[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

If people have not heard, the Rookie vs. Sophomore Game (Now referred to as "The BBVA Rising Stars Challenge") will adopt the draft style that the NHL has used in their past two All-Star Games. Instead of having players as captains, one team will be managed by Charles Barkley and the other by Shaquille O’Neal. I am not sure the exact format the draft will use, but I am guessing that size will probably be factored in to the decisions.

So, I realize this is a tad early, but I wanted to make some pre-side announcement predictions for the heck of it. I think that there will be 9 rookies pre-chosen by assistant coaches and 9 sophomores pre-chosen by them as well, to make up an 18-person draft pool. Than, I think they will choose (do not know if it will be snake style or standard, the NHL uses standard) teams from this player pool. 

I thought it might be interesting to choose your 9 rookies and 9 sophomores, than go through a simulated 18 pick draft. I will give mine and people can copy the format. I am guessing they will just go back and forth and I will put a number next to my picks. Also, I am guessing that their will be some semblance of balance of positions, which I will show in my initial rookie and sophomore picks. Here goes nothing:

Rookies:

C Markieff Morris (Closest one they have who meets requirements to me. Not to mention currently leading rookie rebounder)

F Derrick Williams

F Kawhi Leonard

G Brandon Knight

G Kyrie Irving

G Ricky Rubio

G Kemba Walker

G Iman Shumpert

G Norris Cole

Rookie Notes:

It is really hard to know who will be on this team. If they go by "true positions", than the odds are that many people will be unhappy with a player left off. I am sure I will get grief for leaving off MarShon Brooks and Tristan Thompson, but neither of them have played a game in February which makes it hard to include them over others.

I flat out feel that Norris Cole is more deserving than Jimmer, but it might be hard for Norris to make it with the guard depth in this class. Enes Kanter is a big man and is right behind Morris in rebounding, but I do not feel he is a lock for the team. Also, I gave Nikola Vucevic consideration as an actual Center, but felt he had missed too many games. Chandler Parsons, Isaiah Thomas and Klay Thompson also are possibilities.

Sophomores:

C Greg Monroe

F Blake Griffin

F Paul George

G Evan Turner

G John Wall

C DeMarcus Cousins

F Gordon Heyward

F Derrick Favors

G Landry Fields

Sophomore Notes:

Well, strangely enough, this would be kind of a nice balance between the two teams. Think that the 2011 Draft (and Ricky Rubio) seems to be strong on guards while the 2010 Draft (and Blake Griffin) seems to be strong on size. The two other people I considered were Jordan Crawford and Gary Neal, but I actually like the people I have chosen more than both. If this is the way it works out, should be an interesting draft.

Team Shaq (Won the imaginary coin toss)

1. Blake Griffin: It would truly be an upset if it were anyone else. Blake played last year when he made the ASG and I think he probably will again. He is the best player on either team, though I think my next choice could usurp him as the top draft pick.

3. John Wall: Yes, it would be pretty crazy for Wall to be on the same team as Griffin, but it definitely could happen unless they are the first two off the board. Rubio may be the PG more people want to play with and Kyrie Irving is having the better year, but Wall had 22 assists in last years contest. Not too shabby, he will be taken early.

5. Greg Monroe: I was thinking that they might pick Kyrie Irving and have a triumvirate of former #1 picks, but I think size will be at a premium early on. Monroe is having maybe the best season of any of the rookie/sophomores outside of Blake Griffin and possibly Kyrie Irving. Should go high and make this team pretty imposing.

7. Brandon Knight: One of the more slept on rookies this season, Knight has gotten off to a pretty decent start despite his teams obvious shortcomings. He is also teammates with Monroe plus can play off of the ball. Sounds like a nice back court to me for this contest.

9. Derrick Williams: He may not be off to the rookie season many expected when he was labeled by many as the “pre-season favorite ROY”, but he is still a great player for this All-Star format. He can run, shoot and will have some monster throw downs. Whoever chooses Rubio might try to scoop this duo for chemistry purposes, but in this draft scenario, I will have him on an opposite team.

11. Kemba Walker: Another guard that can fill it up and is a lot of fun to watch. Could this be Kemba’s time in the spot light post tournament? Will be interesting to see where he lands, but I think that someone will take this fun, explosive guy before the last few rounds.

13. Landry Fields: Call it a hunch, but I bet that a sophomore is not the last player chosen. Also, at this point, there were 3 rookies and 3 soph’s, with many kind of being a toss up. Evan Turner is probably the best player left in my opinion, but I have a feeling one of these guys will be a Fields fan.

15. Gordon Heyward: At this point, all of the sophomores are taken. Shaq (who gets the first pick in my scenario) gets another versatile wing player with some size. The rookies left may be more suited for an All-Star format, but Heyward brings some hustle and ball handling into the equation. Plus, experience is probably going to be at least somewhat of a factor.

17. Markieff Morris: Think that Shaq ends it off by choosing the talent stretch 4 and seizing a tad of a size advantage. This still should be an interesting contest and we will see if Markieff makes much noise. He plays in a fairly up tempo system, but I do not see either Morris twin being an All-Star game show stealer. Kieff could drop a few triples or just flat out not see the ball much.

 

Team Chuck

2. Ricky Rubio: Sleeper for #1. Honestly. It is an All-Star game. He will do some really cool things. He is exciting and I will be surprised if he slips past the top 4-5 picks. This is not necessarily about who the best players are, because I definitely believe that Kyrie Irving is having the better season, but I believe that Ricky will be the person people are dying to play with. Actually, if whomever picks second does not take Rubio, would think that he might team up with Griffin for a new form of "Lob City".

 

4. DeMarcus Cousins: Greg Monroe is definitely having the better season. He is probably the better and more complete player right now, as well. But, again, All-Star Game. I am sure that Cousins is not the first person you think of teaming with Rubio (than again, neither is Monroe). The thing is, even with the perceived attitude, DeMarcus had 33 and 14 in the game last year. This will probably not go unnoticed.

 

6. Kyrie Irving: About time he got chosen, Chuck may want to counterattack with size, but he knows that Irving is a stud. He can play Rubio and Irving together and make one hell of a guard duo. This is a guards game and I think Kyrie will put on a show and score a bunch of buckets as the best player in the 2011 Draft (thus far).

 

8. Paul George: Could definitely go higher, George was not in the game last year. Nonetheless, he should make up for it this year by being an early pick. One of the best wings, if not the best, in the two classes, George should be a fun teammate for Rubio.

 

10. Derrick Favors: I doubt too many people would say Derrick Favors is having one of the 10 best seasons of the combined Rookies/Sophomores. Nonetheless, he would be a perfect fit to this teams starting line-up. He is a monster athlete and I feel has the potential of being a solid fringe All-Star PF in the future. Think that it is far too soon for the people claiming that Favors was a bust at #3, because I think he looks on target to be a strong player in a couple of years and is already a strong bench contributor for the Jazz.

 

12. Norris Cole: Fight fire with fire. They choose an explosive scoring PG, Chuck chooses of the favorite young bench spark plugs in the league. Norris has played his role incredibly well for the Heat, think that he is a likely lock for double digits plus in this game.

 

14. Evan Turner: Kind of running out of reasons. I initially thought that a guard might be the last pick, as there would be more in the draft pool, but I think that size will probably be fairly balanced. Once you get past the initial big guys of Griffin, Monroe, Cousins and Favors, it is really a pretty wide-open contest. Turner would probably go higher than this if you were choosing the flat out 18 best players, but I could see him slipping a tad in this All-Star draft.

 

16. Iman Shumpert: Let’s face it, the Knicks are on TV a lot. Shumpert is a major chucker, but also a big guard and extremely athletic. He will be all about catching lobs. Was thinking of choosing another big guy for this team, but I truly do not think that Markieff Morris will be that huge of a difference maker. I may be wrong about who Chuck chooses, but I doubt it J (On a serious note, yes, I am probably wrong)

 

18. Kawhi Leonard: Well, someone has to be last. Unfortunately, Leonard is it in this scenario. Kawhi should get props for playing DEFENSE (Rookies do not always do that) and a nice role on a winning team. But, he probably gets dropped due to seniority and the luck of the draw. No worries, he can play 2-4 in this game easily and could see a solid bunch of minutes. Even as the Rookie/Sophomore Game Mr. Irrelevant.

 

Thoughts? Have your own choices for the game? Remember, this was done in accordance to making two relatively fair teams for an All-Star Game, not as who the 18 best players were out of these choices. That would be a relatively different draft in my estimation. Looking forward to seeing how this works, should be a cool little twist in the Rookie/Sophomore format.

 

 

[delfamParticipant]

 I doubt Blake plays in this game, he’s playing in the All-Star game and might be in the dunk contest.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

http://www.basketball-reference.com/allstar/NBA_2011_rookie.html

Could definitely see him doing the same thing again.

[lisergxParticipant]

 I agree with you that favors should not be labeled a bust, he has shown promise and all he needs is time, he was the youngest player in the leage last season!

[Mr. 19134Participant]

Another thing I don’t like about the format is that’s it’s only 9 players instead of 10.  They should atleast have a full 2nd unit but whatever.  And I like your predictions except I think Rubio goe’s first cuz Blake has no reason to play in this game he’s starting the All Star game.  And I said it before and I’ll say it again, I could see Turner getting a triple double in this game.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

But, there are a lot of guys who could do really well in this game. Plus, while Blake is starting in the All-Star Game, as I said, he played in this game last year. Do not think that he sits this one, even with playing 20-24 minutes on Sunday rather than 15. Del Negro may want him to, but I do not remember anyone getting hurt in the Rookie/Sophomore challenge. Nonetheless, his energy conservation could play a role in him not being the first pick.

As much as you might want to award one more player, it started off as only 8 players per side. Moved up to 9 in 2001, the second Rookie/Sophomore challenge. These guys probably would rather have more minutes in a fun game than another teammate, just my opinion.

Blake had little reason to play in last years game either, but he did. Not to mention, the Rookie Game used to be the same night as the Dunk Contest. Remember Kobe dropping 31, than winning the Dunk Contest afterwards. Sure, he is Kobe, but I do not think that Blake will be worried about getting tired out from All-Star weekend.

Blake may give up his spot, but he only played 14 minutes for the Rookies last year and scored 14 points. I am sure his minutes will be dealt with knowing he still has another game to play, which I suppose could effect his draft position. Nonetheless, my theory is, he made the ASG and played in it last year. Why would him starting in the ASG make that much of a difference? Especially on a West Team that will be stacked at PF?

[river09Participant]

The big letters made me nauseous.. 

[akhan786Participant]

Yeah seriously Mikey lol what’s up with the font?

[M-DYMESParticipant]

The post didn’t look long enough for his taste in size 12 font.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

I copied it from Word on my comp here in Portland, OR. Did not know it was going to stay like this. Man, first it’s "It is so hard to read the small print". Than, when it is print anyone can read, you still b!tch and cry about it. Well, either way, I wrote what I wrote. Thanks for the always on-topic comments though :). Seriously though, should not worry about too many more of those big letter posts in the future, though I honestly thought it was kind of cool.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Shaq won the coin toss, said he was choosing Blake Griffin first. Things could happen, but this draft should be interesting. Will probably do another prediction post, probably next week. Maybe other people will actually give their predictions this time 🙂

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