Community Shootaround: Which Rookie Will Have The Best Career?
Pelicans rookie and consensus 2019 No. 1 draft pick Zion Williamson is most likely out of commission through at least November as he recovers from his torn right meniscus. There has been bubbling chatter about whether or not the 6’6″, 285-pound Williamson’s fitness (or relative lack thereof) may be a longer-term problem for New Orleans.
Pelicans sources told The Athletic’s Shams Charania that the team was unconcerned about Williamson’s frame having an adverse impact on his health moving forward. SB Nation writer Ricky O’Donnell observed that Williamson has suffered knee injuries in high school, college, Summer League, and now the NBA proper.
Though it felt obvious in the moment that Williamson would have the best NBA career among this year’s impressive rookie class, these recurrent knee issues have given this writer pause in determining just which 2019 rookie will be the best pro. Yes, Williamson’s ceiling feels astronomical. But his floor is spooky.
Meanwhile, No.2 pick Ja Morant has been impressive for the Grizzlies, averaging 18.9 points, 5.5 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game. The point guard’s shooting numbers have been stellar, too: 49.2% from the field, 46.2% from three-point range (albeit on a somewhat-low 1.6 attempts), and 75% from the charity stripe.
Warriors rookie power forward Eric Paschall, the 41st pick out of Villanova, has been posting excellent numbers himself. His 79 points scored across his first three games were the most clocked by an NBA player in his first three starts since Jeremy Lin logged 89 with the Knicks in 2012.
Heat guards Kendrick Nunn (who went undrafted in 2018 but made his NBA debut this season) and Tyler Herro (the 13th pick) have scored in bunches, propelling the Jimmy Butler-led squad near the top of the East.
Power forward P.J. Washington, picked 12th by the Hornets, has outperformed his draft standing thus far. He is shooting 45.2% from deep on 3.4 three-point attempts. Williamson’s former Duke running mate, Knicks rookie wing R.J. Barrett, has been scoring in bunches too.
Other top picks include Cavaliers guard Darius Garland, Hawks forward DeAndre Hunter, Timberwolves guard Jarrett Culver, and Wizards forward Rui Hachimura.
Who among this starry 2019 rookie class do you think will have the best NBA career overall? Will it be someone beyond the players we’ve mentioned? A late-blooming second-round gem, perhaps (a la Nikola Jokic in 2014)?
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Atlantic Notes: Claxton, Porzingis, Ennis, Sixers
Spencer Dinwiddie, speaking after the debut of Nets rookie center Nicolas Claxton on Friday night in a 119-115 victory against Portland, called the 20 year-old the team’s second-most talented player. Claxton, drafted 31st by Brooklyn this summer, scored eight points on three-of-five shooting from the field and pulled down six boards in just 12 minutes of action.
“So, I still believe [starting center Jarrett Allen] is going to be an All-Star, but Nic is the second-most talented player on this team,” Dinwiddie said, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “[First] is [Kevin Durant], either the first or second most talented scorer of all-time. But Nic’s got game. He’s got a chance [to be great].”
Those comments reflect just how high Dinwiddie is on the rookie, considering he apparently has him ahead of Kyrie Irving on his informal list of Brooklyn’s most talented players. Irving, the Nets’ only healthy current All-Star, is averaging 31.9 points, 7.5 assists, and 5.8 rebounds per game for the 4-4 squad.
Meanwhile, Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson lauded Claxton’s defensive awareness: “Just understanding the coverages,” Atkinson noted. “I think one time in the first half we were switching everything and he handled that fantastically. That was part of the reason we drafted him, that he was versatile and could guard five positions, so he proved that.”
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- As Kristaps Porzingis prepared to suit up last week against the team that drafted him in 2015, The Athletic’s Frank Isola explored the Knicks front office’s alienation of the team’s former franchise player. Trouble began to brew when Porzingis blew off an April 2017 season exit interview with then-team president Phil Jackson and then-GM (now team president) Steve Mills. When pressed about the messy breakup Thursday, Porzingis said, “I’ll probably get in more trouble if I start talking about that stuff.” Isola observes that the Knicks’ returns in the deal have yet to bear much fruit: center DeAndre Jordan joined Brooklyn over the summer, point guard Dennis Smith Jr. was booed in the team’s first home game, and the Knicks have yet to use their two Dallas future first-rounders acquired in the deal.
- It’s been a season of streaks for the Sixers. After starting out 5-0, the 76ers have lost three straight games on a Western Conference road trip, falling to the fifth seed in the East. Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer posits that the Sixers’ current troubles can be credited to their summer roster overhaul, and that they have too many new faces for continuity at present. New power forward Al Horford and long-term starting center Joel Embiid are still developing their on-court chemistry. When questioned about the team’s recent struggles, Horford observed, “What’s going to help us is the more games we continue to play, the more we get used to playing with one another, everything is going to come together.”
- Veteran point guard Tyler Ennis made his triumphant return to a basketball game for the Raptors‘ G League affiliate, Raptors 905, 13 months after suffering a gruesome leg injury for Turkish team Fenerbahce. Doug Smith of The Toronto Star has the story and the details on Ennis, who feels that the time off had some unexpected developmental benefits. “I had six, seven, eight months of nothing, so I was able to think, ‘When I get back this is what I want to work on,’ ” Ennis said. “I want to be able to shoot better off the dribble and that’s how we kind of did it, in stages.” Though Smith observes that the parent Raptors could use a third point guard and liked Ennis as far back as the 2014 draft, Ennis is nursing a zen calm about the prospect of a callup: “I kind of just want to let it manifest.”
Atlantic Notes: Stevens, Fizdale, Load Management
Brad Stevens‘s new-look Celtics are off to their best start in his tenure as head coach, with a sterling 5-1 record. A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston opines that the Celtics’ winning ways are attributable to five key factors: an easy connection with new point guard Kemba Walker; strong second halves on offense and defense; a relative dearth of contract drama; no idle chatter of Stevens mulling a return to the NCAA; and Stevens’ willingness for self-reflection following the disappointment of the 2018/19 Celtics.
Here’s tonight’s full run-down of Atlantic notes:
- Marc Berman of The New York Post posits that it’s way too early for Knicks head coach David Fizdale to be on the coaching hot seat. Though the Knicks are tied with the Zion Williamson-free Pelicans at a league-worst 1-6 record, Berman suggests that the front office duo of Knicks president Steve Mills and GM Scott Perry have saddled Fizdale with a head-scratching assortment of talent, heavy on mediocre frontcourt pieces but light on outside shooting or clutch end-of-game leadership.
- In a piece for The Athletic, Frank Isola supports Fizdale’s staunch defense of playing promising Knicks rookie RJ Barrett extended minutes, an argument echoed by former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy and by Barrett himself. “Has anyone stopped to consider that maybe by playing Barrett a lot of minutes David Fizdale is advancing Barrett’s career forward?,” Van Gundy said to Isola. “Is there anyone who really believes that the way you get better is by not playing and by not practicing?”
- On the other side of the wins-losses spectrum, the Raptors appear to be taking a similar approach to the struggling Knicks when it comes to one hot-button health topic. “I don’t really see much point in (load management) right now for anyone we’ve got,” head coach Nick Nurse said on Monday, per Ryan Wolstat of The Toronto Sun. “Kyle [Lowry] will be somebody maybe we do something with down the road, maybe Marc [Gasol] as well. But it’s not really in the forefront of my mind this year like it was last year.” The Raptors famously conserved the play of eventual Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard last season. 33-year-old Lowry is currently leading the league with a heavy 38.8 minutes played per game, while backcourt mate Fred VanVleet is logging 37.8 minutes a night.
NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 11/5/19
Here are Tuesday’s assignments and recalls from around the NBA G League:
- The Mavericks have reassigned rookie forward Isaiah Roby to the Texas Legends, the team’s PR department tweets. The 6’8″ Nebraska product has yet to play for the Mavs in the regular season.
- For the third time this season, the Jazz have assigned rookie guard Miye Oni, the 58th pick in 2019 out of Yale, to the Salt Lake City Stars, according to a tweet from the team’s PR department. Miye has not yet seen regular season court time for Utah.
- The Wizards have assigned rookies Justin Robinson and Admiral Schofield back to the Capital City Go-Go, the Wiz PR department tweets. Robinson, an undrafted guard from Virginia Tech, has seen sparse action over three regular season contests, averaging just four minutes per. The forward Schofield, drafted with the 42nd pick this summer out of Tennessee, has played in five games, and is currently averaging 4.4 points and 1.6 rebounds.
Poll: Is Phoenix For Real?
The injury-depleted Warriors’ shocking stumble (2-5 and fading fast) out of the gate isn’t the only Western Conference development to stun many in the early throes of this NBA season. A positive surprise has been the remarkable early run by the Suns (5-2). Phoenix’s management and ownership groups in recent years have been notoriously dysfunctional (shout-out to Kevin Arnovitz), but suddenly, the team’s production may be catching up to their promise.
Heading into the season, expectations for Phoenix were low. The team has won 24 or fewer games in each of the last four seasons (i.e. every prior year of Devin Booker’s NBA career). The Suns’ talented young core of Booker and 2018 No. 1 draft pick Deandre Ayton (currently serving a 25-game suspension after violating the league’s drug policy) underwhelmed together last season. But that was last season.
Now, under the stabilizing stewardship of new head coach Monty Williams, and with the Suns’ solid offseason veteran additions in point guard Ricky Rubio and center Aron Baynes exceeding expectations, things are finally looking sunny in Phoenix.
Phoenix currently stands at second place in the Western Conference and could move into a tie for first if the Lakers lose tonight. The Suns have racked up quality wins against the Clippers and Sixers (still formidable, even sans a suspended Joel Embiid).
As The Ringer’s noted today, Phoenix has been impressive on both ends of the floor. The Suns are among just two teams (the other being the 5-1 Miami Heat) currently occupying the top 10 in both offensive and defensive rating. Their plus-8.6 point differential ranks fourth in the league. Booker, perpetual All-Star-in-waiting, appears to have taken another leap. New young forwards Dario Saric (acquired in a summer trade) and Kelly Oubre (added in a trade last season) have offered other competent scoring options.
Baynes, though, has been a particular revelation, as Cody Cunningham details on Suns.com. The Australian center’s three-point shooting has taken an astronomical leap. He is currently connecting on 48.4% on his looks from deep across 4.4 attempts per game, far eclipsing his career averages of 33.3% from long distance on 0.3 tries per contest. His scoring, rebounding, assists and blocks are all at career marks. His numbers will come back down to earth once he returns to the bench, but his terrific start makes him look a steal for Phoenix nevertheless.
What do you think? Can Phoenix make the playoffs this season?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your prediction.
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Blazers Not Actively Seeking Frontcourt Help
Despite missing Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic up front, the Trail Blazers, currently carrying 14 players on their roster, plan to rely on their depth and positional versatility rather than adding a free agent big man with their open 15th roster spot, according to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. The Blazers announced on Tuesday that Collins, the team’s starting power forward, would miss four months of game action following left shoulder surgery.
A team source relayed to Freeman that signing a new frontcourt piece to shore up depth “is not a priority at this point.” Adding a 15th man would cost the Blazers more than just that player’s salary, since the team is over the luxury tax threshold.
Since Collins suffered the injury against Dallas on October 27, Portland coach Terry Stotts has opted to start journeyman veteran Anthony Tolliver (who can play either forward position) in his stead, with Skal Labissiere spelling Tolliver off the bench.
The Blazers’ 1-3 record following the loss of Collins (they are 3-4 on the year) includes a 127-118 defeat to an injury-depleted Golden State squad yesterday. In the ultra-competitive Western Conference, the Blazers face a tough schedule through November: they will be playing the Clippers, Spurs, Rockets and Bucks, all before Thanksgiving.
Pau Gasol, signed this summer, continues to rehabilitate a left foot stress fracture incurred in May while Gasol was with Milwaukee. Yesterday, Gasol partook in the team’s San Francisco morning shootaround and noted that he has engaged in 1-on-1 contact practice work with Portland assistant coaches. Gasol demurred when asked for a recovery timeline.
“It’s still early,” he told Freeman. “But hopefully I’m getting there.”
Blazers starting center Nurkic remains out of commission as he recovers from compound fractures to his left tibula and fibula suffered in March. This summer, Portland traded for Hassan Whiteside to fill in for Nurkic. Portland’s lone All-Star, Damian Lillard, remained optimistic about his team’s ability to weather the absences of Collins and Nurkic.
“We’ve got to love them as our friends and as our teammates, but the job still has to get done on the court and I think our mentality has to be that it’s not too much for us to handle and we can still get the job done,” Lillard said.
Rockets Notes: Morey, Offseason, D’Antoni
The Rockets have certainly not been bereft of drama, on or off the hardwood. After subtracting Chris Paul and adding Russell Westbrook this summer to be James Harden‘s new backcourt mate, Houston has struggled. The club is currently 4-3, the eighth seed in a loaded Western Conference.
As Houston prepares for a Wednesday home bout against a Warriors team missing as many as five starters, let’s take a look at more Rockets notes:
- Following a lopsided 129-100 defeat to the 5-1 Heat, the job security of Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni has been questioned, according to Sean Deveney of Heavy.com. “This is gonna stick with the FO (front office) for a while,” one coach texted Deveney during Sunday’s blowout. D’Antoni’s current contract with the Rockets expires at the end of the season.
- Despite the Rockets’ rocky 4-3 start to the regular season, including that forgettable showing on Sunday, GM Daryl Morey considers the ceiling for the new-look Rockets to be extremely high, according to a conversation with The Athletic Houston’s Kelly Iko. “I really think we could be the best offense ever put on the floor,” Morey said. “Now we’ll see if we can back that up, but our transition has been really good. Obviously, last year, we were one of the best halfcourt teams ever. There have been times where we’ve combined those two things and looked really good. Sometimes our transition has fallen off, sometimes our half-court (offense). But if we pull it together like I think we can, I think we’ll be the best offense in the league and a top-10 defense. That’ll be a formula to win the title.”
- In the same interview, Morey acknowledges a desire to improve the team’s defense. The team is currently ranked 28th in defensive efficiency, according to NBA.com. “We’re going to be a good defensive team. Obviously there’s been, you know, some things that don’t look good so far. But I have a lot of confidence that we’re going to be one of the top-10 defensive teams by the end of the year… To be a championship-caliber team, you gotta be a top-10 defense.”
- Notably, Morey’s new Q&A with Iko doesn’t touch on the controversy stemming from the GM’s summer tweet supporting the Hong Kong protests against mainland China. That message prompted China to suspend all business ties with the Rockets. Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports thinks Morey needs to address what became the big story of the NBA preseason, as he notes in a recent opinion column.