2018/19 ROY/Rookie Discussion Thread (Pt 2)

[TheBonzaiEffect]

I mean aside from that he also has WAY more professional experience. I think a good comparison in terms of "baseline" would be Ayton in two years vs Doncic now.

in that case you would be comparing a 22 years old with 2 years of NBA exp and conditioning to a 19 years old with 3 months of NBA exp, completely fair.....

I bet a 25 y.o Doncic will still be "2 years ahead" of his class..just a feeling.

Doncic will be great, but let's not go that far ahead yet or if so sure than go ahead and bet all your spare money on it.

I'm feeling the need to point out he was not clutch in this one - his team led when he came back, missed two 3PT attempts and fall asleep on a defensive assignment to Gallinari. His team is on a 4 game losing streak, so if he's responsible for the wins, I guess it's the case for the loses too.

Uhh...RC waited till 4 minutes left in the game to put him back in. And he still scored/assisted the Mavs last 8 points.

[mcmurphy]

Impressive that the best rookies Doncic, Ayton and JJJ have constantly improved in defense.

DIFF DFG% (oct/nov/dec)
Doncic +9.4 / +1.4 / -0.6
Ayton +8.8 / -3.9 / -3.5
JJJ +9.8 / -4.7 / -7.5

[Chanel Bomber]

If he keeps working on his game and keeps playing hard, Knox could end up one of the 3 or 4 best players from this draft.

He's a just natural scorer. Players at this size with this skill level are hard to come by and he's going to be physically imposing once he fills out his frame. His jumpshot looks smooth, his handle is not elite but damn good for a guy his size and he's a good rebounder. He's not a great athlete and he's definitely not a good defender yet but he clearly has All-Star potential. My only concern is the motor. But the talent is there. 21 points at the half against Atlanta.

Insane rookie class.

[DaGawd]

Yeah Knox has really found his game lately. His potential as a scorer is showing big time. If his true value is 2-3 years down the road like Cal said then its pretty exciting to think about the type of player this kid can be

[JohnWillow]

Watch on YouTube

AK47 2.0

[gh123]

Wow the passive aggressive nature of the previous page of this thread......

It feels too obvious to state it's okay to be happy with your rookie while acknowledging the other guy is playing well too, but it's okay to acknowledge the strengths of the other guy. This isn't a zero sum game where it takes away from your pat cat.

It's the nature of the Rookie Discussion thread. Just wait till next year!!!

Yeah I've never spent much time in these threads because Luka is the first relevant Dallas rookie since Dirk essentially. I know Devin Harris was a top 5 pick, but he was never a hyped prospect.

In Dallas we consider it a miracle if a 1st round pick is still with the team to get his first team option picked up. And I think the last one might be Free Roddy B. So yeah it's been a minute.

Lol, me too, barely read this board at all until Luka

[VCfor3]

JJJ was superb in the 1st quarter and then he got 3 shots the rest of the game and didn't get a ton of playing time (vs what he should have had) especially in the 4th quarter. The media guys and a lot of fans are not happy with JB and it has more to do with his lack of usage of and plays designed for JJJ than the losing.

[Zukkoyaki]

Have to say that I like Trae Young, or least I like what I think he has a pretty decent chance of becoming one day. He's soooo much better when he's focused on making plays for his teammates and not forcing any of his own offense. Give him a couple years and a team of athletic guys who like to get out and run and he could be great.

[Hesh]

this draft class is so good and there's still one more highly anticipated draftee we're yet to see.. Michael Porter Jr

and he plays for the nuggets

[tomacorandom]

DeAndre Ayton

[Hesh]

DeAndre Ayton

care to elaborate?

[ArtursNaudins]

Watch on YouTube

AK47 2.0

Kurucs looks like a steal of the draft. I am really impressed by his readiness at this stage. He seems to be good shooter although he wasn’t shooting such high percentages before joining nba but I hope he can sustain it.
Other thing that is great is his awareness. He is always moving and does mostly things in the flow of the offense.
Also his physical abilities are remarkable. He is long and quick and can guard multiple positions. Heck last game in 4th quarter it was Oladipo who took challenge to guard Kurucs because he was torching Bogdanovic. That’s impressive.

[VCfor3]

Shout out to JJJ, WCJ, and especially Mikal Bridges for their defense:

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[Mr B]

Read on Twitter

Wait, Luka is the first player since 1983 to put up those numbers but Labron is the first player to do it? What am I missing here?

[Clyde Frazier]

Read on Twitter

Wait, Luka is the first player since 1983 to put up those numbers but Labron is the first player to do it? What am I missing here?

You need to re-read it

[Mr B]

Read on Twitter

Wait, Luka is the first player since 1983 to put up those numbers but Labron is the first player to do it? What am I missing here?

You need to re-read it

Hahaha, I got it now

[bwgood77]

Ayton somehow reminds me of rookie KAT. Don't know if that's a fair comparison? But considering how much KAT's defence is not-great&criticised, I really hope Ayton will develop more into a AD (at least a lite version), so into a great 2-way player, and not into a KAT-like player. I'm not that familiar with NBA history, even more recent one -> what were some great offensive big men rookies that later developed great defense? How "common" is it?

I've got a similar question. Who came in the league and was "known" to be a bad defender and later became a good/great one?

In terms of bigs improving some names that come to mind are:

• Bogut - wasn't seen as a bad defender but was basically an offensive talent who developed into a key defensive player
• Gasol brother - marc wasn't really regarded that highly across the board, the knock on Pau was that he wouldn't be able to physically defend bigs.
• Draymond Green - not sure if he qualifies as a big here, but he was basically regarded as a tweener who would lack speed to defend smaller players and lacked size to defend bigger ones - and developed into an elite defender.
• Jokic has improved defensively on a year to year basis as well

I'm sure there's more that I can't think of.

Ayton is starting to look a lot better as a defender - as are the Suns as a whole (over the past few games) - let's hope he keeps it up and continues to improve

Ben Falk (I believe) also said that DeAndre Jordan played a lot like Ayton (how Ayton played coming in) when he first came into the league.

[Johnny Firpo]

I thought Luka was going for 40 after the first quarter, not so fast, I guess. He had two in&outs, if those go in he probably doesn't stop until he has 30-35. At least this time he got cold on his own, and not because of RC leaving him for the bench for too long. Still a decent game overall, too bad we could not pull off the miracle comeback.

[Bob8]

Watch on YouTube

I understand that his doubtful for the Blazers game.

[OkcSinceSGA]

https://youtu.be/KbmXIIxpOI4

SGA continues good play. A rookie should not be this smooth on drives. Reminds me of a Harden/Giannis STYLE. Uses freakish long strides and arms like Giannis, incredible deceleration and body control like Harden.

This rookie class could go down as THE best all time.

Sent from my SM-G960U using RealGM mobile app