Post by naterade on Aug 27, 2019 4:11:13 GMT
Its been a few months since we took a look at the 2044 Rookie Class, so while bored at work tonight waiting for my last employee to come back to base, I took another look... Lets see how everyone is doing now that we are rounding out the last quarter of the regular season:
Draft Order:
1. Jazz - C Nate Thurmond
B C+ C+ A- A- A
Stats Previously:
30.9 7.7 10.6 3.0 0.7 1.4 1.8 .344 .672 .250
Stats Now:
26.5 7.5 9.1 2.5 0.7 1.1 1.3 .355 .647 .310
Thurmond is still showing his potential to be a big time rebounder in the league, but due to a slight minutes dip over the course of the season, he has statistically slowed down a little bit. I attribute this mainly to just the crazy amount of depth the Jazz have that are taking opportunities from Thurmond to show his stuff, but he’s someone Im not worried about long term. His potential is there, he just needs some fine tuning in a few areas like inside scoring and defense to make him a champ level contributor. Im sure a few TC’s and a medley of big man camps will get him there, but I know that by the end of his rookie contract he will likely be averaging close to 15 RPG, and I hope his shot blocking keeps up with that level of growth.
2. Celtics -SG BJ Boston
C+ A- C+ A C- A
Stats Previously:
34.8 9.3 4.7 1.7 1.1 0.7 1.8 .426 .780 .358
Stats Now:
32.4 9.7 4.4 1.7 1.3 0.6 1.8 .450 .771 .429
Boston has stayed pretty consistent over the course of the year and is showing the scoring promise that the Celtics were hoping from him when they traded up to get him on draft night. Despite being moved to the bench for the last few months, due to the acquisition of Walther, Boston has kept his scoring right under 10 per game, but has slightly bumped up his efficiency playing with the second unit. His 3pt shooting has risen from 35% to 42%, which is the most notable trend, alongside a slight FG% bump from 42% to 45%. That will happen playing against the bench units of other teams in a weak conference, but as a rookie sometimes thats incredibly helpful to keep the stats up, and his confidence.
3. Bulls - SG Larry Jones
B B C+ C+ C B
Stats Previously :
16.7 5.4 2.8 1.0 0.5 0.1 1.2 .362 .609 .235
Stats Now:
16.6 7.1 2.8 1.0 0.6 0.1 1.0 .420 .743 .316
Larry Jones is another player who has stepped up the efficiency as the season progresses, where he’s seen a boost in FG%, FT% and 3p%, taking him to a more solid level of scorer as an un-camped rookie. His PPG has risen from 5 to 7 on average as well, which shadow the shooting percentages. There still might be hope for Jones yet, as he is managed by the GM-less CPU Bulls, who likely will keep him forever, given the drastically lowered volume of teams trying to strike a deal with the CPU. I hope he’s the recipient of some badass TC’s in Chicago though just to keep things interesting.
4. Kings - SG Eddie Miles
C+ B+ C- A- D+ A
Stats Previously:
17.7 4.1 2.3 0.5 0.6 0.0 0.4 .424 .636 .294
Stats Now:
16.2 4.9 1.9 0.6 0.5 0.0 0.5 .444 .673 .380
Eddie Miles has remained fairly static over the course of the season, where slight bumps to his shooting percentages haven’t had much effect on his statistical output. His PPG average has risen by 0.8 points since we last checked in, but his rebounding has dropped by 0.4 per game. Nothing too wild to discuss here, except that Miles just needs some camping TLC an some playing time to see what he can really do. There isnt a lot of weight on this one player's destiny though, since new GM Kennypowers is still in town watching over things and will hopefully get things turned around.
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
JAC is still chillin' overseas in his native country, Spain, and probably busy being famous and partying while enjoying the company of all of the beautiful local women while he can, because when he comes to the NBN he’s going to be a nobody, if the Bucks don’t get a GM who can groom him into a stud. Thankfully we still have the two years to wait before any camping is required!
6. Pistons - SG Jeff Mullins
C+ B+ B B+ C A
Stats Previously:
34.8 10.3 5.1 3.2 0.7 0.4 2.2 .432 .667 .500
Stats Now:
36.7 11.2 5.5 3.1 0.9 0.4 1.8 .398 .752 .392
Man I hate talking about all these lottery teams with no GM. It really just sucks the fun about speculating about these rookies futures while their teams spiral out of control into the gutter. Mullins seems to have some solid talents too, as he’s one of a few rookies putting up double digit points (unless you include all the G League call-ups crushing it currently). Mullins has definitely taken a slight dip in scoring efficiency over the last few months, seeing both his FG% and 3PT% drop fairly significantly, which will happen when there is no GM to camp them… ugh
7. 76ers - SG Art Heyman
B+ C+ A- A- B- B
Stats Before:
36.1 16.7 7.9 3.1 1.3 0.5 1.8 .409 .768 .280
Stats Now:
35.3 15.9 7.2 3.1 1.1 0.5 2.0 .431 .764 .279
Heyman is still chugging along for Philly producing some top tier numbers in this iffy draft class. He’s still amongst the rookie leaders in scoring at just under 16ppg, on fairly consistent shooting percentages over the course of the season. The one noticeable change is that his FG% has risen about 20% over the last few months, which is a good sign on a team that although rebuilding, are full of solid scoring talent. Love to see guys who become more efficient with less opportunity, instead of just being a chucker who fires up shots in mass volume. I still wish Heyman could be the ROTY but he will likely be outshone by G League call-up Dillon Hunter on the Wizards, and will have to battle for 1st Team Rookie Honors with recent Euro-Stash Carlo Ricallati on the Suns.
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
Stats Now:
8.0 4.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 .333 1.000 .000
Hey Mirza got some minutes! He has had a very small role this year, but at early in the season he hadn’t even cracked the rotation, but you gotta be ready when coach bundy calls your name, and Mirza has shown he can score in little bursts at the least. He seemingly has played 1 game and scored 4 points in 8 minutes, which is not much of a sample size, but it shows he probably has a smooth stroke from the FT line at the very least! And that if he played about 32 minutes per game as a starter, he might be capable of scoring in double digits as a rookie, which is sweet.
9. Hawks - SF Joe Caldwell
B C B A- C+ A
Stats Before:
30.8 5.8 5.9 2.7 1.5 0.6 2.5 .313 .684 .125
Stats Now:
18.8 3.6 3.7 1.5 0.8 0.4 1.5 .288 .720 .125
Caldwell still looks pretty raw offensively, as the Hawks taking him out of the major rotation made his shooting percentages even worse, dropping down to 28% from the floor while remaining 12% from deep. The positive side, is that his free throw percentage went up, and his turnovers cut in half. Caldwell has shown he really isn’t ready yet for primetime, and will likely take a few years of maturing on the bench before he cracks the rotation, unless he finds a role similar to Musa Jallow and just locks down opposing 3’s and hides in the corner on offense.
10. Pacers- SF Lou Hudson
210 B B- C+ C+ C A
Stats Before:
1.5 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 .000 .000 .000
Stats Now:
12.3 3.8 1.8 0.9 0.4 0.3 1.0 .529 .824 .375
Another guy who has earned a spot in the rotation later in the season is SF Lou Hudson. He’s up to about 12 minutes per game and is shooting with fairly good percentages shows how talented he really could be. Any perimeter oriented rookie who is shooting over 50% from the floor right out of the draft gets that next level of respect and admiration, especially when you look at some of the offense struggles the other rookies have had from this class. Hudson should easily be starting on this team in a year or two and will likely be the steal of the draft when we look back at this draft class in the future. He just has what looks like a well rounded game, despite still showing some raw ability on defense that will need to improve a bit to become elite. Can’t wait to see what happens!
11. Magic - SG Liu Jianli (Traded to the Warriors)
C+ B- B B- C+ A
Stats Before:
10.0 1.5 2.4 1.0 0.5 0.4 0.7 .406 1.000 .125
Stats Now:
9.8 1.7 2.3 0.9 0.5 0.3 0.6 .378 .857 .231
Jianli got moved mid season to the rebuilding Warriors, as the Magic realized that they could change directions and be a competitor with a few roster tweaks. Not much has changed statistically after the jersey change took place, as the 17 year old is still buried on the bench behind several higher impact players. As I mentioned last time I looked at him from a critical angle, his shooting is still extremely raw, despite the fact that his 3PT percentage has almost doubled from 12% to 23%, which is both sad and great. The Warriors have nothing to lose by keeping him buried on the bench for now, as he’s extremely young and just scratching the surface of figuring out what his game is going to be. The lower his profile the better, as he’ll be entering FA for the first time at age 21, making him basically a FA rookie aged prospect for anyone that is targeting a rebuild and doesn’t have a high pick. Sorry to blow up your spot commish, hopefully no one actually reads this article!
12. Rockets - SF Bob Love
B B D+ B B- B
Stats Before:
8.2 1.2 1.5 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 .174 .778 .000
Stats Now:
7.8 1.7 1.5 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.3 .323 .769 .000
Bob Love aided the thing that was really killing me early on from an analysis standpoint, and he basically doubled his FG% to get it up from the abysmal 17% that he started at. We still have minimal expectations for Love, since he’s not going to be playing a major role any time soon on the Rockets team that will make the playoffs this year after a decent draught period where they slowly accumulated talent from the lottery. I still love his base ratings from an abstract perspective, so hopefully he gets some TC love next year, and that aforementioned Yardley mentor camp.
13. Pacers - PG Daishen Nix
C+ C+ B B- C B
Stats Before:
26.3 10.6 4.4 6.3 1.1 0.5 2.2 .380 .660 .277
Stats Now:
29.1 11.6 5.0 7.8 1.1 0.6 2.6 .409 .680 .294
Nix is someone who has overall just has gotten better as the season progresses, like a fine wine he keeps aging… but much quicker. None of the statistical improvements have been jarring by any means, but he has just solidly improved almost every aspect of his game from the beginning until now, trending up in everything but SPG, where he remained the same at 1.1 per game. Otherwise literally EVERYTHING else is up from his early season numbers. You gotta love seeing that! Donny definitely definitely did a great job picking up value late in this draft, and its going to be exciting seeing what he can do to turn these guys into stars, whether via development or trading.
14. Heat - SG Dick Van Arsdale
C+ B- C B+ D+ A
Stats Before:
8.4 0.4 1.1 0.3 0.4 0.0 0.1 .176 1.000 .000
Stats Now:
12.0 1.7 1.4 0.3 0.4 0.0 0.3 .370 .750 .120
DVA, as I have lazily dubbed him, really still just hasn’t gotten a chance to showcase his talents down in South Beach. The Heat are still pretty packed with talent at the guard, but thanks to a horrendous achilles injury to SG Earl Manigault, DVA has gotten a slight increase in minutes and took advantage enough to make his rookie season numbers look… passable…. Only averaging 1.7 points and 1.4 rebounds on still pretty ugly %’s isn’t something to write home to mom about, but having A potential at least helps the cause to hold onto hope of him developing. We’ll see how long Guerin hangs on in Miami to open up some P.T. for DVA, or if Don deals some of his youth for another star to take the Heat into the playoffs and sends the rookie somewhere else to grow up.
15. Warriors -PF John Tresvant
B C D A- B+ B
Stats Before:
14.6 2.9 4.7 0.3 0.4 0.6 0.9 .388 .409 .000
Stats Now:
19.2 4.7 5.8 0.7 0.5 1.0 1.1 .367 .617 .429
The Warriors are now more in full rebuild mode, which has given Tresvant a little more burn on the hardwood to stretch the legs and see what he can do at the pro level. He’s done well with the limited opportunity and has done fairly well with the extra minutes statistically. His PPG and RPG both have raised a bit, and somehow he has turned into an effective stretch 4 overnight by increasing his 3PT% from 0 to almost 43%.. which is… weird… Im calling Space Jam shenanigans because no way has he gone from Kendrick Perkins to Dirk overnight. Im very intrigued to see if this is more of a trend or a fad for him with the 3 ball, but it wouldn’t hurt to have that as part of his game as a banger!
Notable G League Call-Up “Rookies":
These guys flew under the radar on my last check in, since they aren’t traditional rookies that would reveal themselves from viewing the recent draft board. I want to review the top 3 since they have really good chances of making some All Rookie Teams due to the weak draft class (and some serious standouts listed below)
Wizards - PG Dillon Hunter
B A- A- B+ C B
Stats: 35.6 23.9 5.1 8.9 1.2 0.3 4.2 .476 .776 .409
Hunter exploded into the NBA as a G League call-up rookie that got a major role on a team that is trying to tank in Washington DC. Ironically, his standout performance, alongside sophomores Allain Gilles and Dave “Big D” Debusschere have the Wizards eying a playoff spot in the East. Hunter looks like a legit scorer right out of the gates, averaging 23ppg with 9 assists on solid shooting splits. He’s a huge reason that the Wizards tanking effort isn’t going as planned, but thats a great problem to have, when you have too much talent to tank. The Wizards GM showed a talent for seducing other GM’s into giving up 1st for worst players than Hunter, so Im sure if he decides to move on from him, it won’t be too hard to find a trade partner. Otherwise, this could be a great building block for another strong Wizards squad that should pack a punch on offense moving forward.
Suns - SG Carlo Ricallati
Stats: C+ A- B- A- D A
32.6 11.4 3.7 2.3 1.1 0.6 1.0 .460 .763 .457
The Suns quietly have one of the more intriguing young SG’s in the league, who is showing a strong effort while starting on a playoff caliber team and contributing in a lot of ways to the cause. I always find it interesting when players shoot about the same percentage from the field as they do from downtown, and Carlo is doing just that, which is pretty crazy for a 20 year old to put up 45% from 3PT land. Ricallati will be the reason that my own rookie, BJ Boston, won’t make the all rookie team, and Im not even mad about it. Kids got some serious game and the fans in Phoenix should be pretty exited to see what he can become, and maybe he could become the next Dragan (of the current Utah Jazz)
Nets - PG Johnny Egan
C A- A- A- D B
Stats: 14.2 6.7 1.2 4.0 1.2 0.1 1.4 .479 .889 .410
Egan is someone I threw up here just for fun, as he was a mildly controversial player during the G League call up period, and went to a great situation to back up the GOAT, Bob Cousy in Brooklyn. Talk about the perfect mentor… Egan’s ratings absolutely blew up over the last offseason and he came to Brooklyn with some solid hype around his blossoming game, and he has not disappointed. Even while playing only 14 minutes per game, he’s still scoring well and with decent efficiency from all spots on the floor. I can’t even imagine what would happen with a Bob Cousy MVP mentor camp, which Im sure the Nets are already planning (if they haven’t already done it) to secure the future for the Nets when Cousy eventually retires and rides off into the sunset. I don’t know if Egan will rack up any accolades while fighting over the 2 spots with the likes of Dillon Hunter and Daishen Nix from this class, but
Draft Order:
1. Jazz - C Nate Thurmond
B C+ C+ A- A- A
Stats Previously:
30.9 7.7 10.6 3.0 0.7 1.4 1.8 .344 .672 .250
Stats Now:
26.5 7.5 9.1 2.5 0.7 1.1 1.3 .355 .647 .310
Thurmond is still showing his potential to be a big time rebounder in the league, but due to a slight minutes dip over the course of the season, he has statistically slowed down a little bit. I attribute this mainly to just the crazy amount of depth the Jazz have that are taking opportunities from Thurmond to show his stuff, but he’s someone Im not worried about long term. His potential is there, he just needs some fine tuning in a few areas like inside scoring and defense to make him a champ level contributor. Im sure a few TC’s and a medley of big man camps will get him there, but I know that by the end of his rookie contract he will likely be averaging close to 15 RPG, and I hope his shot blocking keeps up with that level of growth.
2. Celtics -SG BJ Boston
C+ A- C+ A C- A
Stats Previously:
34.8 9.3 4.7 1.7 1.1 0.7 1.8 .426 .780 .358
Stats Now:
32.4 9.7 4.4 1.7 1.3 0.6 1.8 .450 .771 .429
Boston has stayed pretty consistent over the course of the year and is showing the scoring promise that the Celtics were hoping from him when they traded up to get him on draft night. Despite being moved to the bench for the last few months, due to the acquisition of Walther, Boston has kept his scoring right under 10 per game, but has slightly bumped up his efficiency playing with the second unit. His 3pt shooting has risen from 35% to 42%, which is the most notable trend, alongside a slight FG% bump from 42% to 45%. That will happen playing against the bench units of other teams in a weak conference, but as a rookie sometimes thats incredibly helpful to keep the stats up, and his confidence.
3. Bulls - SG Larry Jones
B B C+ C+ C B
Stats Previously :
16.7 5.4 2.8 1.0 0.5 0.1 1.2 .362 .609 .235
Stats Now:
16.6 7.1 2.8 1.0 0.6 0.1 1.0 .420 .743 .316
Larry Jones is another player who has stepped up the efficiency as the season progresses, where he’s seen a boost in FG%, FT% and 3p%, taking him to a more solid level of scorer as an un-camped rookie. His PPG has risen from 5 to 7 on average as well, which shadow the shooting percentages. There still might be hope for Jones yet, as he is managed by the GM-less CPU Bulls, who likely will keep him forever, given the drastically lowered volume of teams trying to strike a deal with the CPU. I hope he’s the recipient of some badass TC’s in Chicago though just to keep things interesting.
4. Kings - SG Eddie Miles
C+ B+ C- A- D+ A
Stats Previously:
17.7 4.1 2.3 0.5 0.6 0.0 0.4 .424 .636 .294
Stats Now:
16.2 4.9 1.9 0.6 0.5 0.0 0.5 .444 .673 .380
Eddie Miles has remained fairly static over the course of the season, where slight bumps to his shooting percentages haven’t had much effect on his statistical output. His PPG average has risen by 0.8 points since we last checked in, but his rebounding has dropped by 0.4 per game. Nothing too wild to discuss here, except that Miles just needs some camping TLC an some playing time to see what he can really do. There isnt a lot of weight on this one player's destiny though, since new GM Kennypowers is still in town watching over things and will hopefully get things turned around.
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
JAC is still chillin' overseas in his native country, Spain, and probably busy being famous and partying while enjoying the company of all of the beautiful local women while he can, because when he comes to the NBN he’s going to be a nobody, if the Bucks don’t get a GM who can groom him into a stud. Thankfully we still have the two years to wait before any camping is required!
6. Pistons - SG Jeff Mullins
C+ B+ B B+ C A
Stats Previously:
34.8 10.3 5.1 3.2 0.7 0.4 2.2 .432 .667 .500
Stats Now:
36.7 11.2 5.5 3.1 0.9 0.4 1.8 .398 .752 .392
Man I hate talking about all these lottery teams with no GM. It really just sucks the fun about speculating about these rookies futures while their teams spiral out of control into the gutter. Mullins seems to have some solid talents too, as he’s one of a few rookies putting up double digit points (unless you include all the G League call-ups crushing it currently). Mullins has definitely taken a slight dip in scoring efficiency over the last few months, seeing both his FG% and 3PT% drop fairly significantly, which will happen when there is no GM to camp them… ugh
7. 76ers - SG Art Heyman
B+ C+ A- A- B- B
Stats Before:
36.1 16.7 7.9 3.1 1.3 0.5 1.8 .409 .768 .280
Stats Now:
35.3 15.9 7.2 3.1 1.1 0.5 2.0 .431 .764 .279
Heyman is still chugging along for Philly producing some top tier numbers in this iffy draft class. He’s still amongst the rookie leaders in scoring at just under 16ppg, on fairly consistent shooting percentages over the course of the season. The one noticeable change is that his FG% has risen about 20% over the last few months, which is a good sign on a team that although rebuilding, are full of solid scoring talent. Love to see guys who become more efficient with less opportunity, instead of just being a chucker who fires up shots in mass volume. I still wish Heyman could be the ROTY but he will likely be outshone by G League call-up Dillon Hunter on the Wizards, and will have to battle for 1st Team Rookie Honors with recent Euro-Stash Carlo Ricallati on the Suns.
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
Stats Now:
8.0 4.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 .333 1.000 .000
Hey Mirza got some minutes! He has had a very small role this year, but at early in the season he hadn’t even cracked the rotation, but you gotta be ready when coach bundy calls your name, and Mirza has shown he can score in little bursts at the least. He seemingly has played 1 game and scored 4 points in 8 minutes, which is not much of a sample size, but it shows he probably has a smooth stroke from the FT line at the very least! And that if he played about 32 minutes per game as a starter, he might be capable of scoring in double digits as a rookie, which is sweet.
9. Hawks - SF Joe Caldwell
B C B A- C+ A
Stats Before:
30.8 5.8 5.9 2.7 1.5 0.6 2.5 .313 .684 .125
Stats Now:
18.8 3.6 3.7 1.5 0.8 0.4 1.5 .288 .720 .125
Caldwell still looks pretty raw offensively, as the Hawks taking him out of the major rotation made his shooting percentages even worse, dropping down to 28% from the floor while remaining 12% from deep. The positive side, is that his free throw percentage went up, and his turnovers cut in half. Caldwell has shown he really isn’t ready yet for primetime, and will likely take a few years of maturing on the bench before he cracks the rotation, unless he finds a role similar to Musa Jallow and just locks down opposing 3’s and hides in the corner on offense.
10. Pacers- SF Lou Hudson
210 B B- C+ C+ C A
Stats Before:
1.5 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 .000 .000 .000
Stats Now:
12.3 3.8 1.8 0.9 0.4 0.3 1.0 .529 .824 .375
Another guy who has earned a spot in the rotation later in the season is SF Lou Hudson. He’s up to about 12 minutes per game and is shooting with fairly good percentages shows how talented he really could be. Any perimeter oriented rookie who is shooting over 50% from the floor right out of the draft gets that next level of respect and admiration, especially when you look at some of the offense struggles the other rookies have had from this class. Hudson should easily be starting on this team in a year or two and will likely be the steal of the draft when we look back at this draft class in the future. He just has what looks like a well rounded game, despite still showing some raw ability on defense that will need to improve a bit to become elite. Can’t wait to see what happens!
11. Magic - SG Liu Jianli (Traded to the Warriors)
C+ B- B B- C+ A
Stats Before:
10.0 1.5 2.4 1.0 0.5 0.4 0.7 .406 1.000 .125
Stats Now:
9.8 1.7 2.3 0.9 0.5 0.3 0.6 .378 .857 .231
Jianli got moved mid season to the rebuilding Warriors, as the Magic realized that they could change directions and be a competitor with a few roster tweaks. Not much has changed statistically after the jersey change took place, as the 17 year old is still buried on the bench behind several higher impact players. As I mentioned last time I looked at him from a critical angle, his shooting is still extremely raw, despite the fact that his 3PT percentage has almost doubled from 12% to 23%, which is both sad and great. The Warriors have nothing to lose by keeping him buried on the bench for now, as he’s extremely young and just scratching the surface of figuring out what his game is going to be. The lower his profile the better, as he’ll be entering FA for the first time at age 21, making him basically a FA rookie aged prospect for anyone that is targeting a rebuild and doesn’t have a high pick. Sorry to blow up your spot commish, hopefully no one actually reads this article!
12. Rockets - SF Bob Love
B B D+ B B- B
Stats Before:
8.2 1.2 1.5 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 .174 .778 .000
Stats Now:
7.8 1.7 1.5 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.3 .323 .769 .000
Bob Love aided the thing that was really killing me early on from an analysis standpoint, and he basically doubled his FG% to get it up from the abysmal 17% that he started at. We still have minimal expectations for Love, since he’s not going to be playing a major role any time soon on the Rockets team that will make the playoffs this year after a decent draught period where they slowly accumulated talent from the lottery. I still love his base ratings from an abstract perspective, so hopefully he gets some TC love next year, and that aforementioned Yardley mentor camp.
13. Pacers - PG Daishen Nix
C+ C+ B B- C B
Stats Before:
26.3 10.6 4.4 6.3 1.1 0.5 2.2 .380 .660 .277
Stats Now:
29.1 11.6 5.0 7.8 1.1 0.6 2.6 .409 .680 .294
Nix is someone who has overall just has gotten better as the season progresses, like a fine wine he keeps aging… but much quicker. None of the statistical improvements have been jarring by any means, but he has just solidly improved almost every aspect of his game from the beginning until now, trending up in everything but SPG, where he remained the same at 1.1 per game. Otherwise literally EVERYTHING else is up from his early season numbers. You gotta love seeing that! Donny definitely definitely did a great job picking up value late in this draft, and its going to be exciting seeing what he can do to turn these guys into stars, whether via development or trading.
14. Heat - SG Dick Van Arsdale
C+ B- C B+ D+ A
Stats Before:
8.4 0.4 1.1 0.3 0.4 0.0 0.1 .176 1.000 .000
Stats Now:
12.0 1.7 1.4 0.3 0.4 0.0 0.3 .370 .750 .120
DVA, as I have lazily dubbed him, really still just hasn’t gotten a chance to showcase his talents down in South Beach. The Heat are still pretty packed with talent at the guard, but thanks to a horrendous achilles injury to SG Earl Manigault, DVA has gotten a slight increase in minutes and took advantage enough to make his rookie season numbers look… passable…. Only averaging 1.7 points and 1.4 rebounds on still pretty ugly %’s isn’t something to write home to mom about, but having A potential at least helps the cause to hold onto hope of him developing. We’ll see how long Guerin hangs on in Miami to open up some P.T. for DVA, or if Don deals some of his youth for another star to take the Heat into the playoffs and sends the rookie somewhere else to grow up.
15. Warriors -PF John Tresvant
B C D A- B+ B
Stats Before:
14.6 2.9 4.7 0.3 0.4 0.6 0.9 .388 .409 .000
Stats Now:
19.2 4.7 5.8 0.7 0.5 1.0 1.1 .367 .617 .429
The Warriors are now more in full rebuild mode, which has given Tresvant a little more burn on the hardwood to stretch the legs and see what he can do at the pro level. He’s done well with the limited opportunity and has done fairly well with the extra minutes statistically. His PPG and RPG both have raised a bit, and somehow he has turned into an effective stretch 4 overnight by increasing his 3PT% from 0 to almost 43%.. which is… weird… Im calling Space Jam shenanigans because no way has he gone from Kendrick Perkins to Dirk overnight. Im very intrigued to see if this is more of a trend or a fad for him with the 3 ball, but it wouldn’t hurt to have that as part of his game as a banger!
Notable G League Call-Up “Rookies":
These guys flew under the radar on my last check in, since they aren’t traditional rookies that would reveal themselves from viewing the recent draft board. I want to review the top 3 since they have really good chances of making some All Rookie Teams due to the weak draft class (and some serious standouts listed below)
Wizards - PG Dillon Hunter
B A- A- B+ C B
Stats: 35.6 23.9 5.1 8.9 1.2 0.3 4.2 .476 .776 .409
Hunter exploded into the NBA as a G League call-up rookie that got a major role on a team that is trying to tank in Washington DC. Ironically, his standout performance, alongside sophomores Allain Gilles and Dave “Big D” Debusschere have the Wizards eying a playoff spot in the East. Hunter looks like a legit scorer right out of the gates, averaging 23ppg with 9 assists on solid shooting splits. He’s a huge reason that the Wizards tanking effort isn’t going as planned, but thats a great problem to have, when you have too much talent to tank. The Wizards GM showed a talent for seducing other GM’s into giving up 1st for worst players than Hunter, so Im sure if he decides to move on from him, it won’t be too hard to find a trade partner. Otherwise, this could be a great building block for another strong Wizards squad that should pack a punch on offense moving forward.
Suns - SG Carlo Ricallati
Stats: C+ A- B- A- D A
32.6 11.4 3.7 2.3 1.1 0.6 1.0 .460 .763 .457
The Suns quietly have one of the more intriguing young SG’s in the league, who is showing a strong effort while starting on a playoff caliber team and contributing in a lot of ways to the cause. I always find it interesting when players shoot about the same percentage from the field as they do from downtown, and Carlo is doing just that, which is pretty crazy for a 20 year old to put up 45% from 3PT land. Ricallati will be the reason that my own rookie, BJ Boston, won’t make the all rookie team, and Im not even mad about it. Kids got some serious game and the fans in Phoenix should be pretty exited to see what he can become, and maybe he could become the next Dragan (of the current Utah Jazz)
Nets - PG Johnny Egan
C A- A- A- D B
Stats: 14.2 6.7 1.2 4.0 1.2 0.1 1.4 .479 .889 .410
Egan is someone I threw up here just for fun, as he was a mildly controversial player during the G League call up period, and went to a great situation to back up the GOAT, Bob Cousy in Brooklyn. Talk about the perfect mentor… Egan’s ratings absolutely blew up over the last offseason and he came to Brooklyn with some solid hype around his blossoming game, and he has not disappointed. Even while playing only 14 minutes per game, he’s still scoring well and with decent efficiency from all spots on the floor. I can’t even imagine what would happen with a Bob Cousy MVP mentor camp, which Im sure the Nets are already planning (if they haven’t already done it) to secure the future for the Nets when Cousy eventually retires and rides off into the sunset. I don’t know if Egan will rack up any accolades while fighting over the 2 spots with the likes of Dillon Hunter and Daishen Nix from this class, but
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