39.0% 3PT (9.1 3pa/g), 60.9% 2PT (7.1 2pa/g), 93.1% FT (3.2 fta/g), 63.3% TS

Guard Larry Bird. Buff Austin Reaves mixed with Klay Thompson.

[FrodoBaggins]

Cooper Flagg over his last 5 games:

- 36.2 mpg
- 18.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.4 spg, 1.0 bpg, 2.0 topg
- 33.3% 3PT (4.2 3pa/g), 64.6% 2PT (9.6 2pa/g), 55.0% FT (4.0 fta/g), 60.4% TS

[MMyhre]

Ced C with another great game. An easy 19. His shot is so smooth and he has a pull up jumper that is butter. He has been a true bright spot during this nasty start.
How good can he be?

He is a bit awkward when driving to the rim and he needs to get better at reading the game/being more proactive when he plays defense.

He is doing all this with a foot injury on a minutes restriction, so that might be a cause of some of the bad games.

I have him as a close 2nd behind Knueppel in the race. Hitting 2 threes a game on 41 % is great.

He needs to work on his technique for rim finishing, pullup game, short and & long midrange game, defensive activity, ball handling & playmaking, but the foundation is there.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxTfeHCzSA2gHf8jmOZu82DGY1hbTCR-Bq?si=3yeYFFJhqoLPoCRa

Look at how high he gets here on this contest on SGA. Someone with that athleticism and length should not be finishing worse at the rim than Kon Knueppel. It's all about technique and knowing how to be more powerful when attacking the rim for Coward, he already has the tools he just doesn't know how to use them both on offense or defense, yet.

Maybe because he is such a good shooter he plays a bit safer than he should, but he needs to challenge himself to get more steals, blocks and dunks. More aggression and assertion, he plays like a little soft shooter right now, when he could be making his presence felt on both ends with his length & athleticism.

Nice post. Finishing takes a ton of repetition, and we have to remember he missed last season and the summer completely.
He has great instincts on d he can just get caught ball watching at times. Overall though, I agree with your post.

He only averaged 1 steal and 0.9 blocks in college, and now he is at 0.8 steals and 0,4 blocks, no steals in his last 4 games. He needs to work on this, it's not good enough for someone with his length & speed.

The missing part stuff is true, he probably would have been drafted higher if he played all of last year.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Read on Twitter

?s=20

To think people still say Queen couldn't play with Alex Sarr.

[7seventynine9]

Is this draft as good as it seems or is some of it because of how bad last year was?

[Dacost]

Is this draft as good as it seems or is some of it because of how bad last year was?

Yea I was thinking about this and it is a factor last year was just awful.

I think the class is good but last year just makes it seem alot better.

[hsfolk]

Derik Queen is the TRUTH

[HadAnEffectHere]

Weaver is weird in being one of the best talent evaluators in the world while also being a horrific GM.

[KirkHinrich12]

Couldn’t Dumars at least have protected top 4 on that pick??? Hope Queen is legit. I thought the kid was going to have to carry that weight because of idiot executives. But he’s doing incredibly well and would be crazy if it works out for them. Still a ridiculous trade.

[MrBigShot]

can't find any stats but Kon looks like one of those top percentile deceleration guys. with that strength, mass, shooting and craftiness, what he's doing seems very sustainable.

Yes that’s another thing, there is nothing about Kon’s start where you think, “okay but this aspect of his game will crash down to earth at some point.”

It’s not like he’s shooting 57% from 3 or something like that. He’s shooting 88% from the line, he shot 91% at Duke last year. He’s shooting 40% from 3, just like his FT shooting, he shot 40% last year at Duke and he’s as high level of a shooting prospect in the class. Ya the 3pt shot may drop and move from say 37%-40%. But Kon being a 40% 3pt shooter really shouldn’t be all that surprising.

but there is. He's doing it against awful teams, in losses, while also on an awful team. Pretty much anyone that plays 1-3 on an NBA roster or in the G-League if handed high usage and 12-15 FGA a game could fill a stat sheet. It's just how the game is designed right now. All the advantages are given to primary and secondary ball handlers and defense no longer keeps guys off the floor.

Look at Ryan Rollins right now. Due to roster mismanagement and injuries he's putting up as good if not better numbers than Kon. He was the 44th pick in the 2nd round back in 2022. He was barely getting minutes for the first 2.5 seasons of his career. He didn't suddenly get great. He just finally got his opportunity. Some guys like Rollins, Pritchard, Jenkins, Brunson, Nembhard, etc are forced to ride the pine for whatever reason. Some guys, mostly due to justifying draft position and almost always in combination with being on bad teams or teams with injuries, get handed that usage as a rookie. Sustaining it while on a playoff team is the true measure. So I caution people to get too high on guys who are getting high usage and also getting too low on guys who aren't.

Any player in the league can put up #s if you give them an opportunity. But not everyone can put up #s efficiently, or do it within the flow of the offense.

Kon doesn't pound the air out of the ball ball nor is he making absurdly difficult unsustainable shots. He uses his combination size, strength and footwork to create high quality looks. Lights out shooter with a quick release. This kid is the real deal.