Post by naterade on Aug 15, 2019 19:18:36 GMT
Early Season Rookie Check In
I wanted to take a look at this year's rookie class thus far, as we have gotten to see about 20 games of regular season action. I recapped picks 1-15 in this article, since after that point it was a lot of draft and stash players, G League send downs, and non impact players. I did the review in draft order for this round, but plan to do a rookie ranking article closer to mid-season to preview the ROTY race and EOS awards. For now, lets just take a look at the numbers!
1. Jazz - C Nate Thurmond
B C+ C+ A- A- A
30.9 7.7 10.6 3.0 0.7 1.4 1.8 .344 .672 .250
Highly touted rookie Nate Thurmond went to a great situation with the Jazz this year, as a team on the rise who has been just stacking talent at every position and thus has a lot of depth. The depth allows for Thurmond to develop at a reasonable pace and let the more tenured players take the burden of scoring the ball, and let the board man get paid. Because of that, his stats aren’t mind blowing right away, as he’s putting up a modest but effective 7 points and 10 boards per game, accompanied by 2.1 stocks. On a team full of scorers like Hampton, Calder, Queeley, Dragan, Larusso, etc, its hard to imagine an inside focus rookie big man putting up better offensive stats, so Im excited to see how much he develops in the next few seasons, especially given the boost to rebounding from his draft notes and exposure as the teams starting Center for the foreseeable future. Next we'll see if the Jazz believe in him enough to deal fellow prospect Andrew Bogut Jr to free up some more camping cash. If that happens Ill be first in line to make an offer for the Australian, because Nate Thurmond isn't ever leaving Utah, if at all possible.
2. Celtics -SG BJ Boston
C+ A- C+ A C- A
34.8 9.3 4.7 1.7 1.1 0.7 1.8 .426 .780 .358
BJ Boston was traded for on draft night, as the Celtics parted ways with superstar Anfernee Simons to pick up the 2nd pick in the draft. Boston had an amazing TC and had a great preseason where he averaged over 20ppg, leading many to expect big time numbers from him as a rookie. The direction of the Celtics drastically changed though, with the signing of Paul Arizin, and suddenly BJ Boston was looking at being the 4th or 5th scoring option on the team behind some big time volume scorers like Schmidt, Arizin, and McGuire. Because of that, Boston has started off averaging just under 10 ppg thus far into his rookie campaign, off modest shooting numbers. What has surprised me is the fact that he’s also accumulating 2.8 stocks per game from the off guard slot, and has has occasionally stuffed the stat sheet when he gets an opportunity to step up. The biggest chance for change here would be if the Celtics finally take an offer for one of their starting stars and open up more shot opportunities for this young man.
3. Bulls - SG Larry Jones
B B C+ C+ C B
16.7 5.4 2.8 1.0 0.5 0.1 1.2 .362 .609 .235
Jones came out of the draft as the highest ranked shooting guard in the rookie class, but after a stale TC and an unfortunate draft night selection to the CPU Bulls where he will not be camped, Jones’ future looks grim. His ratings look solid at a baseline level, and Im sure his potential will remain high at this point, but his shooting percentages look pretty abysmal early on, and he remains second on the depth chart behind Kevin Loughery, which should limit his production this year to a non factor level. So far, Jones is averaging just 5.4 points and not making much of an impact on the defensive end, which is an unfortunate spot for the third pick in the draft to start his career. Lets hope for his sake (and the Bulls) that his natural development can mirror the likes of Richie Guerin, who was able to become an all around monster, despite a lack of camping.
4. Kings - SG Eddie Miles
C+ B+ C- A- D+ A
17.7 4.1 2.3 0.5 0.6 0.0 0.4 .424 .636 .294
Eddie Miles was another auto-draft player that went to a previously GM-less team at #4 in this years draft to the Kings. He starts off slotted on the depth chart behind fellow SG Dino Zucchi to start his career, which has limited his production thus far, but his ratings still look promising, while still holding onto his A potential. The bright side here is that the Kings just got a new GM this week, who should be able to get Miles’ development on track and push him along into becoming a solid contributor sooner rather than later, as the Kings lack high end talent on the roster and are tied to some weird contracts, and need this pick to work out. Im confident Kenny Powers has the gusto to make it all work out though, so this is a wait and see pick for now.
5. Bucks - PG Juan Antonio Corbalan**
C B B B- D+ A
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 .000 .000 .000
Not much to say about Juan Antonio so far, as he was a draft and stash auto-draft to the GM-less Bucks who won’t see playing time in the NBN for 2 more seasons. All we can say is that his base ratings look solid, and point guards tend to randomly explode at certain points in their career during the right TC, so there’s hope for the Bucks to acquire a GM before he starts to peak so they can groom him into a starting worthy stud down the road.
6. Pistons - SG Jeff Mullins
C+ B+ B B+ C A
34.8 10.3 5.1 3.2 0.7 0.4 2.2 .432 .667 .500
Coming in at #6 in the draft, and third in a row of players auto-drafted to GM-less teams this year, we have SG Jeff Mullins of the Detroit Pistons. Mullins has been solid so far, playing big time minutes behind recent draft pick, Rod Thorn, producing double digit scoring on solid percentages with 50% shooting from 3 point range already. His ratings look very good, with strengths in outside shooting and defense, which is key for a SG in this league, he looks like he could be a promising young player, even if he’s backing up a foundational piece in Thorn at the same position. Maybe once Yourkers returns he can move one of them for a young player at another position to fill more needs, because the Pistons are in a weird spot right now without their picks, and need some help.
7. 76ers - SG Art Heyman
B+ C+ A- A- B- B
36.1 16.7 7.9 3.1 1.3 0.5 1.8 .409 .768 .280
Heyman came into the league as a polarizing prospect due to his likely NBN readiness but lack up possible upside long term. He has some of the best ratings in the rookie class, and performed well in the pre-draft camps, but due to some scouts ideas of his lower ceiling, he slipped down to the 76ers at pick #7, and has proven to be an impact player right out of the gate. He’s putting up a rookie best 16.7 ppg with 7.9 rebs 3.1 assists and 1.3 steals. His shooting percentages leave a little to be desired, knocking down only about 28% from downtown at this point, but camping can fix that. At this point, given the lack of impact players in this mediocre draft, the 76ers look great with this pick thus far. Heyman is looking like a bonafide ROTY runaway, and his ratings look like those of player who has been fully camped...in his first season. Can’t wait to see how he continues to develop in Philadelphia.
8. Blazers - SG Mirza Delibasic
C+ A C B C A
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 .000 .000 .000
Blazers wasted no time Super Camping Mirza to take advantage of his draft notes and exponentially bump us his defense to a solid level to match his high end offensive talent. The scoring was never in doubt, but if the Blazers can keep balancing out his skill set, he could be a very effective 2 way player with elite shooting ability. The best part of this pick is that the Blazers don’t exactly need him to step up yet, with a highly talented playoff roster around him, so he’s more of a low risk side project for Bundy to play around with until he’s either ready to step into the lineup, or his rookie contract expires and they let him walk. So far we don’t have much data to analyze since he hasn’t played a minute yet in the regular season, so he’s going to be a TBD for now with plenty of potential upside.
9. Hawks - SF Joe Caldwell
B C B A- C+ A
30.8 5.8 5.9 2.7 1.5 0.6 2.5 .313 .684 .125
Caldwell looks very raw offensively at this point in his career, but we won’t lose hope given the fact that he held onto his A potential after TC and has solid defensive ratings attached to him. The downside is that he’s only averaging about 5 ppg on pretty bad shooting percentages while playing 30+ minutes each night, which tells me he isn’t ready to be any kind of focal point and should be played selectively off the bench if the Hawks have any desire to win games. The good news is that he doesn’t need to score much on a team with newly signed Elgin Baylor on the wing and some big time scorers down low. Caldwell could find himself sliding into a 3 and D player down the road if he can work HARD on that outside shot, otherwise he may remain a bench player if he can’t eventually shoot at the shooting guard position. But I never like to give up hope until that A potential drops down to a C or below and players get exposed for what they truly are.
10. Pacers- SF Lou Hudson
210 B B- C+ C+ C A
1.5 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 .000 .000 .000
Indiana scooped up Hudson at pick #10 when he came out as an early favorite for a top 5 pick in the draft due to his age and potential at a valuable SF position, which was a huge steal in my opinion. The Pacers have been collecting talent like crazy, which has buried Hudson on the depth chart early on behind Kojis and Kiyan, but ahead of fellow prospect Boris Tisma. Needless to say the Pacers are stacked with young talent and it may be a few seasons before Hudson gets unleashed on the league, assuming he gets the TLC he needs to develop fully. Given the fact that Indiana has so many recent AND future draft picks, its unlikely he holds onto all of them or he risks wasting some of their potential due to lack of camping, but Donny will be on top of it. Since Hudson is 18 years old, he has time to kill before he enters his prime, so we’ll bookmark this for a few seasons down the line before we make any judgements.
11. Magic - SG Liu Jianli
C+ B- B B- C+ A
10.0 1.5 2.4 1.0 0.5 0.4 0.7 .406 1.000 .125
Coming in as the youngest player in the draft at age 17, Liu is another project player from this draft that will take some time for his game to fully blossom. His offense looks fairly raw offensively, where he’s currently shooting 12% from downtown as a rotation shooting guard for the Magic. He isn’t getting much run yet for this team who has a star sitting in front of him on the depth chart on a surprisingly good Orlando team who are threatening to make the playoffs on the first year of a rebuild effort. I feel like Ive said this a lot about this class, but there are a just lot of projects that will need patience to develop, and I am very excited about Jianli’s future overall, so Ill have to keep tabs on this roster for the next 10 seasons to see how much his grows over time.
12. Rockets - SF Bob Love
B B D+ B B- B
8.2 1.2 1.5 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 .174 .778 .000
Next up we have the #12 pick in this recent draft, Bob Love on the Rockets. Yet another player who isn’t getting much playing time, since he’s buried on the depth chart behind several players on a playoff team. The Rockets have Yardley holding it down, who could be a great mentor for Love eventually if the Rockets choose to take that route, but Love in general has very solid overall ratings and could be a sneaky good pick down the line when he develops a bit. Scary part is his shooting percentages so far.. 17% from the field, and 0% from deep… Woof. Im sure that will come up after camping/ TC's but thats not a great start… Overall I don’t love this prospect, and I could see him developing into a George Kaftan type player without proper camping, but time will tell. StayMelo has been on top of his game lately so there is definitely reason to believe.
13. Pacers - PG Daishen Nix
C+ C+ B B- C B
26.3 10.6 4.4 6.3 1.1 0.5 2.2 .380 .660 .277
Nix was drafted at #13 to the rebuilding Pacers, which was another steal of a pick due to Nix’s draft notes that give him extra potential boosts during his rookie contract. Not only do his draft notes bump him up the list of impact rookies, he’s also performing at a higher level than most of the guys drafted ahead of him, averaging rookie high 6.3 assists per game, while scoring in double digits AND rebounding well for a PG at 4.4 per game. His shooting hasn’t been great, shooting under 40% from the floor and under 30% from downtown, but again thats likely fixable through natural development/camping/TC. Nix is a guy I have ranked highly in this draft class and am especially excited to see how far the boosted potential pushes him, especially since he’s at a very important position where players often develop quickly. Just another jewel in Donny’s treasure chest collecting value.
14. Heat - SG Dick Van Arsdale
C+ B- C B+ D+ A
8.4 0.4 1.1 0.3 0.4 0.0 0.1 .176 1.000 .000
The Heat drafted DVA at pick 14 to sit on the bench behind Richie Guerin, Whitehead, and Manigault, which does’t bode well for any type of playing time in the near future. It seems that Don went with what he considered to be the best player available, despite positional need in other areas, which is never a bad call this late in the lottery range. Best case scenario would be that they use Richie Guerin to mentor DVA, and either deal him for a comparable young player at another position, or slowly let him take over more minutes in the rotation over the next few seasons until Guerin’s contract is up (or he retires). Until then we can judge what we can faff his 8 minutes per game and his 17% shooting percentages, which seems to be a common occurrence in this class. Gross. The big story to watch will be whether or not Don uses his Scrooge McDuck worthy vault of cash to develop him or if he'll let him fade out into mediocrity. Time will tell!
15. Warriors - John Tresvant
B C D A- B+ B
14.6 2.9 4.7 0.3 0.4 0.6 0.9 .388 .409 .000
The Warriors also went with BPA it seems, as Tresvant will be the primary backup to 25 year old Bob Boozer on the depth chart for this rebuilding squad this year. Thus far, he has flashed a talent for rebounding the ball, racking up 4.7 per game in just 14 minutes of action each night. Other than that, his offense is raw and undeveloped, which isn’t super important at the Power Forward spot, especially this early on. He has the right base ratings though with A- rebounding and B+ Defense, which are great starting points for a big man, especially if his potential has some hidden punch to it and he blows up. Nothing sexy here but a blue collar guy to to the dirty work is key on a winning roster, so that could be the bar for Tresvant for now, until he proves otherwise.
I wanted to take a look at this year's rookie class thus far, as we have gotten to see about 20 games of regular season action. I recapped picks 1-15 in this article, since after that point it was a lot of draft and stash players, G League send downs, and non impact players. I did the review in draft order for this round, but plan to do a rookie ranking article closer to mid-season to preview the ROTY race and EOS awards. For now, lets just take a look at the numbers!
1. Jazz - C Nate Thurmond
B C+ C+ A- A- A
30.9 7.7 10.6 3.0 0.7 1.4 1.8 .344 .672 .250
Highly touted rookie Nate Thurmond went to a great situation with the Jazz this year, as a team on the rise who has been just stacking talent at every position and thus has a lot of depth. The depth allows for Thurmond to develop at a reasonable pace and let the more tenured players take the burden of scoring the ball, and let the board man get paid. Because of that, his stats aren’t mind blowing right away, as he’s putting up a modest but effective 7 points and 10 boards per game, accompanied by 2.1 stocks. On a team full of scorers like Hampton, Calder, Queeley, Dragan, Larusso, etc, its hard to imagine an inside focus rookie big man putting up better offensive stats, so Im excited to see how much he develops in the next few seasons, especially given the boost to rebounding from his draft notes and exposure as the teams starting Center for the foreseeable future. Next we'll see if the Jazz believe in him enough to deal fellow prospect Andrew Bogut Jr to free up some more camping cash. If that happens Ill be first in line to make an offer for the Australian, because Nate Thurmond isn't ever leaving Utah, if at all possible.
2. Celtics -SG BJ Boston
C+ A- C+ A C- A
34.8 9.3 4.7 1.7 1.1 0.7 1.8 .426 .780 .358
BJ Boston was traded for on draft night, as the Celtics parted ways with superstar Anfernee Simons to pick up the 2nd pick in the draft. Boston had an amazing TC and had a great preseason where he averaged over 20ppg, leading many to expect big time numbers from him as a rookie. The direction of the Celtics drastically changed though, with the signing of Paul Arizin, and suddenly BJ Boston was looking at being the 4th or 5th scoring option on the team behind some big time volume scorers like Schmidt, Arizin, and McGuire. Because of that, Boston has started off averaging just under 10 ppg thus far into his rookie campaign, off modest shooting numbers. What has surprised me is the fact that he’s also accumulating 2.8 stocks per game from the off guard slot, and has has occasionally stuffed the stat sheet when he gets an opportunity to step up. The biggest chance for change here would be if the Celtics finally take an offer for one of their starting stars and open up more shot opportunities for this young man.
3. Bulls - SG Larry Jones
B B C+ C+ C B
16.7 5.4 2.8 1.0 0.5 0.1 1.2 .362 .609 .235
Jones came out of the draft as the highest ranked shooting guard in the rookie class, but after a stale TC and an unfortunate draft night selection to the CPU Bulls where he will not be camped, Jones’ future looks grim. His ratings look solid at a baseline level, and Im sure his potential will remain high at this point, but his shooting percentages look pretty abysmal early on, and he remains second on the depth chart behind Kevin Loughery, which should limit his production this year to a non factor level. So far, Jones is averaging just 5.4 points and not making much of an impact on the defensive end, which is an unfortunate spot for the third pick in the draft to start his career. Lets hope for his sake (and the Bulls) that his natural development can mirror the likes of Richie Guerin, who was able to become an all around monster, despite a lack of camping.
4. Kings - SG Eddie Miles
C+ B+ C- A- D+ A
17.7 4.1 2.3 0.5 0.6 0.0 0.4 .424 .636 .294
Eddie Miles was another auto-draft player that went to a previously GM-less team at #4 in this years draft to the Kings. He starts off slotted on the depth chart behind fellow SG Dino Zucchi to start his career, which has limited his production thus far, but his ratings still look promising, while still holding onto his A potential. The bright side here is that the Kings just got a new GM this week, who should be able to get Miles’ development on track and push him along into becoming a solid contributor sooner rather than later, as the Kings lack high end talent on the roster and are tied to some weird contracts, and need this pick to work out. Im confident Kenny Powers has the gusto to make it all work out though, so this is a wait and see pick for now.
5. Bucks - PG Juan Antonio Corbalan**
C B B B- D+ A
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 .000 .000 .000
Not much to say about Juan Antonio so far, as he was a draft and stash auto-draft to the GM-less Bucks who won’t see playing time in the NBN for 2 more seasons. All we can say is that his base ratings look solid, and point guards tend to randomly explode at certain points in their career during the right TC, so there’s hope for the Bucks to acquire a GM before he starts to peak so they can groom him into a starting worthy stud down the road.
6. Pistons - SG Jeff Mullins
C+ B+ B B+ C A
34.8 10.3 5.1 3.2 0.7 0.4 2.2 .432 .667 .500
Coming in at #6 in the draft, and third in a row of players auto-drafted to GM-less teams this year, we have SG Jeff Mullins of the Detroit Pistons. Mullins has been solid so far, playing big time minutes behind recent draft pick, Rod Thorn, producing double digit scoring on solid percentages with 50% shooting from 3 point range already. His ratings look very good, with strengths in outside shooting and defense, which is key for a SG in this league, he looks like he could be a promising young player, even if he’s backing up a foundational piece in Thorn at the same position. Maybe once Yourkers returns he can move one of them for a young player at another position to fill more needs, because the Pistons are in a weird spot right now without their picks, and need some help.
7. 76ers - SG Art Heyman
B+ C+ A- A- B- B
36.1 16.7 7.9 3.1 1.3 0.5 1.8 .409 .768 .280
Heyman came into the league as a polarizing prospect due to his likely NBN readiness but lack up possible upside long term. He has some of the best ratings in the rookie class, and performed well in the pre-draft camps, but due to some scouts ideas of his lower ceiling, he slipped down to the 76ers at pick #7, and has proven to be an impact player right out of the gate. He’s putting up a rookie best 16.7 ppg with 7.9 rebs 3.1 assists and 1.3 steals. His shooting percentages leave a little to be desired, knocking down only about 28% from downtown at this point, but camping can fix that. At this point, given the lack of impact players in this mediocre draft, the 76ers look great with this pick thus far. Heyman is looking like a bonafide ROTY runaway, and his ratings look like those of player who has been fully camped...in his first season. Can’t wait to see how he continues to develop in Philadelphia.
8. Blazers - SG Mirza Delibasic
C+ A C B C A
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 .000 .000 .000
Blazers wasted no time Super Camping Mirza to take advantage of his draft notes and exponentially bump us his defense to a solid level to match his high end offensive talent. The scoring was never in doubt, but if the Blazers can keep balancing out his skill set, he could be a very effective 2 way player with elite shooting ability. The best part of this pick is that the Blazers don’t exactly need him to step up yet, with a highly talented playoff roster around him, so he’s more of a low risk side project for Bundy to play around with until he’s either ready to step into the lineup, or his rookie contract expires and they let him walk. So far we don’t have much data to analyze since he hasn’t played a minute yet in the regular season, so he’s going to be a TBD for now with plenty of potential upside.
9. Hawks - SF Joe Caldwell
B C B A- C+ A
30.8 5.8 5.9 2.7 1.5 0.6 2.5 .313 .684 .125
Caldwell looks very raw offensively at this point in his career, but we won’t lose hope given the fact that he held onto his A potential after TC and has solid defensive ratings attached to him. The downside is that he’s only averaging about 5 ppg on pretty bad shooting percentages while playing 30+ minutes each night, which tells me he isn’t ready to be any kind of focal point and should be played selectively off the bench if the Hawks have any desire to win games. The good news is that he doesn’t need to score much on a team with newly signed Elgin Baylor on the wing and some big time scorers down low. Caldwell could find himself sliding into a 3 and D player down the road if he can work HARD on that outside shot, otherwise he may remain a bench player if he can’t eventually shoot at the shooting guard position. But I never like to give up hope until that A potential drops down to a C or below and players get exposed for what they truly are.
10. Pacers- SF Lou Hudson
210 B B- C+ C+ C A
1.5 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 .000 .000 .000
Indiana scooped up Hudson at pick #10 when he came out as an early favorite for a top 5 pick in the draft due to his age and potential at a valuable SF position, which was a huge steal in my opinion. The Pacers have been collecting talent like crazy, which has buried Hudson on the depth chart early on behind Kojis and Kiyan, but ahead of fellow prospect Boris Tisma. Needless to say the Pacers are stacked with young talent and it may be a few seasons before Hudson gets unleashed on the league, assuming he gets the TLC he needs to develop fully. Given the fact that Indiana has so many recent AND future draft picks, its unlikely he holds onto all of them or he risks wasting some of their potential due to lack of camping, but Donny will be on top of it. Since Hudson is 18 years old, he has time to kill before he enters his prime, so we’ll bookmark this for a few seasons down the line before we make any judgements.
11. Magic - SG Liu Jianli
C+ B- B B- C+ A
10.0 1.5 2.4 1.0 0.5 0.4 0.7 .406 1.000 .125
Coming in as the youngest player in the draft at age 17, Liu is another project player from this draft that will take some time for his game to fully blossom. His offense looks fairly raw offensively, where he’s currently shooting 12% from downtown as a rotation shooting guard for the Magic. He isn’t getting much run yet for this team who has a star sitting in front of him on the depth chart on a surprisingly good Orlando team who are threatening to make the playoffs on the first year of a rebuild effort. I feel like Ive said this a lot about this class, but there are a just lot of projects that will need patience to develop, and I am very excited about Jianli’s future overall, so Ill have to keep tabs on this roster for the next 10 seasons to see how much his grows over time.
12. Rockets - SF Bob Love
B B D+ B B- B
8.2 1.2 1.5 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 .174 .778 .000
Next up we have the #12 pick in this recent draft, Bob Love on the Rockets. Yet another player who isn’t getting much playing time, since he’s buried on the depth chart behind several players on a playoff team. The Rockets have Yardley holding it down, who could be a great mentor for Love eventually if the Rockets choose to take that route, but Love in general has very solid overall ratings and could be a sneaky good pick down the line when he develops a bit. Scary part is his shooting percentages so far.. 17% from the field, and 0% from deep… Woof. Im sure that will come up after camping/ TC's but thats not a great start… Overall I don’t love this prospect, and I could see him developing into a George Kaftan type player without proper camping, but time will tell. StayMelo has been on top of his game lately so there is definitely reason to believe.
13. Pacers - PG Daishen Nix
C+ C+ B B- C B
26.3 10.6 4.4 6.3 1.1 0.5 2.2 .380 .660 .277
Nix was drafted at #13 to the rebuilding Pacers, which was another steal of a pick due to Nix’s draft notes that give him extra potential boosts during his rookie contract. Not only do his draft notes bump him up the list of impact rookies, he’s also performing at a higher level than most of the guys drafted ahead of him, averaging rookie high 6.3 assists per game, while scoring in double digits AND rebounding well for a PG at 4.4 per game. His shooting hasn’t been great, shooting under 40% from the floor and under 30% from downtown, but again thats likely fixable through natural development/camping/TC. Nix is a guy I have ranked highly in this draft class and am especially excited to see how far the boosted potential pushes him, especially since he’s at a very important position where players often develop quickly. Just another jewel in Donny’s treasure chest collecting value.
14. Heat - SG Dick Van Arsdale
C+ B- C B+ D+ A
8.4 0.4 1.1 0.3 0.4 0.0 0.1 .176 1.000 .000
The Heat drafted DVA at pick 14 to sit on the bench behind Richie Guerin, Whitehead, and Manigault, which does’t bode well for any type of playing time in the near future. It seems that Don went with what he considered to be the best player available, despite positional need in other areas, which is never a bad call this late in the lottery range. Best case scenario would be that they use Richie Guerin to mentor DVA, and either deal him for a comparable young player at another position, or slowly let him take over more minutes in the rotation over the next few seasons until Guerin’s contract is up (or he retires). Until then we can judge what we can faff his 8 minutes per game and his 17% shooting percentages, which seems to be a common occurrence in this class. Gross. The big story to watch will be whether or not Don uses his Scrooge McDuck worthy vault of cash to develop him or if he'll let him fade out into mediocrity. Time will tell!
15. Warriors - John Tresvant
B C D A- B+ B
14.6 2.9 4.7 0.3 0.4 0.6 0.9 .388 .409 .000
The Warriors also went with BPA it seems, as Tresvant will be the primary backup to 25 year old Bob Boozer on the depth chart for this rebuilding squad this year. Thus far, he has flashed a talent for rebounding the ball, racking up 4.7 per game in just 14 minutes of action each night. Other than that, his offense is raw and undeveloped, which isn’t super important at the Power Forward spot, especially this early on. He has the right base ratings though with A- rebounding and B+ Defense, which are great starting points for a big man, especially if his potential has some hidden punch to it and he blows up. Nothing sexy here but a blue collar guy to to the dirty work is key on a winning roster, so that could be the bar for Tresvant for now, until he proves otherwise.
. Its like Ben Simmons in the NBA qualifying after being injured the previous year.
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