Daily NBA Fix: Rookies Living Up To Hype Early In Season
By Ben Gibson
On today’s Daily NBA Fix, this season’s batch of rookies is living up to the hype so far, especially the top of the class.
There is certainly truth to the fact that large-market teams like the New York Knicks tend to dominate the news cycles of the NBA. There is also plenty of truth to the fact Kristaps Porizingis deserves every bit of it.
The rookie may have only had 11 points and six rebounds on this given night, but seven blocks and the fear they put in the Minnesota Timberwolves during the Knicks 107-102 win helped make up for it.
Porzingis’ 13.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game puts him near the top in the Rookie of the Year race. The understandable critiques of him from before the season started have faded and now we’re just watching him go through the normal ups and downs of a star rookie, and he’s passing each one of those tests so far.
In that same game we saw one of the other stars of this year’s rookie class in Karl-Anthony Towns.
Karl-Anthony recorded his first double-double last night in the loss to Kristaps’ Knicks, but he’s been the more consistent performer with 15.4 points and 9.1 rebounds a game. Mentorship is often overblown, but we’re seeing Kevin Garnett mold Towns into something special.
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I could go on about how polished he looks, how good he could be, but I think it is safe to say that like Porzings, Towns confirming that he’ll be in the NBA for a while.
Of course, not all of the NBA rookies are making as much noise as these two, but they aren’t dealing with being coached by Byron Scott. D’Angelo Russell isn’t doing too bad out in Los Angeles, but being on a terrible Lakers team isn’t helping him out either. They verdict on him is still out, but he’s looking fine so far as as long as this season doesn’t crush his spirit.
Even some of the second round rookies are showing off as well, as we saw Richaun Holmes posterize/GIF/Vine Al Horford in the Philadelphia 76ers 127-106 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Fellow rookie Jahlil Okafor‘s 19 points and seven rebounds weren’t too bad for Philadelphia either.
Justise Winslow is already making an impact on the Miami Heat as well, and gathered 11 points and eight rebounds coming off the bench in his team’s 104-98 win over the Brooklyn Nets.
And those were just a few of the more impressive nights from the new kids.
It is hard to predict the future, but I don’t think this year’s class will end up being regarded as a disappointment like the 2013 class has already been dubbed. There are plenty of solid players in that class, but we aren’t seeing the franchise changing potential like we do in many of these players in 2015. Why one class is so much better than another is just the normal ebb and flow of talent randomly assigned in the gene pool, but the tide is already high in 2015.
It may only be December, but this group of rookies are looking like they’ll be stars in the NBA in the near future.
Thompson, Warriors Take Anger Out on Suns
The streak is over, but now the Golden State Warriors can relax and just focus on basketball. And for the Phoenix Suns last night, that meant being on the receiving end of a 43-point explosion from Klay Thompson and a 128-103 beatdown from the Warriors.
JaVale Not Quite Ready For Game Speed
JaVale McGee has only seen limited minutes this season and must have been sleeping during the film session as he let C.J. Miles run up on him for a dunk.
Next: NBA Power Rankings: Week 8
The Pacers dispatched the Mavericks 107-81 on Wednesday and seem to have broken out of the funk they went through for a five-game stretch.