Nothing like a little Rookie vs. Sophs action to kick off the festivities in N’awlins. I was thinking about commenting on the Celebrity All-Star Game but then I saw that there were no real celebrities. Honestly. So we skip to the Rookie Challenge. If you think there is no D in the All-Star game don’t watch this game. The Sophomores scored 155 last year. Yikes. This has always been known as a showcase for the younger players in the league. A time for them to show off. And by show off I mean throw alley-oops, dunk, crossovers and pullup 3’s. The league even added a ‘Youth Jam’ element to it last year which meant the arena was full of screaming kids. The positives of this: the arena is full and loud. The negatives: the kids scream the ENTIRE time. Literally. It makes for the worst environment ever because they almost have no idea what’s going on. It’s as if Hannah Montana is playing on the big screen (yay pop culture).
Brief history lesson for the uninformed. Prior to 1995 the Rookie Challenge did not exist. In it’s place…the Old-Timers Game. I kid you not. A game where legends of the game pretty much embarrassed themselves and their family members. There was always someone who got hurt (Norm Nixon comes to mind), someone sucking wind and people who weren’t that old and ended up trying a bit too hard. Thus that recipe for disaster was demolished and replaced by the Rookie Challenge. In its inception it was a random splitting, which then evolved into East vs. West. That was until 2000 when someone scratched their head and realized that there weren’t 18-20 rookies each year that people wanted to watch. Thus the current Rookies vs. Sophomores format came into play. The Rookies have won exactly twice in 8 years: 2000 and 2002. In 02′, to put it in perspective the Sophs started Lee Nailon and Chris Mihm while the Rookies had Tony Parker, Joe Johnson and Kirilenko coming off the bench. Exactly.
So, SJ why watch? Because you love basketball dummy. Let’s take a look at the squads
ROOKIES
The Rookies will feature only one Florida Gator, even though 3 of them were picked in the top 10. Ouch.
Kevin Durant is obviously the cream of this year’s crop, pretty much by default. He has to get some credit for averaging nearly 20 a game (19.4) as a rook. Even if he’s pretty much Adam Morrison right now. He’s averaging 17 field goal attempts a game, currently 14th in the entire league. That’s more than a lot of the All-Stars in the league (examples: Paul Pierce, David West, Carlos Boozer, Brandon Roy). And one less than Baron Davis takes a game.
Al Horford in my humble opinion should be the ROY, the man is averaging a near double-double for a playoff caliber team. Honestly I would give the guy whose averaging 9 and 10 on a decent team the award over the guy who is jacking up shots on a horrible team. That’s my opinion. Horford was the quiet, somewhat underappreciated one on the Florida team. Turns out that as of right now he was the best.
Mike Conley….well he’s finally starting to get to show what he can do. Never really understood why the Grizzlies buried him behind Damon and Lowry to start the year. I guess they still thought they could go places. Conley is currently averaging 8.8 points a game and 4.6 assists. He really had a breakout month in January, starting 13 games, averaging 10.3 points per game and 5.3 assists. Definitely a point guard to look at down the line, but is taking his lumps as a rook.
Jeff Green has been solid for the Sonics this year. I say he’s been solid because when he gets the consistent minutes he usually performs pretty well. He needs to find a jumper and quick because he isn’t going to be able to post everyone up. Ditto for Yi, except Yi looks incredibly smooth. I’ve said it about 3 times on the blog but it just feels like he’s going to score because he looks so smooth.
And now comes the “old” rookies. Or as I like to call them the 27s. All of them are kind of old and all of them went undrafted. Juan Carlos Navarro is a 27 year old gunslinger from Spain. Shockingly he’s only hitting 38% (50th in the L) but is 13th in threes attempted (266). He’s had 5 games this season with 5+ threes. When he is hot it is a thing of beauty for the Grizzlies. When he’s not he makes fantasy owners cry.
Luis Scola from the Rockets is also 27 years old. Here’s a staggering stat: Houston is 8-1 when Scola starts. He’s a handful down low and is clearly a major contributor on that team. Imagine how annoying the Spurs would be with him and Oberto.
Jamario Moon…also 27. He’s only averaging 8 points and 6 rebounds but is a key part of the Raptors. Imagine if had not burst out early in the season, they’d be in trouble. He’s athletic, he can score, rebound and can play defense. Sorry Jason Kapono you’d have a hard time guarding Becky Hammon. Also it’s a good story for a guy like Moon to just come out of nowhere and finally realize his dream.
Last but not least is Sean Williams from the Nets. New Jersey got an absolute steal with him at #17. Williams is averaging 7.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and a staggering 1.9 blocks per game. He’s 10th in the league in blocks. Sky is the limit if he can keep his head right.
Looking at this rookie class right now, I’d say everyone is solid if not spectacular. Even the people who got left out (Thaddeus Young, Nick Young, Al Thornton, Noah, Brewer, Acie Law, Stuckey) are all finding ways to contribute to their teams. While no one other than Durant is putting up huge numbers, I’m not sure you could look down the list and point someone out as a bust. This class will contribute down the line.
Unfortunately, they have to deal with these guys.
SOPHOMORES
They are ready to get their win this year. They won’t be facing last year’s Sophomore team.
(Speaking of last year’s Sophs. Yikes. Chris Paul, Deron Williams, David Lee, Andrew Bynum, Monta Ellis, Danny Granger, Andrew Bogut and Raymond Felton).
They return nearly the same team from last year minus Adam Morrison, Randy Foye and Jorge Garbajosa. Back for the ride is B-Roy, Jordan Farmar, Paul Millsap, Rudy Gay and Bargnani. In Morrison and Garbajosa’s case they are out for the season with injuries while Foye just returned. Replacing them are Daniel ‘Boobie’ Gibson, LaMarcus Aldridge, Ronnie Brewer and Rajon Rondo.
Bargnani would be the only one I would call having a ‘sophomore slump’ but he’s broken out of it lately. B-Roy is an All-Star, LMA, Rondo and Gay have made big leaps in their second seasons. Farmar is a solid contributor for the Lakers, Millsap is a beast and Gibson can shoot the damn ball.
You already know who these guys are and what they can do.
PREDICTION
Sophomores win 133-112. This game is about as unpredictable as can be, judging on how David Lee dropped 30 last year (I believe 14 dunks off lobs. You never know who is ready, what type of game it will be etc. My pick for MVP is going to be Rudy Gay. I have a feeling he’ll try and put on a show. Who knows maybe he’ll try and put on too much of a show. But that’s my word and I’m sticking to it. Also Ronnie Brewer gets a sick dunk, Coup and I will yell for LMA to get out of the game and Sean Williams avoids getting dunked on.