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Cavs’ Evan Mobley slips to #3, newcomer emerges to top of Rookie Ladder

By Justin Brownlow

Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo by Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports)
Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo by Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports) /
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Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

The best ability is availability. We all learned that lesson last week, as COVID-19 cases around the league surged causing league-wide absences. Among the notable rookies to miss time while in the NBA’s Health and Safety Protocols are the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ Evan Mobley, the Toronto Raptors’ Scottie Barnes, and the Indiana Pacers’ Chris Duarte. However, in the wake of some of the absences, we’ve seen some new rookies take advantage of their newfound playing time.

Players like Cameron Thomas of the Brooklyn Nets and Josh Christopher of the Houston Rockets have seen their minutes receive a boost over the last week. With all that being said, we have a new number one on the Rookie Ladder this week with Barnes and Mobley slipping to second and third respectively, as compared to them being at #2 and #1 in the last one.

I doubt anyone predicted that in the first week of 2022, with the latest edition being released on Wednesday, the rookie playing the best basketball would be Franz Wagner of the Orlando Magic. After staying steady around rungs 3-4-5 for most of the season, he shot up to the top this week, for the most part because he didn’t miss any games. Still, he’s been playing some great basketball over the last couple of weeks.

While Wagner has been taking advantage of his healthy status, so have a couple of others around the league. The Pacers’ Chris Duarte, who I mentioned earlier, has shown that he is a very good scorer at the NBA level. But, the defensive side of the ball is where he needs the most work. Even still, he did a good job defending Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan when the Pacers played the Chicago Bulls. Another rookie who has been impressive of late, has cracked the top ten of the rookie ladder.

The New Orleans Pelicans’ Herb Jones continues to be the king of the 2021 second round. He tops all rookies drafted in the second round in minutes, points, and even more importantly, win shares. Jalen Green, who I talk about later in the article, finally seems to be finding his rhythm for the Rockets.

Biggest Riser: Franz Wagner (Up 4 Rungs)

Stock Down: Cade Cunningham (7.0 PPG, 9.0 APG, 9.0 RPG over the last week)