Post by eric on Dec 20, 2016 10:31:38 GMT -6
preseason
I want to stress that unlike the past several classes, this class is chock full of good players. If your guy didn't make the ladder in the past he was a real bum. Darko Milicic would have been top three last year and isn't even on the ladder this year. So just keep that in mind.
.
1. LeBron James
The King. Was by far the best rookie in summer league even while shooting under 60% from the line. Efficiency has dropped precipitously in preseason, but that still leaves him only slightly below average, and his blocks have skyrocketed while rebounds remained constant - that and the rest of the Kings minutes suggests to me he was still playing SF in preseason and putting up 2+ blocks per 36. He keeps that up, forget it. He does need work in a lot of areas, probably more than can be taken care of with a full slate of SC/RC, so he needs a little TC luck to reach his full potential. The good news is that three shot and rebounding grow very well for small forwards, so luck shouldn't have too much to do with it.
.
2. Kirk Hinrich
The best Timberwolves rookie so far isn't Dwyane Wade. The Captain was the only rookie to score more efficiently than LeBron James in summer league (at 1.152 to 1.151), has mostly kept it up in the preseason, is giving you fantastic rebounds for a point guard, has fantastic size at 6'4", posted an absurd 8 assists to the turnover in limited preseason minutes. His three ball is a bit of a mirage right now but with so little else to spend on his GM can address it. Just a fantastic all around game, add some blocks and it'll be excellent.
.
3. Luke Walton
The second best Timberwolves rookie so far isn't Dwyane Wade either. Tha Coolest Hand Luke is posting a super-sublime ast:tov for a big, he's scoring at an SF rate while playing PF, he's giving you decent blocks and boards, he's like a coach on the floor out there. You could put this guy on any team and it would get better. If he hits some home run TCs and brings those d/r numbers up he'll be a superstar.
.
4. Dwyane Wade
Wade's a poor man's LeBron so far. Scored very well in summer league, but not quite as well or as frequently as LeBron. Had great blocks for a wing, but not quite as many as LeBron. Efficiency dipped just like LeBron, but while his 3P% is dramatically higher they're both small samples and 3PR tells us Wade is likely to go down while LeBron is likely to go up. Is upside down on his ast:tov. All in all he's got a lot of work to do to live up to the hype of being the black Jesse Epstein, but I like his odds. His passing attribute is probably too low to become PG eligible but TC works in mysterious ways, so we'll see.
Great draft from the Timberwolves.
.
5. Boris Diaw
.
6. David West
We have a couple undersized Jazzer bigs here who aren't going to score nearly as efficiently in real sim life and whose shot blocking is a bit of a concern. I'm rating Boris higher because he's SF eligible, has been playing SF so his low blocks aren't as scary, and his unsustainable efficiency is even higher than West's, which leads me to believe that when they normalize his will still be very good. At the same time, West is getting C camps and Boris SF, so West is more likely to grow into decent d/r skills. We'll see how it goes.
.
7. Chris Bosh
Bosh's tiny scoring volume is a blessing and a curse - it means he can probably take Inside Scoring camps, which means his already decent efficiency is liable to go way up. His blocking was elite in class in summer league but not so much in the preseason. Decent rebounding, sublime handling for a big man. Unfortunately for the Boshstrich his three shot will probably never be more than a novelty, as both PF and C average no change in it during TC.
.
8. TJ Ford
Teej isn't scoring a ton but he's doing so efficiently, and his much higher pts/36 in summer league suggests he's a DC casualty more than anything else. The turnovers and jump shot are an issue, but there's enough potential here to investigate.
.
9. Jerry Monroe
Electric efficiency in the preseason, very poor all around in summer league, undersized and isn't giving you much else. The Thunder need to hope they can goose that scoring volume, as a true SG with C Handling it's probably going to be impossible to get him PG eligible.
.
10. Chris Kaman
I was always skeptical that 20s was getting rid of shot blocking in general, my feeling was always that the last few classes were just garbage classes regardless. The Big German was a fantastic complementary big in summer league: elite shot blocking and rebounding, elite efficiency, took some shots but not too many. Come preseason his efficiency has cratered, but with the rest of his game locked in Gene can invest heavily in scoring. Has real star potential but it's going to take a lot of work and a bit of luck.
.
s/o to Jason Kapono for putting up 30 assists against 2 turnovers in summer league. Sublime.
I want to stress that unlike the past several classes, this class is chock full of good players. If your guy didn't make the ladder in the past he was a real bum. Darko Milicic would have been top three last year and isn't even on the ladder this year. So just keep that in mind.
.
1. LeBron James
The King. Was by far the best rookie in summer league even while shooting under 60% from the line. Efficiency has dropped precipitously in preseason, but that still leaves him only slightly below average, and his blocks have skyrocketed while rebounds remained constant - that and the rest of the Kings minutes suggests to me he was still playing SF in preseason and putting up 2+ blocks per 36. He keeps that up, forget it. He does need work in a lot of areas, probably more than can be taken care of with a full slate of SC/RC, so he needs a little TC luck to reach his full potential. The good news is that three shot and rebounding grow very well for small forwards, so luck shouldn't have too much to do with it.
.
2. Kirk Hinrich
The best Timberwolves rookie so far isn't Dwyane Wade. The Captain was the only rookie to score more efficiently than LeBron James in summer league (at 1.152 to 1.151), has mostly kept it up in the preseason, is giving you fantastic rebounds for a point guard, has fantastic size at 6'4", posted an absurd 8 assists to the turnover in limited preseason minutes. His three ball is a bit of a mirage right now but with so little else to spend on his GM can address it. Just a fantastic all around game, add some blocks and it'll be excellent.
.
3. Luke Walton
The second best Timberwolves rookie so far isn't Dwyane Wade either. Tha Coolest Hand Luke is posting a super-sublime ast:tov for a big, he's scoring at an SF rate while playing PF, he's giving you decent blocks and boards, he's like a coach on the floor out there. You could put this guy on any team and it would get better. If he hits some home run TCs and brings those d/r numbers up he'll be a superstar.
.
4. Dwyane Wade
Wade's a poor man's LeBron so far. Scored very well in summer league, but not quite as well or as frequently as LeBron. Had great blocks for a wing, but not quite as many as LeBron. Efficiency dipped just like LeBron, but while his 3P% is dramatically higher they're both small samples and 3PR tells us Wade is likely to go down while LeBron is likely to go up. Is upside down on his ast:tov. All in all he's got a lot of work to do to live up to the hype of being the black Jesse Epstein, but I like his odds. His passing attribute is probably too low to become PG eligible but TC works in mysterious ways, so we'll see.
Great draft from the Timberwolves.
.
5. Boris Diaw
.
6. David West
We have a couple undersized Jazzer bigs here who aren't going to score nearly as efficiently in real sim life and whose shot blocking is a bit of a concern. I'm rating Boris higher because he's SF eligible, has been playing SF so his low blocks aren't as scary, and his unsustainable efficiency is even higher than West's, which leads me to believe that when they normalize his will still be very good. At the same time, West is getting C camps and Boris SF, so West is more likely to grow into decent d/r skills. We'll see how it goes.
.
7. Chris Bosh
Bosh's tiny scoring volume is a blessing and a curse - it means he can probably take Inside Scoring camps, which means his already decent efficiency is liable to go way up. His blocking was elite in class in summer league but not so much in the preseason. Decent rebounding, sublime handling for a big man. Unfortunately for the Boshstrich his three shot will probably never be more than a novelty, as both PF and C average no change in it during TC.
.
8. TJ Ford
Teej isn't scoring a ton but he's doing so efficiently, and his much higher pts/36 in summer league suggests he's a DC casualty more than anything else. The turnovers and jump shot are an issue, but there's enough potential here to investigate.
.
9. Jerry Monroe
Electric efficiency in the preseason, very poor all around in summer league, undersized and isn't giving you much else. The Thunder need to hope they can goose that scoring volume, as a true SG with C Handling it's probably going to be impossible to get him PG eligible.
.
10. Chris Kaman
I was always skeptical that 20s was getting rid of shot blocking in general, my feeling was always that the last few classes were just garbage classes regardless. The Big German was a fantastic complementary big in summer league: elite shot blocking and rebounding, elite efficiency, took some shots but not too many. Come preseason his efficiency has cratered, but with the rest of his game locked in Gene can invest heavily in scoring. Has real star potential but it's going to take a lot of work and a bit of luck.
.
s/o to Jason Kapono for putting up 30 assists against 2 turnovers in summer league. Sublime.
