Anonymous
Years ago

Way-too-early NBA Rookie Rankings

Only a handful of NBA games played so far so really early call, but wanted to get people's opinions of the rookies and how they have been playing.

Firstly, none of them have set the world on fire which is interesting since it was supposed to be the best draft since 2004.

Secondly, assuming no injuries, it is a 2 horse race for ROY

My top 10 so far are:

1) Nerlens Noel - has the potential to be Anthony Davis in another 3 years
2) Jabari Parker - terrible efficiency, buts big minutes gets him okay stats

DAYLIGHT

3) Elfrid Payton - good defender and distributor but shoots as well as Rajon Rondo
4) Andrew Wiggins
5) KJ McDaniels
6) Bojan Bogdanovic
7) Dante Exum - surprisingly efficient given limited minutes and shooting 50%+. I didn't think he would be this high so early.
8) Kostas Papanikolaou
9) Nikola Mirotic
10) James Ennis

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M
Years ago

Marcus smart deserves to be there purely on his defense.

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GWB
Years ago

Exum is starting to prove a lot of people wrong right now.

His numbers have been solid, if not spectacular. I think he's averaging around 7 points? 3-4 assists or so, in 10-15 minutes. I think he has done himself no harm in the NBA.

It is a fair stretch from what we saw at the world cup, where he kind of nervously trotted outside the three point line like a scared deer, hoping for the play to finish infront of him before getting involved. I think he will be the star that some predicted. He has gone from like, 17 percent from the three to 50? Who does that in such a short space of time? Obviously the kid learns quick, he has all the tools, he is gonna be fine.

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Wow
Years ago

I know Dante is Australian, but Marcus Smart has been much better.

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GWB
Years ago

Ok Wow. No one said Marcus Smart isn't playing better.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Being a philly fan I love Noel, but his offensive game is nowhere near as polished as Davis's when he came out of college, so not sure about that comparison. Defensively though he is amazing.

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Phil
Years ago

yep davis is a defensive and offensive live wire , i dont see nerlens ever averaging over 22 points a game much less likely to do it for multiple seasons as davis will.

nerlens is a great rim protector though , i love players like that. i think nerlens could be an all-star level talent scoring the ball half as much as the big scoring centres do.

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Benno
Years ago

I thought dante couldn't shoot?

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Anonas
Years ago

Smart's PPG is 6.3 to Exum's 6.0

Marcus is a rebounding PG too. But the rest of stats go to Dante while playing 6 minutes lesser per game than Marcus

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Cj
Years ago

Marcus Smart is shooting 26% from the field and 14% from 3
He is 2/14 from three and 6/21 from the field. Other thannad good D he has been terrible.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Marcus Smart reminds me a lot of a young Damian Martin. Great defender, similar body type (relative to his competition) and can't shoot to save himself while playing on a struggling team. I'm sure the Celtics aren't about to go bankrupt though.

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Melbourne Boy
Years ago

I'm not saying Dante is going to be this guy, but his physical deficencies as a teenager are just the same, stats aren't much different either.

http://m.bkref.com/m?p=XXplayersXXbXXbryanko01.html&t=1

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Hoops

Way-too-early NBA Rookie Rankings

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