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1. Dirk Nowitzki - LR #1
I get it, software. Lue did it in more minutes. Dirk's blocking has slipped to young KG levels. But the scoring is just too good. He's as efficient a scorer as Lue and he's doing it as a 7 footer at the power forward position. With some intelligent SCs he'll be a star. With some young KG tier TCs he'll be a Hall of Famer.
Souper Troopers 1.1 prospects are two for two.
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2. Tyronn Lue - LR #2
They're very nice stats. I'd be glad to have him on my team. The only drawback is that with so many traditional point guard areas already locked down, TC won't do much for him going forward. Obviously that's a good problem to have, and I won't look down my nose at .7 blocks from a point guard.
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3. Derek Vinyard - LR #8
This guy's been all over the map. One minute he's swaggering across the Dutch East Side the next he's running from Brighton Beach with his tail between his legs. The movie is a redemption story, though, as his efficiency returns to preseason levels. He's in many ways the mirror image of Lue - terrible handling and threes instead of great, great FG% instead of okay, a Nazi b!@#% instead of a leader of men. His floor is much lower than Lue's, but with some great TCs his ceiling is higher.
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4. Ryan Bowen - LR unranked
After being challenged in this space last update, Bowensy is back, baby! His efficiency is still bad but it's no longer terrible, and being the third leading shot blocker among all rookies while playing small forward warrants recognition. He's got the Westbrook style outside grade of high three low jumper, which is obviously not ideal, but it beats having low both. He's gonna need a lot of help to become a star, but elite glue guy is a reasonable goal.
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5. Rashard Lewis - LR #4
His numbers look great until you realize he's playing power forward, so his blocks and boards aren't really that good. They're not bad though, and being decent at everything is a great template to grow from.
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6. Vince Carter - LR #10
With three point ratio managed to drag his efficiency above league average for the year. I still have concerns given his horrid preseason numbers and lack of any other plus skills, but the rest of the class is pretty weak so he deserves to be this high.
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7. Rafer Alston - LR #7
Up next we've got two slick scoring low volume point guards with limited minutes. Neither of them are probably that good of scorers, but Rafer probably has elite handles so he goes first.
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8. Shammond Williams - LR #3
Same story with the shammy. Ran into some warlocks along the way. World of Warcraft jokes.
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9. Keon Clark- LR #6
Ol' reliable still getting it done as a d/r man. He's literally the only rookie to demonstrate that skill set this class with the possible exception of Jerome James, so these builds are getting rare out there.
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10. Paul Pierce - LR #5
O Captain, my Captain. The end of his rookie campaign has been almost as depressing as the end of his IRL career, shambling around ineffectually. His preseason numbers are good enough that I think he can bounce back, but he's not making it easy to believe that anything is possible.
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rest of lotto:
Antawn Jamison - a poor man's Vince
Mike Bibby - how is bibby malformed? volume, efficiency, handling, rebounding, defense... other than that he's great
Michael Olowokandi - his d/r will probably be plausible going forward, but he shoots way too much for his poor jumper and efficiency
Matt Harpring -
Matt Harpring
Raef LaFrentz - I don't know why these guys with quirky builds keep landing on the Pacers. Could become a very solid two way big with the right investments, right now he's a jack of all trades master of none of his domain of aces.
Bonzi Wells - scoring just kept getting worse as the season wore on
Jason Williams - didn't get a ton of PT but outside of great handling didn't demonstrate any reason he should
Larry Hughes - had 46 pts 13 boards 5 assists 5 steals 0 blocks 10 turnovers in 64 minutes. who knows
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Bonus!3037 Retrospective, with original rank listed
The Hits1. Patrick Ewing - .204 ws/48
Fell off a little after his rookie year but came back in a big way this year with a DPOY/AMVP/All-NBA First trifecta. Clearly the best rookie of the class, but the Ewing/Embiid/Houston core has yet to reach the Conference Finals.
4. Alredick Hughes - .127 ws/48
The great credential of the rookie ladder system. Currently torching the league with Miner as by far the best scoring scoring guard combo in the league.
2. Mario Elie - .095 ws/48
Has been moved further and further down the depth chart as Cleveland acquired great guards. Still, we're talking about a guy that can't upgrade Strength or Jump Shot and has flashed elite shot blocking. I think he'll really blossom with more PT.
6. Delaney Rudd - .169 ws/48
Clearly the best Warriors rookie of the class, found himself twice swapped for firsts before lighting up Vancouver this year to the tune of 28 points on 1.13 pts/tsa. Presents with ladder mate Benoit Benjamin an interesting decision for the Grizz: are they good enough to go all in, or just good enough to be great on a bad team?
8. Benoit Benjamin - .105 ws/48
Dumped by the Rockets after finding out he couldn't be upgraded in Shot Blocking Strength or Inside Scoring, Benoit has gotten his turnovers a little more under control and remains an excellent d/r man that gives you some reasonably efficient points at the same time. This is a blessing and a curse, because some GM will probably talk themselves into wildly overpaying for that skill set. He does have a couple camps left to round out his scoring, though.
7. Marcus Bol - .001 ws/48
Still a good d/r big.
U. Vincent Adultman - .096 ws/48
Him too.
U. Joe Dumars - .070 ws/48
Has seen a real surge in scoring efficiency and still isn't even league average.
U. Karl Malone - .071 ws/48
After a brief flash of scoring potential in year three he's gone back to being terrible at everything.
U. Chris Mullin - negative .013 ws/48
Never had a chance.
U. Scott Howard - negative .021 ws/48
Every bit as bad as advertised, and he was still somehow invited back to the rookie soph game.
The MissesU. Spud Webb - .148 ws/48
Spud couldn't hit the basket with a stepladder in Memphis, but a trip north of the border (where the USADA has no authority) has seen massive improvements in his game over about 1500 minutes regular and pre season. Even when he regresses he's still got a bunch of camps left to spend. Biggest miss of the ladder, never would have seen this coming.
10. Detlef Schrempf - .100 ws/48
The Lil German is still a big minus scoring, but he's good enough everywhere else to grade out as league average overall. I thought he would be a bum, but he's not that bad.
3. Wayman Tisdale - .097 ws/48
Wayman needed some luck or some TLC to make it. What he got was shipped off to the wasteland of Charlotte. It's probably too late for him, but I'd think a tanking team would take a flyer on him to see how legit his jump shot really is. Still, there's not much market for an offense minded bench big.
5. Adrian Branch - .044 ws/48
A fascinating bundle of potential that probably won't be in the league next year. Adrian tantalized with elite handle and shot blocking on a 6'7" frame, and received a grand total of zero camps. That's the way it goes sometimes.
U. Mike Smrek - .050 ws/48
Not an interesting enough prospect for anyone to sign him in year three. Currently plying his trade in the highest tier semi-pro Chinese basketball league in Venezuela.
John Battle9. John Battle - negative .035 ws/48
Woof. Johnny B saw his scoring plummet and turnovers skyrocket after a rookie campaign where both were already cause for concern. There aren't really a ton of guys to replace him on the ladder, which is what we knew then, but still. He stinks.
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Everyone that played at least one minute (RIP Jerry Reynolds):
ws/48 mp name
.204 11300 Patrick Ewing
.071 6079 Karl Malone
.078 11165 Xavier McDaniel
-.013 6532 Chris Mullin
.097 3224 Wayman Tisdale
.070 8596 Joe Dumars
.105 10109 Benoit Benjamin
.148 2599 Spud Webb
-.021 2536 Scott Howard
.100 7518 Detlef Schrempf
.083 351 Michael Adams
.084 10497 AC Green
-.001 1325 Terry Porter
.006 1516 Edward Demler
.001 5800 Marcus Bol
.018 2918 Sam Mitchell
.095 7516 Mario Elie
-.002 3615 Jon Koncak
.039 2998 Steve Harris
.087 7617 Charles Oakley
.010 2471 Blair Rasmussen
.086 816 Uwe Blab
.047 975 Ed Pinckney
-.048 1415 Sam Vincent
-.035 6104 John Battle
.169 7721 Delaney Rudd
.096 6815 Vincent Adultman
.048 624 Russ Hanneman
.027 362 Hot Rod Williams
.044 1552 Adrian Branch
.035 637 Julius Dickerson
.056 2384 Bill Wennington
.092 740 Tyrone Corbin
.086 369 Joe Kleine
.127 5098 Alredick Hughes
.111 238 Keith Lee
.034 183 Sedric Toney
-.020 1163 Michael Phelps
-.033 2220 Adrian Heinsohn
.079 9337 Carey Scurry
.131 33 Mike Brown
.061 6794 Huell Howser
-.022 1803 Thomas Shirley
.050 414 JW Stillwater
-.063 503 Dabney Coleperson
.050 706 Mike Smrek
-.017 2636 Raymond Richardson
