#NBA2015: Players to Watch Part Four

With the 2014-2015 NBA season beginning in fewer than 10 days, I found it just right to look at some players we should all keep tabs on. There are no-brainers like LeBron, KD, CP3, and James Harden, of course, but there are also many other characters on whom we should put the spotlight. In this first of five parts, we’ll take a look at some key guys for the Pelicans, Knicks, Thunder, Magic, Sixers, and Suns.

Young guns rule in this edition of Players to Watch in the current NBA season.

Anthony Davis (NOL) - The New Orleans Pelicans are 1-1 right now and probably won’t make the Playoffs, but at least they have one of the top five players in the world lighting up the scoreboard of the Smoothie King Center every night. Anthony Davis is projected to be an MVP candidate this season, and it’s not difficult to see why. I mean, he’s a unibrowed beast who practically does everything — scores points, gets rebounds, blocks shots, destroys worlds, you know the drill. What’ll make him NOT be MVP, though, is the fact that, when the season’s dust settles, his team won’t be in the Playoffs.

The NBA Rookie Ladder: February 2014

Yes, Anthony Bennett had some good runs to start 2014, but, hey, he’s still my choice for the worst top pick in recent memory. Kelly Olynyk and Victor Oladipo have also put in some good games and both have climbed up the ladder, while Memphis’s Nick Calathes is finally seeing a lot more daylight. Having said all these things, however, there is still no sign of any big changes in our top rookies. MCW and Trey Burke are still strong, while the Greek Freak remains a consistent, if middling, prospect.

And as for lottery picks like Otto Porter, Cody Zeller, Alex Len, and Ben McLemore? Meh.

Note: All of the following stats are based on each player’s stats as computed by HoopsStats.com. They were taken on February 26, 2014 (Manila time).

5. Kelly Olynyk (BOS) - 7.1ppg, 4.8rpg, 9.1 EFF

After putting up back-to-back double-doubles against Milwaukee and San Antonio, Olynyk turned in a trio of forgettable performances in Boston’s California road trip. He did, however, bounce back nicely with a 21-8-4 game against the Jazz (they still lost though). Olynyk has the makings of a solid big man for the Big Green in the very near future, but right now he’s just plagued by inconsistency. Sadly, that’s enough to be the fifth-best rookie in this class.

That hair.
(image from Bleacher Report)

         

The NBA Rookie Ladder: December 2013

Even before the second month of the new NBA season ends, a lot of people are already saying that this batch of rookies is comparable to the 2000 NBA Draft Class, which is possibly the worst insult any draft class can receive. I mean, remember 2000? Kenyon Martin, yes, that hothead from the Cincinnati Bearcats program who has been part-journeyman, part-laughingstock in the NBA, was the top overall pick that year.

The second pick? Stromile Swift. The third? Darius Miles. The fourth? Marcus Fizer.

Of all the picks in this draft, only Martin, 19^th pick Jamaal Magloire, and 43^rd pick Michael Redd have played in an NBA All-Star Game. Only four guys have received end-of-season awards – Hedo Turkoglu as the Most Improved Player in 2008, Jamal Crawford as the Sixth Man of the Year in 2010, and Mike Miller as the Sixth Man of the Year in 2006. Oh and the Rookie of the Year of this class? Mike Miller, only because each draft class needed to have an ROY recipient, right?

This class was so bad it’s the only class, THE ONLY CLASS, to ever be rated F according to Dave Schoenfield of ESPN.com.

The class of 2013-2014, however, seems to be challenging that ignominious distinction.

Top pick Anthony Bennett is playing just 10 minutes per game as a forced small forward with an obvious power forward’s skill-set. Nerlens Noel and CJ McCollum, both among the first ten picks, haven’t played a lick of pro hoops. Two members of the top five picks – Alex Len and Otto Porter – are norming just 7.8 and 10.5 minutes respectively.

Yes, things look bleak. There might not be any potential franchise player in the whole bunch – definitely nobody who has made the same impact as, say, Damian Lillard did last season. Still, there are a handful of names worth remembering, worth mentioning, if only because they’ve had some shining moments, though few and far between.

Michael Carter-Williams has emerged as one of the most promising
prospects for the the rookie class of 2013.
(image from the Philadelphia 76ers' Facebook page)