Rookie Ladder: 5 rookies teams will regret passing on

This week’s Rookie Ladder focuses on five NBA rookies who probably should have been picked higher than they were.

With every draft there are always risers and fallers. Throughout the NCAA (and International) season, prospects games are scrutinized and picked apart. Then, these players go through draft workouts and the combine and in some cases that in-season criticism is tossed out the window.

These one-off workouts — remember how big of a deal Yi Jianlian vs. Chair was? — become the shiny new thing that captivates general managers around the league.

This type of up-and-down movement of a player’s stock often leads to good players getting passed over on draft night for the front office’s flavor of the week. Recency bias is a phenomenon that we all experience as humans. However, it is far easier to point it out when someone else is suffering from it (and GM’s have a lot of fans acting as kibitzers).

In the era of one-and-done freshmen, there have been several factors that are out of a player’s control that becomes negatives: age, experience, injury/health to name a few. The rookies that are on this list had one of those indubitable negatives attached to their profile heading into the draft.

Yet, since making their debuts in the NBA, these five players have quieted all of the concerns about them. Not only did they rewrite their scouting reports, but they’ve also made it quite clear that they fell too far on draft night.

Along with each player listed is a group of six teams that will most regret passing over the rookies mentioned. Not having a pick — like the Cleveland Cavaliers and Washington Wizards — doesn’t exclude a team from regret. Being without a draft pick didn’t stop other teams from finding a way back in to the proceedings (Golden State Warriors bought Jordan Bell from Chicago and the New Orleans Pelicans acquired Frank Jackson’s rights in a trade). Draft positioning is a factor in which team regretted not taking which rookie, but overall roster fit is a bigger reasoning behind the choice of teams that missed.

Before we move on to the list I want to note my two Honorable Mention selections: Jordan Bell and Dillon Brooks. See last week’s Rookie Ladder for more on those two rookies.