The 2012/13 NBA season is nearly a month old, which has given us the opportunity to track the development of many of the rookies from this year’s highly touted draft class.
And while some of the first-year players to stand out so far had pre-season hype, there have been a few surprises as well.
Here’s a look at the five most impressive rookies thus far this season:
1. Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers
The knock on Lillard coming into the draft was that, having played college ball at a mid-major school like Weber State, he did not have much experience playing against NBA-calibre competition. Through 14 games, however, it’s safe to say that those concerns are unfounded.
Lillard plays with a level of composure almost unheard-of for a rookie point guard, and has had big games against many of the elite players at his position, from Chris Paul to Tony Parker to Russell Westbrook.
He’s averaging 19.1 points and 6.1 assists per game, both tops among rookies. He’s shooting the ball extremely well, too. With the first month of the season in the books, not only do we have a clear frontrunner for Rookie of the Year, but it looks like the Blazers have found their new franchise point guard.
2. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Charlotte Bobcats
Following a historically bad 2011/12 campaign, the Bobcats have emerged as one of this season’s surprises, and MKG is a large part of the reason for that. A relentless defender and do-it-all offensive wing, Kidd-Gilchrist is earning those pre-draft comparisons to another former Bobcats star, Gerald Wallace.
One of the most prominent criticisms he faced coming out of Kentucky was his subpar shooting ability, but he’s hitting a solid 46.1 percent of his attempts while averaging 6.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.5 blocks per game.
3. Harrison Barnes, Golden State Warriors
After a slow start to the year, Barnes has started to come into his own over the past two weeks to establish himself as a dependable scorer in the Warriors’ starting unit. He’s shot over 50 percent from the floor in four of the seven games he’s played in that time and logged double-digit rebounds in three of those games as well. The former North Carolina star has been particularly effective at attacking the basket, shooting an absurd 82.1 percent on shot attempts at the rim.
4. Anthony Davis, New Orleans Hornets
If the top overall pick in the 2012 draft was healthy, he’d be neck-and-neck with Lillard in the Rookie of the Year race. He’s been every bit the rim protector he was advertised, averaging 2.2 blocks per game and collecting over 20 percent of all available defensive rebounds while on the floor.
He’s also displayed a better-than-expected offensive skillset, proving to be adept at scoring from in the paint in a variety of ways other than just finishing around the rim. Unfortunately, injury problems have put a damper on what was expected to be a historic rookie season.
He missed a handful of games early in the year with a concussion, and is expected to be out for two more weeks with a stress reaction in his ankle. Hopefully he can get back on the court soon and continue to dominate the way he has shown himself capable of doing.
5. Kyle Singler, Detroit Pistons
A second-round draft pick in 2011, Singler played last season in Spain due to the NBA lockout. When the Pistons brought him over this year, not even they were expecting the kind of contributions he’s been making, let alone that he’d play his way into the starting line-up this quickly.
Singler has provided one of the few bright spots on a dismal Detroit team, proving himself a versatile wing capable of playing the shooting guard, small forward, and power forward positions. He showed flashes of being a good outside shooter at Duke, but he’s been shooting the lights out with the Pistons, hitting threes at a 47.1 percent clip.
He’ll likely come back down to earth at some point, but at the very least, he’s shown that he can make a career for himself as a quality rotation player in the NBA.
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