Rookie Challenge Rosters Announced

I know, I know, K-Love field goal percentage is only 43.8 while OJ’s is a whopping 44.3. Big difference? Well, no.

Except OJ shoots more and is a guard while KLove is a low post player.

Al**

Julius, to say I am ABSOLUTELY wrong is a bit overstated. You think I don’t have league pass? And even with OJ’s 3pt% going down, his numbers are stilll a good bit higher than Love, even with Love’s recent improved play. And bringing up Lopez as the argument for Love being a better player, by all means, because I am not a huge Lopez fan. But to say a player deserves a spot in an all-star game setting because his rebounding is higher than somebody on the list isn’t much of an argument. Don’t get me wrong, Love will be a fine NBA player, but OJ is a scorer and can create his own shot as well as play defense decently. The majority of Love’s offense in this league will be second chance shots based off his rebounding. Tell me he’s versatile and can take it outside but he hasn’t done it very often this season. I am not saying there is anything wrong with basing a players entire offense off of rebounds, it shows hustle, but he isn’t very athletic and doesn’t play solid defense. I don’t see how outlet passing by an undersized big man and rebounding prowess deserves a spot in the rookie soph game. that’s all I’m trying to say here. And I still think that the Grizz won in this trade. I also think that having Al Jefferson on the other post makes rebounding and scoring easier for him- the big men focus on the man averaging 20 and 10 numbers each night. Any time he misses or the other team misses the big men are going to focus especially on Jefferson to try and limit him, so Love has some space to grab a board.

Also, 43% shooting for somebody who plays INSIDE as a big man, that IS low. 44 percent shooting for a guard on a sub par team that has to put up big numbers for his team to have a chance is just fine for a rookie SG.

that was to Julius BTW…and cosign Justin

julius check Al’s stats before K-Love was even out of high school. YEAH HIGH SCHOOL, Love has not improved Jefferson AT ALL

You get real, so ignorant, you are talking to people that LOVE basketball we know what we are talking about. Justin realizes that just because Love is good at rebounding does not make him a great player. Everything Lopez is showing this year proves he should have been selected BEFORE Love. There is not merit to say Love deserves to be in over Lopez when you factor in all the different aspects of their respective teams, and responsibilities. I could be wrong about the draft idea but I am not the only one who feels that way (professional sportswriter or not)

Justin, didn’t mean to say you are absolutely wrong. You are totally wrong. K-Love’s game is his mid range shot and outstanding passing. But the real motivation for you is to try to justify “the trade.” Good luck with that. (see my response to nbk). K-Love is leading all rooks in rebounds despite playing only 23 mpg. This despite having Big Al compete with him for boards (Big Al averages double:double). Roughly half of K-Love’s pt is with Big Al on the pine. Oh, and let me know how Antoine Walker and Marko Juric are doing?

and im not above not admitting my wrongs from the draft. I thought Westbrook was drafted too high, I had him figured 10-15, but he’s doing VERY well. Also, I didn’t think DJ Augustin was going to do well and I was wrong on that. Had to own up to those incorrect judgement.

Julius by what your saying Reggie Evans should be in consideration for greatest PF of all time. He has a career rebound rate of 12.7 per 36 minutes. You are being dumb (no offense, kinda)

I just want to see Wilson Chandler go off.

Boys, what is so difficult for you to understand. Big Al always eats glass. There is only one ball and one rebound at a time. Yet, despite Big Al continuing with his usual high numbers, K-Love still manages to lead all rooks in boards despite playing considerably less minutes. You cats are all over the board. First you say that stats don’t matter than you say that the only reason K-Love gets his boards is because of Big Al (entirely illogical because they compete with one another when in the game together).

I want to see Wilson go bananas on the rim, but if he drops huge numbers I’ll be suprised, Russ. But I trust your judgement so I’ll be taking an interest in his play come game-time.

Justin, grab a hold of yourself man. You are not in a position to justify anything except for your own consumption. Opinions are like a-holes, everyone has one.

first you get in a passioned debate using your opinion against mine, your stat sources against mine (and NBK’s) then later when other people arent jumping at your aid to agree, you tell me that all i can vouch for is an opinion, as to which you eloquently stated “is like a-holes, everyone has one.” Going by your logic, you need to practice what you preach and keep the opinion to yourself if you dont want mine.

Justin, how young are you. Here’s your lesson: (1) there are a finite number of rebounds per game that a given team can make; (2) there is a finite number of players on a team who make rebounds; (3) when the ball comes off the glass or rim, only one player can be credited with making the rebound; (4) if one player is credited with a rebound, the other eligible players are not; (5) thereby, each player competes with the others to be credited with a rebound. Any questions?

From looking at the rosters, it occurred to me: Who will guard Durant? Rooks have either guards or bigs, no in-between outside of Beasley. In this type of game, Durant could go for like 80… well, not really, but at least the rookie game record

Julius, you aren’t my mentor or teacher. I am well aware of how rebounds are tallied. I am also well aware that your knowledge of basketball is limited to statistical information seeing as it’s all you seem to talk about. Asking my age wont get you anywhere, I know 50 year olds who don’t know what the hell they are yapping about with basketball, I know teenagers who have more basketball IQ than many that open their mouth or lay hands on a keyboard about basketball. And vice versa of course. Age is irrelevant. Intelligence isn’t based off of age, it’s based off of experience learned. And to answer your question in part, I’m an adult.

Dude HAS been slurping Thorpe all day

anywho, this debate has ran it’s course. neither you or I will change our opinion based off of anything we have presented one another. Enjoy a good night of basketball Julius, an exciting Duke/Wake game is going on, along with all the other games scheduled. Enjoy yourself. Nbk, the same goes to you as well as anybody else involved in this commentfest.

Yup Todd, I said that earlier about Durant. Also the rooks only have 1 PF and its Beasley who’s really more of a SF. Then they have 3 lumbering bigs (Lopez, Oden, and Gasol)while the only Center on the Sophmore team is Horford, who can really get up and down the floor. The rooks have some surreal scorers and super atheletic PGs, but the Sophs are more atheletic up front and have WAY more frontcourt talent.

ciolkstar you know I’m a Duke fan, and saw Nolan Smith play in HS in person, but I just dont think Teague will be slowed by Duke. I didn’t say they would lose to Wake though Singler is my dude btw, most SOLID, consistent player on almost every facet in the conference. He is everything good about Grevius Vasquez, and none of the bad, plus more outstanding things he brings to the table that nobody else has at his size in the ACC. His skillset is solid.

Justin, Thorpe is just one of my resources that help inform my opinion. But, frankly, it is pretty elementary when you look at multiple sources of information and form a judgment. Comparing OJ with K-Love is difficult because they simply are different players in entirely different scenarios. The Griz are heavily dependent on OJ’s production at 37 mpgs even as a rookie. K-Love comes off the bench @ 23 mpg because McHale wants the rookie to earn his minutes. McHale believes when you earn it you work harder to get more and appreciate every extra minute. K-Love had a tough time adjusting to the NBA the first weeks; OJ is falling off a bit right now.