For the second year in a row, the rookies defeated the sophomores in the NBA All-Star Rookie Challenge. Are rookies trying harder than sophomores, or are players from the last two drafts better than last year’s picks? Before the 2010 game, the sophomores had won the last 7 games, usually by a wide margin.
In 2010, standout sophomore players were Michael Beasley, Marc Gasol, Danilo Gallinari, Eric Gordon, Kevin Love, OJ Mayo, and Russell Westbrook (Derrick Rose did not play). Notable rookies were DeJuan Blair, Stephen Curry, Tyreke Evans, Taj Gibson, James Harden and Brandon Jennings. Gordon, Love, Mayo and Westbrook should have been enough to hold off the rookies, but led by game MVP Tyreke Evans, the rookies cruised to a 140-128 victory.
The sophomores definitely had the best heavyweight talent in this game, but the rookies have a bit more depth. Gordon, Love and Westbrook may be a contender’s second-best player, especially with a couple more years of growth, but the talent fades after that. The rookies have a lot more players who could be the third or fourth man in a contender with Curry, Harden, Gibson, Blair and Jennings. Other than those players and OJ Mayo for the sophomore team, there’s not much to like. The 2011 game features more players who could emerge as the best players in the future.
In 2011, the top rookies are Demarcus Cousins, Blake Griffin, John Wall, Landry Fields, Gary Neal and Eric Bledsoe. The best sophomores are Wes Matthews, DeJuan Blair, Stephen Curry, Serge Ibaka, and Brandon Jennings. John Wall was awarded MVP with a Rookie Challenge-record 22 assists, but Cousins might as well have been MVP with all of his points. Kentucky’s former teammates combined to win the game for the rookies. Wall and Cousins had talked before the game, Wall wanted the assists record, Cousins wanted the MVP. No other player tried as hard as those two in the game, so it made sense that the rookies would win. Wall probably won MVP when he made a ridiculous half-court alley-oop bounce pass to the Clippers’ Griffin in front of the Los Angeles crowd. Watching the game, it was easy to see that Cousins took the game very seriously, as he recently got into some trouble with the Kings over fighting with a teammate. Maybe that’s why the rookies won over the sophomores.
As the sophomores emerged last year and with the incoming rookie class, there’s a lot to like for the future of the NBA. There are plenty of young players who could help contending teams with superstars in their prime. Wall looks like a great PG from the future, and Cousins is a headcase who probably won’t mature until he’s 20 if you can afford to keep him that long. Griffin is exciting and gives the Clippers hope along with Eric Bledsoe. Landry Fields and Gary Neal are two draft steals who can help their team in the playoffs. Greg Monroe will emerge as a talent on the Pistons that people will be talking about if they can finally gut the old team. The sophomores have had another year to develop, and the future looks bright for them as well.
The NBA definitely seems ready for supporting and role players with these rookies and rookies like Durant, LeBron, Melo and the rest of the superstars in their prime looking to start NBA dynasties.