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)
The New Iron Man of the NBA
For Wagner and the Magic, showing up really is half of the battle. The rookie from Michigan didn’t miss any time over the past week, and even had a career-high 38 points against the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks last week. However, the most impressive thing about Wagner thus far has really just been his ability to stay on the floor.
As I mentioned above, many rookies missed time over the past week, including our own Evan Mobley. In that time, Wagner scored 58 total points last week. That’s better than Barnes, Mobley, and Cunningham combined. He also almost had more minutes that the three players combined.
Overall Wagner was the first rookie to log 1,000 minutes this season. Well, last week he was the first rookie to top 1,100 minutes, while no other rookie has logged over 1,000. On top of all of that, he plays a crucial role for the Magic. On the offensive end, he’s still polishing his shooting, but he can pretty much score in any way. He’s also an underrated playmaker at the wing position. On defense he can guard 1-4 at a high level, and has one of the highest motors in the NBA already.
Like I said, I don’t think anyone out there predicted that Wagner would be having this great of a season. While Mobley took home Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for October and November combined, I’m putting my money on Wagner to win it this time around.
It’s not time to panic in Houston yet, and Mobley’s staying power
Houston was always going to have a tough rebuild ahead of them, and that was before the draft over the summer. However, they got lucky and landed the number two overall pick, and selected Jalen Green, who had just played a season for the G-League Ignite. But, everything has not been rosy in Houston.
Green has missed significant time this season with a hamstring injury. That said, in the Rockets loss to the Pacers on Dec. 23, he did have 20 points on 50 percent shooting from the field. The problem in Houston right now seems to be that the Rockets simply play better without him. In the games he has played this season, Houston is 2-18. Without the shooter from California, the Rockets are 8-7. Yes, I know that doesn’t paint the whole picture, but it’d definitely not a good visual.
The good thing for the Rockets is that they have a plethora of young players, so they can kind of just see how the season goes, and make changes during the offseason. I don’t think anyone thought this would be a quick rebuild for Houston. On the other hand, there seems to be a rebuild that’s really coming together in Cleveland.
Barnes and Mobley both fell on the ladder because they missed time. It’s as simple as that. That’s not to take away from Wagner’s play but, Barnes and Mobley have had a bigger impact on the overall season.
Speaking of Mobley, the question that surrounds him is this: how much will the Cavaliers’ team success weigh on Mobley’s Rookie of the Year candidacy? Personally, I’ve already been impressed enough with his season thus far to say he’s one of the best three rookies this year, no matter how the rest of the season goes for the Cavs. However, you can see it take shape a little bit of late.
The Cavs have now lost three straight after a disappointing second half versus the shorthanded Atlanta Hawks, and even though Mobley has played well, he will have his critics. Overall though, this rookie class has been impressive and surprising. Cunningham, Barnes and Mobley will continue to shine throughout the season.
Josh Giddey makes history
Before I let you go, we have to talk about Josh Giddey’s game against the Pelicans last week. Giddey’s final statline was 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and zero points. Yes, you read that correctly, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Josh Giddey had a double-double without scoring any points. This feat has only been done one other time in 1971, as pointed out by NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner.
The Cincinnati Royals’ Norm Van Lier had 13 assists, 11 rebounds, and no points in their 34-point victory over the Lakers. I have to say, that’s incredibly impressive. Oh, and yes, you can use this for trivia.