The 2025 Rookie Class

[closg00]

Didn’t check for accuracy, but it appears to be correct to-date.

Read on Twitter

[prime1time]

Didn’t check for accuracy, but it appears to be correct to-date.

Read on Twitter

No need to check for accuracy, on it's face the tweet is laughable. NBA fans are becoming to stat centric. I'm taking Bird, Magic, MJ and Shaq's rookie year over Kon's. Also it's clear that there's an arbitrary cut off. Kareem and Wilt rookie year. Bill Russell rookie year. Elgin Baylor rookie year. Kon is good, but let's pump the breaks.

[tontoz]

That list is sorted by TS so yeah a little suspect lol. Jordan averaged 28 ppg as a rookie.

[Kanyewest]

Today I learned Wilt Chamberlain's TS % his rookie season was at 49%.

[payitforward]

Today I learned Wilt Chamberlain's TS % his rookie season was at 49%.

OTOH, he did grab 23+ rebounds every 40 minutes!
He was ROY, no surprise... & MVP !!

[Kanyewest]

Today I learned Wilt Chamberlain's TS % his rookie season was at 49%.

OTOH, he did grab 23+ rebounds every 40 minutes!
He was ROY, no surprise... & MVP !!

He was the Angel Reese of his era

[prime1time]

Read on Twitter

These are the kind of performances that are going to get people excited about Ament.

[tontoz]

These are the kind of performances that are going to get people excited about Ament.

Wrong thread lol.

[closg00]

I posted this in the wrong thread.

Read on Twitter

[Dat2U]

Didn’t check for accuracy, but it appears to be correct to-date.

Read on Twitter

No need to check for accuracy, on it's face the tweet is laughable. NBA fans are becoming to stat centric. I'm taking Bird, Magic, MJ and Shaq's rookie year over Kon's. Also it's clear that there's an arbitrary cut off. Kareem and Wilt rookie year. Bill Russell rookie year. Elgin Baylor rookie year. Kon is good, but let's pump the breaks.

The very same folks for spreadsheetFC that are taking a victory lap on Kon (and calling him the greatest rookie of all time) where the same ones who had both Malauch & Essengue in their top 5 or even top 3 as well. I haven't heard one peep about Essengue from this group and Essengue literally looks like he's 3 years away from being 3 years away.

Noa was an extremely raw & lightly skilled forward who got drafted solely off his ability to draw fouls because he was longer and more athletic than anyone else in the league he was in.

[payitforward]

To me at least, this year's *highest value* R1 pick (not the same as the best player, obviously) has been Cedric Coward.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Rip Hamilton was a very subpar defender with the Wizards. What happened the rest of his career?

He played with Ben Wallace behind him.

Pretty sure DQ would be on a decent defensive team if he had Big Ben doing the dirty work.

Or Wemby nowadays.

Though I did think Sarr would be a decent match given the perimeter mobility.

What’s weird to me about DQ is how nimble he is on offense compared to how he’s stuck in tar on defense. That to me is simply want-to. Or coaching. He could be a bigger Collin Murray Boyles if he was as aware on Defense as he is on the scoring end.

CMB is a voracious defender. He's a dog on defense. Queen dogs it on defense. He conserves energy, and he's slow to react. It's a weak spot.

I think DQ can improve to defend as well as Sengun, Sabonis, Jokic, and Randle.

I don't see why Sarr couldn't have been Rasheed Wallace, a very good defender, as well as an offensive threat paired with Queen. All I kept hearing was how Derik and Alex would be unplayable together and how Queen is strictly a C.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I would hate to see highlights of Alex's first 17 games in the NBA. Look at the difference a full season and off-season did for Alex, and he still has a long way to go, same for most red shirt rookies.

I watched Sarr's entire rookie year. He didn't just stand around watching guys score.

I could play D as well as Queen does much of the time.

Even this season I have watched Alex not challenge a shooter, he goes for blocks at and around the rim, but not as-much when someone is shooting middies, he stands with his hands down, and doesn’t go for shots he may be able to block, AND THAT’s FINE.
These kids are just getting started, perhaps Queen will always be a bad defender like Jokic, maybe not

tontoz is butt hurt and just can not accept that we are right about Queen.

Derik would go hire if there were a redraft.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Even this season I have watched Alex not challenge a shooter, he goes for blocks at and around the rim, but not as-much when someone is shooting middies, he stands with his hands down, and doesn’t go for shots he may be able to block, AND THAT’s FINE.
These kids are just getting started, perhaps Queen will always be a bad defender like Jokic, maybe not

Not contesting a mid range shot, which the defense wants them to take, is much different than letting them get to the rim uncontested.

Sometimes guys will fake a midrange shot just to get the defender to leave his feet and draw a foul so it is smart to stay down.

That is a lot different than this.

Watch on YouTube

Take this and re-watch the game he dropped 30 on Joker. Remember when Alex made Joker have 9 turnovers and foul out like DQ made him do? No. It never happened. Sarr couldn't stop any physical Cs from abusing him on post ups last season.

Queen is a rookie.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The obvious point is that Alex is a better player today than he was 17 games into his first season, and he will continue to improve. You’re not claiming that Derik is done developing as a player are you?

No I am saying he is lazy af and doesn't care at all about defense. When someone tells me who they are I believe them.

You label him as lazy when the dude has dropped 30 points and had 11 assists. One is a Pelicans rookie scoring record, and the other is an NBA record for assists by a rookie C.

Lazy? You are a body shamer, and you think Queen isn't hardworking. Opinions I have because you're going HAM hating Queen.

Is he a poor defender? He's below average ATM.

[tontoz]

I watched Sarr's entire rookie year. He didn't just stand around watching guys score.

I could play D as well as Queen does much of the time.

Even this season I have watched Alex not challenge a shooter, he goes for blocks at and around the rim, but not as-much when someone is shooting middies, he stands with his hands down, and doesn’t go for shots he may be able to block, AND THAT’s FINE.
These kids are just getting started, perhaps Queen will always be a bad defender like Jokic, maybe not

tontoz is butt hurt and just can not accept that we are right about Queen.

Derik would go hire if there were a redraft.

LOL

Queen has Kuzma level offensive efficiency, he can't shoot so he hurts spacing, and his matador D makes a regular appearance in other teams highlights. These are facts not opinions and you can't handle it.

I wouldn't be mentioning queen at all if you weren't spamming every thread about him. I wouldn't be surprised if you brought him up in the politics thread.

I don't think it is a suprise that they finally won a game when Queen's minutes were cut.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I watched Sarr's entire rookie year. He didn't just stand around watching guys score.

I could play D as well as Queen does much of the time.

Even this season I have watched Alex not challenge a shooter, he goes for blocks at and around the rim, but not as-much when someone is shooting middies, he stands with his hands down, and doesn’t go for shots he may be able to block, AND THAT’s FINE.
These kids are just getting started, perhaps Queen will always be a bad defender like Jokic, maybe not

Statistically, Sarr is challenging a higher percentage of shots than any other player in the NBA, and it's not even close.



(The vertical axis is effectiveness of rim protection. It doesn't say, but I'm assuming it's based on FG% allowed.)

The Wizards knew defense was his strength when they drafted him. What no one knew was his "want to."

Alex improved his three-point shot. Alex really improved his body. His ascent is reminiscent of KG or Giannis. They got exponentially better than they were on draft night. Sarr doesn't have the hands or the alpha personality they do, but Alex is on the rise.

The shots contested shows desire.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Queen is 4 months OLDER than Sarr.

This is fair. The passing really is impressive. I still say the key will be his defense.

How good is Jokic defensively?
Oh, that's right. Rookie Derik Queen made him look like a statue when he wasn't fouling out and having 9 turnovers. Aaron Gordon does heavy lifting defensively for Denver.

How good is Sengun defensively?
It matters less and less the more effectively Reed Sheppard and others play.

You are dismissing Derrick Queen because DeMarcus Cousins never won anything. Derrick Queen strikes me as a nerd who was bullied and is now really big and very highly skilled. Boogie only bullied guys. I saw a gigantic Russian terrorize DeMarcus. I forget the guy's name but he punked DC. Derik Queen succumbs to cardio guys and he's not quick enough to guard Cooper Flagg.

P.S. Dallas should consider Flagg at C. He's not as strong yet as Cowens was, but Cooper is a beast inside and out. He will win ROTY.

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Jokic is arguably the best offensive C of all time and he still needed to improve his defense to passable levels to win a ring. The times Denver hasn't gone far in the playoffs, Jokic was attacked relentlessly on defense and got exposed. The year he won, he stepped up defensively and was solid even despite being targeted.

Sengun has become a solid defender. Houston also has crazy length and size complementing him.

Guys like Sabonis & Vucevic have had very solid & productive careers but their defense never quite measured up whenever it actually mattered. Whatever case, there has been no comparable for a star big literally standing around for multiple plays on defense. When Wall started standing around on D in 2017-18, fans nearly crashed out online. I have no doubt Queen is a potential HOF talent and I thought he was incredibly special before the draft but that Ole nonsense does not fly in the NBA. As a rookie, for a terrible team and an interim head coach, its not being addressed for now but you have to admit that this behavior will have to change no matter who Queen plays with.

It's being addressed. Borges won over Chicago. Queen played a minimal role.

I remember when Jokic joined Nurkic in Denver's front court. All the scrutiny young Queen gets is ridiculous.

[tontoz]

It's being addressed. Borges won over Chicago. Queen played a minimal role.

I remember when Jokic joined Nurkic in Denver's front court. All the scrutiny young Queen gets is ridiculous.

Why do you think he gets scrutiny? Would it be because of a certain poster that posts about him more than all of the Wizards players combined?

Look at your sig ffs. Your lack of self awareness is seriously alarming for an old guy.

[dckingsfan]

Slight changes: Kon, Coward, Flagg, Kalkbrenner and Edgecombe round out the top 5.

Fears, Queen, Bailey, Johnson (who will drop off after this with the injury) and Collin Murray-Boyles round out the top 10.

https://www.nba.com/news/kia-rookie-ladder-nov-19-2025