Rookie Rankings – Week 2

Jan 10, 2012

Week two (January 1st – January 8th) showed us that this rookie class is a lot stronger than most people expected it to be. We have had a fair share of important rookies play big roles in their teams’ wins, and that just proves that sometimes scouting reports aren’t right. A bunch of the guys in our top 10 have improved this week and that has made it extremely difficult to rank them. Check out our week 2 version of the 2011-12 Rookie Rankings because we have a new numero uno!

 
 
1. Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers) – 26.8 MPG / 15.0 PPG / 3.9 RPG / 5.1 APG / 0.6 SPG / 0.8 BPG
Last Week: 2
The bid for the number one spot was close this week, but Kyrie did it all by increasing his scoring and his shooting percentages, while leading Cleveland to a 2-2 record for the week, putting them at a surprising 4-4 overall. Irving averaged 16.75ppg, 4.75apg, and 3.75rpg in 4 games this week. He needs to improve his steals numbers (0.25 per game for the week) but is lingering around his 0.8bpg average, which is really good for a point guard. Irving’s turnover numbers are somewhat disturbing at 3.25 per game for the week, and 3.0 for the season, but then again he’s the guy handling the ball most of the time on offense. His best performance of the week had to be in the 115-101 win against the Bobcats in which he put up 20 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks in 22 minutes on 8/10 shooting from the field including two threes on two tries. Irving also made all of his 14 free throw attempts, putting him at 88.5% from the charity stripe for the year. Kyrie’s clearly the man in Cleveland, and has been an important part for the Cavs’ success early on.

 
2. Ricky Rubio (Minnesota Timberwolves) – 28.1 MPG / 9.9 PPG / 3.9 RPG / 7.6 APG / 1.1 SPG
Last Week: 3
Rubio had an amazing week, but he’s not number one just yet, partly because of his turnover numbers which are now at 3.3 per game. This week we saw Rubio start to evolve into the type of player people were hoping him to become – a pure point guard who can score. In his first week of action, Rubio was shooting the lights out, BUT he wasn’t shooting much. This week, Rubio saw extended playing time, mostly being on the court in the important sequences of the game and harmonizing with Love and Derrick Williams. He played an average of 28.5 minutes per game and put up nice statistics – 10.25ppg, 3.5rpg, 8apg and 1.25spg on slightly worse shooting percentages than last week (of course due to his rise in shot attempts). What we witnessed was a player gaining more and more self-confidence every second he was on the court. We saw Rubio drive and finish. We saw him dish to his teammates. We saw him shine, but he’s just not on that Kyrie Irving level yet. As an NBA analyst I expect the Timberwolves to let him start as soon as possible, because he is clearly making his teammates better when he’s on the court.

 
3. Norris Cole (Miami Heat) – 23.2 MPG / 10.9 PPG / 1.7 RPG / 3.9 APG / 1.6 SPG
Last Week: 1
Let’s face it. Irving and Rubio just played better this week. After Cole’s amazing first week that had him ranked #1 in our first installment of the 2011-12 Rookie Rankings, his role has been dimmed just a bit. While his minutes, points, rebounds and steals have decreased his passing has improved – he averaged 4.25apg this week compared to the 3.6 he had last week – and so did his three-point shooting percentage which is now up to 25% for the season. Another statistical category that saw an increase was the number of turnovers, in which he averaged 3.25 a game this week, managing to turn it over 6 times in 21 minutes in a blowout win against Indiana. Norris is a great player, but Rubio and Irving are better right now.

 
4. Markieff Morris (Phoenix Suns) –22.3 MPG / 9.6 PPG / 6.4 RPG / 1.4 APG / 0.8 BPG
Last Week: 4
The better one of the two Morris twins so far is becoming more important for Phoenix from game to game. You can see his role becoming bigger every night. That’s great news for Markieff, who logged 27.5 minutes per game and had averages of 11.5ppg, 8.25rpg, 1.75apg and 0.75bpg while only committing a total of one turnover in the four games. His best game was in a 109-93 win against the Bucks with a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double to go along with 3 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal and 3/4 shooting from long distance in 30 minutes. Talking about shooting, Markieff has been able to keep on shooting the lights out with a 51.7 FG% and 57.1 3P% (1.5 threes per game). Keep an eye on Markieff, because he’s improving at hyper speed.

 
5. Iman Shumpert (New York Knicks) – 29.3 MPG / 12.5 PPG / 3.5 RPG / 3.5 APG / 2.0 SPG
Last Week: N/A
Iman came back from his early season injury to play 3 great games this week. He started one of those –the last one in a win against Detroit – and had really good numbers for the week averaging 13ppg, 3.3rpg, 4.3apg, 2.7spg and 0.7bpg in 31.7 minutes per game. As it stands right now, he’s the starting point for the Knicks – probably at least until Baron Davis comes back – and if he continues to play as solid as he has and helps to lead the Knicks to wins (they are 2-1 since he came back from injury) he might solidify his spot in the starting five.

 
6. MarShon Brooks (New Jersey Nets) – 23.4 MPG / 12.2 PPG / 3.3 RPG / 0.6 APG / 1.1 SPG
Last Week: 6
Marshon kept his 6th place in our ranking by playing another solid week of ball. His minutes have increased, and so have all his stats. We still expect him to do more for the Nets especially on the offensive end, where he has become one of the main scoring options for the Nets. In the three games he played this week, he averaged 16.7ppg , 3.7rpg and 2.3spg in 30 minutes per game. Brooks has continued to shoot well and his turnovers per game are still extremely low at 1 per game. If he can keep on improving, he’ll crack into the top 5 in no time at all.

 
7. Brandon Knight (Detroit Pistons) – 26.8 MPG / 11.1 PPG / 3.1 RPG / 3.0 APG
Last Week: 5
Brandon’s scoring has gone up since last week, bus so have his minutes. We still don’t like his turnover numbers, and he’s continuing to average 2.8 of those per game. For Brandon, the second half of week was his time to shine, as it was for multiple rookies in this week’s ranking. Filling in as a starter for the injured Rodney Stuckey for the last two games, Knight put up 14.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1.5 steals per game in 38.5 minutes per game in those games. Though those were really good performances, there are still three points of concern for Knight which could be witnessed in those two games. Those three are his FG%, 3FG% (though he did make 5-13 in his last game) and the aforementioned high number of TOPG. If he wants to be further up in our rankings he will have to improve those parts of his game.

 
8. Derrick Williams (Minnesota Timberwolves) – 20.4 MPG / 8.6 PPG / 4.5 RPG / 0.8 SPG
Last Week: 10
Derrick had a solid week playing great in his last two games. In the first one, a loss to the Cavaliers, he played 26 minutes and ended up with 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 steal on 50% shooting from the field. The second game was a win against the Washington Wizards, in which Derrick and Rubio played really well together. Williams had 30 solid minutes with 14 points and 7 rebounds on 4/7 shooting from long distance. A huge positive for him from the second week of play has to be that he only had 0.5 turnovers per game in the 4 games he played, which is a lot better than the 2.0 he averaged in his first 4 games last week! Derrick, similar to Tristan Thompson, is having an up and down season up to this point, but is steadily improving while getting used to the NBA game.

 
9. Tristan Thompson (Cleveland Cavaliers) – 18.4 MPG / 7.8 PPG / 4.5 RPG / 1.6 BPG
Last Week: 8
The Cavs are 4-4 and some of that credit has to go to Tristan who has found ways to impress in most games. Still, he’s a raw talent and has been up and down thus far. He can be brilliant on one evening and then disappear the next one. Thompson’s best game was in a 115-101 win at home vs. Charlotte. He had 16 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks in 24 minutes that game. His overall game is good, but his free throw shooting is mediocre at 5-12 shooting for the week and a 41.7% clip for the season.

 
10. Kemba Walker (Charlotte Bobcats) – 19.5 MPG / 10.0 PPG / 2.4 RPG / 3.0 APG / 0.6 SPG
Last Week: 7
Kemba’s stats haven’t improved since the first week, and his shooting percentage of 38.7% is slightly worse than the 39% he had after the first week of play. The only category Kemba has improved in is his three-point percentage which is now at 31.8% instead of the 27.3% he had last week. Kemba did have a good game in a loss to Atlanta this week when he played 28 minutes and scored 19 points to go along with 3 rebounds and 2 assists. The rookie class is stronger than many people thought it would be, and that’s why you won’t be seeing Kemba any higher than this unless he improves soon.

 

Barely Missed the Top 10

 
Greg Stiemsma (Boston Celtics) – 14.8 MPG / 3.7 PPG / 3.8 RPG / 0.8 APG / 2.2 BPG
Last Week: N/A
The undrafted 26 year-old Boston rookie may still be unknown to many of you NBA fans, but you can’t deny that he has already made a splash this early into the season. Stiemsma filled in really good as the starting Center (for the injured Jermaine O’Neal) against the Washington Wizards during the week putting up 12 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks in just 21 minutes. He’s back to the bench for now, but he’ll surely be a good replacement for Jermaine as soon as he has his yearly injury woes. Keep an eye on his blocks, because he’s averaging 7.5 blocks per 48 minutes which makes him the league leader in that category. Can anybody say “Next Mark Eaton”??

 
In the conversation: Alec Burks (UTA), Jeremy Pargo (MEM), Jon Leuer (MIL), Enes Kanter (UTA), Kawhi Leonard (SAS), Jimmer Fredette (SAC) , Chandler Parsons (HOU), Klay Thompson (GSW)

 
Patrick Roland and Yannik Lingen